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Yes, I disagree. I lived under communism (in Albania). The society at time (communist/socialist regime), decided that in order to make it up in the society and

Yes, I disagree. I lived under communism (in Albania). The society at time (communist/socialist regime), decided that in order to make it up in the society and the ranks of state controlled companies you have had to come from a 'poor or simple' family, and if you were part of the previous bourgeoise, or not communist enough, (i.e. most smart people), you were relegated to crappy jobs, or often interned into education camps. In resulted in a lot of communist zealots, but dummies, going to top positions. They did what they could, and it resulted in total economic collapse few decades later. It resulted in food rations, where a family of 4 could only buy a dozen of eggs a week, one pound of meat, and could barely buy bread/milk and other necessities. Some folks here have really never faced the dire consequences of communism and how it created a poor society across the board. When I was 11, I had to stay in bread lines so our family could eat. It looked like this: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hungry-people-desparate-for-food-besiege-a-bread-shop-in-news-photo/56764766 https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hungry-peopl...

andrei_says_ 8y ago
Could we agree that the level of commitment to society’s well-being can be a slider and not a switch between two extremes? Also, from what I know, “socialist” societies in the eastern block were closer to socialism-flavored dictatorships resulting from power grabs and nepotism on epic scale.
- godzillabrennus 8y ago
  That’s the old argument of “they didn’t try socialism right” that many make when they want to give government more power over the lives of their fellow citizens. I feel torn. Obviously no one with morals wants to see others left behind in a capitalistic society. On the other hand welfare states seem like pyramid schemes and the further left you go with giving more power to government the worse the lives of citizens get. I found Penn Jillette’s talk on YouTube about why he found libertarianism eye opening. https://youtu.be/OG3Kyk3Xc5A https://youtu.be/OG3Kyk3Xc5A Still, our entire economic system seems ready to collapse. Many of our best business leaders are starting to agree that we may need to tax corporations that use robots and provide a reverse income tax to give people money to live.
  - andrei_says_ 8y ago
    That’s the old “let me frame your argument as something else and easily dismiss it” trick. This frame has nothing to do with what I had in mind. Please let go of it completely and re-read my comment.
- some_account 8y ago
  The Nordic countries have managed to combine socialism and capitalism in a very nice way i think. But now it's on its way to less gloryful days due to massive immigration and the problems it's causing.
mythrwy 8y ago
Don't worry. The same type of scheme is currently happening in large corporations and governments all across the west. The prerequisite being social skills and/or ability to BS and politic. Sadly, as you pointed out, reality is never fooled for long and the consequences of bad leadership eventually catch up.

andrei_says_ 8y ago

Could we agree that the level of commitment to society’s well-being can be a slider and not a switch between two extremes? Also, from what I know, “socialist” societies in the eastern block were closer to socialism-flavored dictatorships resulting from power grabs and nepotism on epic scale.

godzillabrennus 8y ago
That’s the old argument of “they didn’t try socialism right” that many make when they want to give government more power over the lives of their fellow citizens. I feel torn. Obviously no one with morals wants to see others left behind in a capitalistic society. On the other hand welfare states seem like pyramid schemes and the further left you go with giving more power to government the worse the lives of citizens get. I found Penn Jillette’s talk on YouTube about why he found libertarianism eye opening. https://youtu.be/OG3Kyk3Xc5A https://youtu.be/OG3Kyk3Xc5A Still, our entire economic system seems ready to collapse. Many of our best business leaders are starting to agree that we may need to tax corporations that use robots and provide a reverse income tax to give people money to live.
- andrei_says_ 8y ago
  That’s the old “let me frame your argument as something else and easily dismiss it” trick. This frame has nothing to do with what I had in mind. Please let go of it completely and re-read my comment.
some_account 8y ago
The Nordic countries have managed to combine socialism and capitalism in a very nice way i think. But now it's on its way to less gloryful days due to massive immigration and the problems it's causing.

mythrwy 8y ago

Don't worry. The same type of scheme is currently happening in large corporations and governments all across the west. The prerequisite being social skills and/or ability to BS and politic. Sadly, as you pointed out, reality is never fooled for long and the consequences of bad leadership eventually catch up.