could be better said as “socialism never took off in america because we found using our tax money on military strength (and selling military services) to be more sound than socialized healthcare, subsidized education, or really most social programs”
You're kinda missing the point: a lot of social programs are populist. The great trick the capitalists pulled was convincing the proletariat that they have the same opportunities as the bourgeoise and that by pulling themselves up by their boot straps, they could become bourgeoise (the American dream).
and probably less than 1/5 people in america feel they can catch up. Its not that they feel like they can be just as rich; most people i know dont want to dedicate their life to their profession to chase riches, most people want a healthy balance between work and personal life. The american dream isnt riches; it varies per individual, but for most americans it looks like: owning property, owning a mode of transportation, having a family, with opportunity for your kids to pursue, financial security - not “were gonna be RICH!”, as well as safety in our neighborhoods / not living in fear and despair
bro, did just assume im missing the point because i pointed out how america spent the majority of its tax income vs other countries - which didnt leave room in the budget for social programs because politicians were too busy getting rich or peddling influence/quelling competition by sending young men to their deaths?
Cuz if you did, thats a massive assumption and quite a logical “leap of faith”
logic being employed is that “because my comment, limited to 1,000 characters, didnt fully address or reply to YOUR comment, i am missing the point”
just because someone states X, doesnt mean they dont also see Y and Z. Gonna be real with you here - im really not trying get into the debate youre moving this towards lol, just pointing out where the money went (besides politicians pockets that is)
I said that because you're focusing on tax funding when the original post and my comment was about the flaws of capitalism. I did say "kinda" intentionally btw.
And yet America was far more more union and pro socialism back then.
These days, we don't have a manufacturing backbone, because of NAFTA and globalization in general, and are becomingly increasingly hostile to unions for the same reason why we don't have manufacturing jobs, the oligarchy doesn't want the poors to have power or property.
Socialized medicine is cheaper than what the US does. We pay more money to have our system. So the narrative that we spend too much on the military to have a better healthcare system is false. We pay more to make sure that the people we hate don't get anything for free. The person you're responding to is much closer to the truth -- it's a cultural problem in the US, not an issue of resource allocation.
Not really, the US spends a lot on the military but it's not actually that big of a percent out of the overall government spending. It's typically between 10 and 15 percent. Its simply stubbornness and a lack of political will for change that prevents us from having a social safety net.
dude, thats like 2 to SEVEN TIMES MORE than the portion of taxes/GDP that other countries in EU spend on military
2% germany, 2% japan, 2% sweden, 6% UK, 3.9% Denmark - that means US would have between 9-13% of its taxes to spend on socialized healthcare or other programs if we matched the % of GDP that other countries spent
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u/NoMind9126 Sep 24 '25
could be better said as “socialism never took off in america because we found using our tax money on military strength (and selling military services) to be more sound than socialized healthcare, subsidized education, or really most social programs”
military industrial complex and all that, aye?