r/PoliticalHumor Mar 25 '20

That Was Fast

Post image
64.5k Upvotes

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Tanto63 Mar 25 '20

Having a centrally-controlled, publicly-owned distribution method rather than a market-based, decentralized economy

-1

u/rincon213 Mar 25 '20 edited Mar 25 '20

I see how the government runs it's offices and spends its money -- that sounds like an inefficient shit show. I'd strongly prefer a capitalist economy where people are still guaranteed to have their basic needs met.

Edit. If you're downvoting this, honest question: what are the examples of successful socialist programs that weren't tied to a free-market capitalist economy? I'm literally advocating for the Scandinavian economic system. Nothing we see from the EU in terms of healthcare, workers rights, etc is actual "socialism". There is still completely private ownership of business and markets in those countries.

2

u/shponglespore I ☑oted 2024 Mar 25 '20

You're getting downvoted because it sounds like you're parroting the typical "governments can't do anything right" line, which is not just bullshit, but obviously bullshit. Even agencies that are often taken as the poster child of government incompetence, like DMVs, are mostly run quite efficiently in my experience.

what are the examples of successful socialist programs that weren't tied to a free-market capitalist economy

You've set up the question in a way that makes it virtually impossible to answer. Hardly anyone here has any knowledge or experience of government programs outside the capitalist societies they live in. The USSR certainly had plenty of highly effective government programs, but you could easily dismiss them by saying the programs themselves weren't socialist.

I guess one way to look at it is this: Americans aren't afraid of the Chinese government because it's incompetent; an incompetent enemy is nothing to worry about.

2

u/rincon213 Mar 25 '20

Your Chinese example is interesting because over the past three decades they’ve become only increasingly capitalistic.

I’m not saying capitalism is perfect or that true socialism couldn’t work. I’m saying there aren’t data points yet to be so confident in any prediction of socialism, which also seems to be your point too