Not all are evil. Many have good intentions. Jesus would have been a socialist. They just don't understand the fundamental part of human nature that will never change -- that the vast majority of people will never work as hard for a stranger as they will for themselves and family. So productivity and quality always takes a hit. Imagine what would happen in schools if a socialist grading system was adopted where everyone in the class gets the same grade, but took tests and did homework independently...most students would not bother studying for tests lol.
As gaussian explained in the post below, the only way it could possibly work is if it was impossible to escape.
I don't care if it's global. Just b/c I have no way to escape I won't be giving away my money to the govt if the tax eats all my profits and I myself don't make any money from trading.
Agree. I see FTT as a parasitic loss. But as long as there are more efficient markets somewhere, money will flow to those areas and away from less efficient areas. For the retail trader that cannot move, then that might be the end of short-term trading for him. An FTT has the same effect as reducing liquidity / increasing the risk of taking a trade (because you know you will incur at least a fixed loss on exit). And history has shown it does not work out well for those implementing it. If Bernie gets elected, markets will fall. As we get closer to the election, I suspect markets will start pricing that in unless they remain convinced that he cannot win.
For the average person they are much better off if they break their arm in Canada. If you are talking about something life threatening like a heart attack though? Only those with a death wish would pick Canada over the US. Canada looks much better when you are young and not so worried about really expensive things like avoiding death.
Thinking of Canada vs US healthcare. The US has 40,000,000 undocumented people...There are 10,000,000 in California alone!! Canada has some, but not like the US. When these people go to the emergency room, they do no pay anything...They have to be seen. If they are bad, they get admitted...Not one cent for reimbursement for the hospital or doctor from them. Yeah, Medicaid pays something...Diddley squat. Also, the trial lawyers in the US controls the lawsuit system (Democratic Party). A few years ago, some OBGYNs were paying $500,000. for insurance!! Crazy!! These are the main reasons for the high cost of US healthcare. No one really wants to talk about it. 2 ton elephant in the room. You are insensitive if you bring these things up...
it's the case for shorting gas&oil,pharmaceuticals, health insurance, & private prisons and buying alternatives energy & tech.
You are wrong. Some level of socialism is not only good but necessary. You don't want to make police protections optional like in some third world where people have to hire their own protection, you don't want the fire department holding their hoses waiting for you to pay them before they would open up to put out the fire on your house.... National defense also come to mind. Come to think of it you don't want your kids unable to get an education if you are too poor to pay. The challenge is where do you draw the line? Evolution hardwired us human to be selfish, without the protection of a system of fairness and equal rights, equal opportunities, we tend to evolve into corruption and nepotism like some African, South American banana republics. Socialism fails when it robs us of our incentive to work hard and push ourselves to do great things and in the process benefit everyone else within our society. Capitalism fails when wealth is so concentrated and entrenched, when the middle class/poor cannot live on their paychecks, when it robs the majority of hope for upward mobility and despair that the system is so rigged it is impossible to succeed.
I couldn't agree more with what you said. The trouble with capitalists is that they think their company somehow magically is responsible for every dollar they make and refuse to pay any of this back in taxes. Never mind that the workers they employ first have to become educated, through public funding. They have to travel to work, on public systems or at least public roads. In Canada at least, the fact that an employee who gets sick can get medical care for free so that he can return to work faster is another huge benefit to the employer. Without governments being directly involved in the purchasing of housing, imagine the huge drop in quality of life, which would very negatively impact the work done by these workers. Without government intervention regarding interest rates, most would never afford an iPhone because they simply wouldn't have the 1k to buy one out right. Think about it. If the market set interest rates, meaning the deal is only between you and the bank, would we really see 2-3%? Housing only became viable after the government got involved. Before then, before 1950 or so I think, you needed to come up with 50% of the down payment before the bank took a risk on you. How many people would have been able to get a formal education without government backed loans? The list goes on and on. I know the government wastes money, but without the government, the capitalist society would be dead in the water. These asshole corporations who hide their money and refuse to give back should pay a heavy toll. It is in my opinion highly unpatriotic to suck the benefits of socialism and then pretend that capitalism got you to where you are today. I'm all for hard working people getting ahead in life, but the system we have now is a disgrace and its a shame that every asshole in power continues to rob the system.