Singapore's founding father: Socialism is plain....dumb.

gtor514 · Nov 11, 2012

Quote from Wide Tailz:

You and the parasites that have been spawned by your policies have no right to confiscate my earnings and redistribute them to criminals
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?? wtf

maxpi · Nov 11, 2012

Quote from Wide Tailz:

"nature is the ultimate clearinghouse"
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that is classic

PHOENIX TRADING · Nov 11, 2012

Quote from gtor514:

?? wtf
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I suspect hasty reading /posting.

Mav88 · Nov 11, 2012

Quote from Ricter:

Lol, what the hell are you talking about? Canada spent billions (secretly) to bail out banks this last crisis. Canada is running a deficit right now.
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I'm talking about this you ignoramus

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/us-crisis-timeline-idUSTRE7AK0FF20111121

February 1995 - Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin introduces a deficit-cutting budget in which deep spending cuts outweigh tax increases by seven to one. "Not to act now to put our fiscal house in order would be to abandon the purposes for which ... this government stands - competence, compassion, reform and hope," he says. In a display of unity that's rare outside wartime, the right-wing opposition Reform Party backs the spending cuts.

April 1995 - Moody's, which had warned of further downgrades even before the budget, cuts its Canadian dollar debt rating to Aa1 from Aaa. It also lowers foreign currency debt to Aa2 from Aa1, despite the generally positive market reaction to the government's fiscal plans.

October 1995 - Quebec voters reject a proposal to separate from Canada, removing a layer of uncertainty that had pressured Canadian markets.

March 1996 - Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio peaks at 68.4 percent of GDP in the 1995-96 fiscal year, ending March 31. (The ratio was originally reported at above 70 percent but revised downwards with changes to federal accounting rules.) By way of context, S&P expects the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio to end 2011 at 74 percent.

Fiscal 1997-98 - Canada posts a budget surplus for the first time since 1969-70. The era of budget surpluses ends only when the Conservative government steps up stimulus spending during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis
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Mav88 · Nov 11, 2012

Quote from Ricter:

Back on topic, Singapore has socialism.
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everyone has something, the question is how much

Ricter · Nov 12, 2012

Quote from Mav88:

everyone has something, the question is how much
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You're right, and that's actually where the argument lies. Not at the impossible poles of pure socialism or pure capitalism. Every economy on the planet is mixed. Even Singapore's "founding father" had to (apparently) incorporate some elements of socialism into his economy. As long as Man is a social animal socialism in some form will be around--it is never going away. Which is why it's not like a "flea", it's actually part of our essential nature. Of course, so is individualism a part.

Mav88 · Nov 12, 2012

Quote from Ricter:

You're right, and that's actually where the argument lies. Not at the impossible poles of pure socialism or pure capitalism. Every economy on the planet is mixed. Even Singapore's "founding father" had to (apparently) incorporate some elements of socialism into his economy. As long as Man is a social animal socialism in some form will be around--it is never going away. Which is why it's not like a "flea", it's actually part of our essential nature. Of course, so is individualism a part.
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Towards which 'pole' does a modern nation move towards when they want prosperity or when they have to fix government debt?

Ricter · Nov 12, 2012

Quote from Mav88:

Towards which 'pole' does a modern nation move towards when they want prosperity or when they have to fix government debt?
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Which way did we go, in the years following WWII? Our debt was massive.

Yes, I know, sales were massive then. But they're bigger now.

Lucrum · Nov 12, 2012

Quote from Ricter:

Which way did we go, in the years following WWII? Our debt was massive.

Yes, I know, sales were massive then. But they're bigger now.
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So your contention is that our economy is or will be booming like it did post WWII? What a fucking ignorant moron.

Mav88 · Nov 12, 2012

Quote from Ricter:

Which way did we go, in the years following WWII? Our debt was massive.

Yes, I know, sales were massive then. But they're bigger now.
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we had very little social spending in 1950, very small compared to today, so no we didn't move to socialism in a big way until the 60s.

we boomed because of free market capitalism, socialism wasn't big enough to have an impact since it moved from about 2% GDP to 3.3% GDP in 1947-50. There was no big stimulus from social spending at all. Today we have social spending exploding and sitting at 18% of GDP, yet there is no economic boom as you would predict, in fact we are in deep shit. So much for your theory.

Socialism is choking everything off and destroying our finances, while defense has decreased. All the blame lies with social welfare.

In 1947: total government pensions, health care, and welfare were $5.4B (9.3% of government and 2.2% of GDP) out of a $58B total budget. Defense was $22.8 B and interest was $4.5N

In 1950: government pensions, health care, and welfare were $9.8 B (14% of the government and 3.3% GDP) out of a $70B federal budget . Defense was $24B (34% of government, 8.3% GDP)

Today: total government pensions, healthcare, and welfare are $2.8T (44% of government, 18% of GDP) out of $6.3T total government. Defense is $902B (14% of government, 5.8% of GDP).

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year_spending_1950USbn_13bs1n_40#usgs302