Look at living standards in US vs Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden. Then you get your answer. Different choices, different results. Just saying. As said only stupid people refuse to learn from those who do certain things better.
You are not catching on. Stop and think a little more deeply, please. I am a capitalist, and I believe that a capitalist economic system works best for all. Your thinking, if shared by many others, is going to destroy capitalism!
not judging from my CV. But I guess yes I am an intellectual socialist. I do believe the middle class was robbed off many opportunities. I am strongly against free-wheeling capitalism, out of bounds, without sufficient safe guards and regulations (stress "sufficient", not saying "not enough")
There is no question that democracy is at risk in any country where the population is poorly educated, and therefore less questioning and more easily swayed by those who seek to control public opinion for self-serving purposes. And here, by "education," I mean education in the broad liberal arts sense; not job training. I am a advocate for democracy; consequently I must also be a strong and persistent advocate for strong, effective, universal, public education. Though good public education may seem expensive, it is actually free in the sense that its return will exceed its cost. It is arguably the best investment that any democratic nation can make. When we hear from those in power that the poor do not need to be educated, as we are hearing from the new leaders in Brazil, or among the well-off of a nation there is a casual or indifferent attitude toward public education, we should know that democracy is endangered.
absolutely right, no one left behind. Some are more dependable than others. That should not be an excuse to offer opportunities to the less endowed. Nobody is advocating to subsidize the lazy, though that is in every social market economy games by a few, however, keep in mind that those are minorities. The grand majority greatly benefits from subsidized education and health care as you can see in almost every social market economy in the world.
I think you should retake econ 101. Monopolies are formed and spring up when there is less regulation not more.