I take exception to the term "free markets". As far as I can tell they are rigged. Capitalism assumes many guises and is distinguished by hidden aims or methods. It is deceitful and dishonest.
The poor condition of people in Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Cambodia etc where free speech and liberty is denied, and government/rulers usurp all wealth...
American billionaires spend a lot of money to make sure you have those views. You missed out the bit where they are dictators. Go on - give them their money's worth - call them dictators.
You may want to admit you haven't been to Cuba? All well fed, free high quality medical health, free education to your ability & needs, or full time sport! & most roads have no UK pot holes!
They think what say, neighbour USA has is the promised land? Big mistake!
Ok! I have been there several times the safest, friendliest country I have ever been to!
Absolutely agree with this whole post, but would like to add to your 'idle layabouts' section that having a social safety net for those that cannot work for whatever reason or cannot earn as much as is necessary to live actually benefits the whole society - important not to fall into the thinking that only 'workers' deserve protection, especially when so much work is unpaid in any case. Protecting against having destitution in your society lowers crime and increases trust and overall contentment among citizens.
So the infrastructure i saw crumbling all over America, the homeless encampments under every bridge in big cities, healthcare debt being the number one cause of filing for bankruptcy, the state of inner city schools, the ghost towns of former industrial belt etc i saw all over the country when i lived there were my imagination?
Yeah, i agree, i wasn’t making a solid factual point. Just with all the hyper-nationalism on show there right now, where actual grown adults call Biden a “far left Marxist” without the faintest idea what Marxist, let alone “far left” means. The Democratic Party would, in any other western democracy, be considered as centre-right conservatives with front-facing identitarian rhetoric, which incidentally is the complete opposite of “far left” politics.
Yes, absolutely, and another question to ask people who hate socialism (mainly as they've no idea what it means) is: are you a psychopath? If not, then you have empathy, which means you cannot help but care about the plight of others in your society as well as yourself. Even just that makes you a socialist, i.e. someone with a conscience. When those with a conscience have found ways to screen out those without from top positions, things will start to change.
You need to find out what socialism is. Russia is not. As for Cuba and Venezuela, if it were not for decades long sanctions and coup plots imposed by the capitalist American Empire and its vassal states, they would be doing very well. Given the illegal sanctions and attacks imposed on them, they are doing better than one might expect. For example, lower maternal death rates than the fascist USA, free health care, and higher literacy rates than the USA.
All this is true, but you can point it out to critics till you're blue in the face, they still hanker after privatisation. Funny, when we can see the evidence in our NHS, our railways, our water and our energy companies. Yet still a majority of ordinary voters want these services brought back under public control. Will it ever happen?
This is beautifully and ironically put. Thank you. Everyone should be made to read it.
However, you missed something out, which I have noticed far too many socialists seem to have either totally forgotten, or never even considered. Which is simply this: As a socialist, how come you are happy to have our money supply and national bank being owned and controlled by a bunch of private profiteering parasites who charge us 90 billion a year just for the privilege of having our own currency?
If we the people owned the money supply, we wouldn't pay ourselves a debt. We'd just print the fucking money, having fixed its value according to that basket of necessities. So no inflation. 90 billion a year in interest alone is some 1300 quid per person (including children) every year. So that's 5,200 per family of four. And that family of four owes those parasites around 120,000 (30k each), given the national debt is some 2.3 trillion or so.
If the general public understood this, and a proper socialist party came along with a principal policy of taking back control (public ownership) of the money supply and the banking system, then they would win a landslide. This is the policy the Establishment fear the most. They really, really don't want anyone to understand economics. Especially not socialists.
And especially since if you have an extra 90 billion a year to inject into the economy, then you say, to hell with it, let's do another 110 billion on top of that, then you can beat the fuckers at their own game and actually massively reduce the tax burden, thus enabling even more money in people's pockets. Eliminating poverty, for a start. And for private business, if more people have more money, there's more money to be made. So everyone wins.
I call this Liberal Socialism. Would anyone else like to join this Liberal Socialist Party?
The other principal headline policy for the party is the prosecution policy. "We will immediately arrest Tony Blair and put him on trial for genocide." Obviously, you can add a whole load more names to that prosecution list. Unfortunately, Thatcher is now dead, having escaped earthly justice.
If found guilty, however, Blair, Johnson, Starmer and the rest of them should not be sent to Belmarsh, but to Broadmoor, where they can be studied. We need to know how psychopaths tick, after all, so we can detect and Prevent them earlier.
I love the way the spellcheck doesn't recognise Starmer as a correct word, by the way. I call that poetic.
Many people have been told to hate socialism and big government over the climate crisis because of the covid debacle. If would have helped if socialists hadn't been so gullible and smug or fallen for their own algorithm that anyone questioning the riduculus OTT measures are all conspiracy theorists (I admit many are unfortuanately).
Bit disappointed with the tone of this as if directed at any who receive it as ‘haters of socialism’ all a bit uncouth esp for those of us banging the drum for many years to shift policy and raise awareness
Thank you Angry voice. This is simply superb. I've been a socialist all my life ( well, ok, probably not when I was still a baby) and I feel I've been angry all my life. I'm 75 tomorrow and never expected the world to be in such a precarious state in the 21st century- politically and environmentally. You have put the case for socialism so succinctly. How could the majority of the human race not get it?
Great post. It should be especially revealing to people that cling to the notion that the frightening rise of extreme right wing nationalism and ultimately fascism, does not affect them. Perhaps it would finally sink in that capitalism is devouring itself.
I take exception to the term "free markets". As far as I can tell they are rigged. Capitalism assumes many guises and is distinguished by hidden aims or methods. It is deceitful and dishonest.
The poor condition of people in Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Cambodia etc where free speech and liberty is denied, and government/rulers usurp all wealth...
Could you provide the statistics on which you have based your assertions please?
American billionaires spend a lot of money to make sure you have those views. You missed out the bit where they are dictators. Go on - give them their money's worth - call them dictators.
🤡
You may want to admit you haven't been to Cuba? All well fed, free high quality medical health, free education to your ability & needs, or full time sport! & most roads have no UK pot holes!
They think what say, neighbour USA has is the promised land? Big mistake!
Ok! I have been there several times the safest, friendliest country I have ever been to!
Absolutely agree with this whole post, but would like to add to your 'idle layabouts' section that having a social safety net for those that cannot work for whatever reason or cannot earn as much as is necessary to live actually benefits the whole society - important not to fall into the thinking that only 'workers' deserve protection, especially when so much work is unpaid in any case. Protecting against having destitution in your society lowers crime and increases trust and overall contentment among citizens.
So basically, you’re saying if you hate Socialism and don’t want to benefit from Socialism then move to the U.S.? 😏
Wouldn't work. We have public roads, schools and Social Security. Sorry. Try Burma. Or Nigeria.
So the infrastructure i saw crumbling all over America, the homeless encampments under every bridge in big cities, healthcare debt being the number one cause of filing for bankruptcy, the state of inner city schools, the ghost towns of former industrial belt etc i saw all over the country when i lived there were my imagination?
No. But there are also elements of (but not enough) socialism.
Yeah, i agree, i wasn’t making a solid factual point. Just with all the hyper-nationalism on show there right now, where actual grown adults call Biden a “far left Marxist” without the faintest idea what Marxist, let alone “far left” means. The Democratic Party would, in any other western democracy, be considered as centre-right conservatives with front-facing identitarian rhetoric, which incidentally is the complete opposite of “far left” politics.
You see our UK run by capitalist roads?
The socialist programme is the antidote to fascism.
Yes, absolutely, and another question to ask people who hate socialism (mainly as they've no idea what it means) is: are you a psychopath? If not, then you have empathy, which means you cannot help but care about the plight of others in your society as well as yourself. Even just that makes you a socialist, i.e. someone with a conscience. When those with a conscience have found ways to screen out those without from top positions, things will start to change.
A great post and painfully accurate. Keep up the good work.
You need to find out what socialism is. Russia is not. As for Cuba and Venezuela, if it were not for decades long sanctions and coup plots imposed by the capitalist American Empire and its vassal states, they would be doing very well. Given the illegal sanctions and attacks imposed on them, they are doing better than one might expect. For example, lower maternal death rates than the fascist USA, free health care, and higher literacy rates than the USA.
All this is true, but you can point it out to critics till you're blue in the face, they still hanker after privatisation. Funny, when we can see the evidence in our NHS, our railways, our water and our energy companies. Yet still a majority of ordinary voters want these services brought back under public control. Will it ever happen?
Louder for those in the back and in the USA, AAV.
This is beautifully and ironically put. Thank you. Everyone should be made to read it.
However, you missed something out, which I have noticed far too many socialists seem to have either totally forgotten, or never even considered. Which is simply this: As a socialist, how come you are happy to have our money supply and national bank being owned and controlled by a bunch of private profiteering parasites who charge us 90 billion a year just for the privilege of having our own currency?
If we the people owned the money supply, we wouldn't pay ourselves a debt. We'd just print the fucking money, having fixed its value according to that basket of necessities. So no inflation. 90 billion a year in interest alone is some 1300 quid per person (including children) every year. So that's 5,200 per family of four. And that family of four owes those parasites around 120,000 (30k each), given the national debt is some 2.3 trillion or so.
If the general public understood this, and a proper socialist party came along with a principal policy of taking back control (public ownership) of the money supply and the banking system, then they would win a landslide. This is the policy the Establishment fear the most. They really, really don't want anyone to understand economics. Especially not socialists.
And especially since if you have an extra 90 billion a year to inject into the economy, then you say, to hell with it, let's do another 110 billion on top of that, then you can beat the fuckers at their own game and actually massively reduce the tax burden, thus enabling even more money in people's pockets. Eliminating poverty, for a start. And for private business, if more people have more money, there's more money to be made. So everyone wins.
I call this Liberal Socialism. Would anyone else like to join this Liberal Socialist Party?
The other principal headline policy for the party is the prosecution policy. "We will immediately arrest Tony Blair and put him on trial for genocide." Obviously, you can add a whole load more names to that prosecution list. Unfortunately, Thatcher is now dead, having escaped earthly justice.
If found guilty, however, Blair, Johnson, Starmer and the rest of them should not be sent to Belmarsh, but to Broadmoor, where they can be studied. We need to know how psychopaths tick, after all, so we can detect and Prevent them earlier.
I love the way the spellcheck doesn't recognise Starmer as a correct word, by the way. I call that poetic.
Many people have been told to hate socialism and big government over the climate crisis because of the covid debacle. If would have helped if socialists hadn't been so gullible and smug or fallen for their own algorithm that anyone questioning the riduculus OTT measures are all conspiracy theorists (I admit many are unfortuanately).
Bit disappointed with the tone of this as if directed at any who receive it as ‘haters of socialism’ all a bit uncouth esp for those of us banging the drum for many years to shift policy and raise awareness
Thank you Angry voice. This is simply superb. I've been a socialist all my life ( well, ok, probably not when I was still a baby) and I feel I've been angry all my life. I'm 75 tomorrow and never expected the world to be in such a precarious state in the 21st century- politically and environmentally. You have put the case for socialism so succinctly. How could the majority of the human race not get it?
Great post. It should be especially revealing to people that cling to the notion that the frightening rise of extreme right wing nationalism and ultimately fascism, does not affect them. Perhaps it would finally sink in that capitalism is devouring itself.
Great post AAV.