Is it ok to be a Socialist?

[Zach]

I was just wondering because i think we need to have more social services and stuff like that in our government but seems people always think of socialism as north korea or the soviet union and everyone in labor camps!

[Kristine Sixteen]

As I say, " Its awesome until you run out of other peoples money".

It Doesnt work!!!

[Auroch]

Sure - just don't watch a lot of FOX FAKE "News". Some dumb bastard will tell you that Nazis are socialists.

[Neil]

It is OK to be a Socialist. It really is.
The problem arises when it gets put into practice.

People are free to believe in whatever they want.

[☦ICXCNIKA ☦]

Socialism is the government ownership of business.
The problem with socialism is it tries to dump the price system in favor of central planning.
Prices are important for allocating resources- if it costs $100 to make a product with some material and it costs $200 to make it with another and there is no real difference in terms of quality people will use the $100. You also have the problem of government backed monopolies.
Imagine what sort of cars you would have if the government forced the big 3 to merge and outlawed competition.
If you don't want government ownership but just serves then you have the problem with the debt and inflation.
If you try to pay for services with really high taxes- the people who can afford to do so leave.
If you pay for them with deficit spending you devalue your currency.
There is a reason that the pound Sterling is no longer 1 pound of silver and the dollar is no longer 1/20 of an ounce of gold.

[buckeye_12207]

Probably because it's easier to set up something as North Korea did, at bayonet point, and call it socialism. The enemies of democratic socialism will always agree with that, since it will protect their perks. The best antidote to this canard is Norway and the Netherlands.


buckeye

[Cookiedough]

Yeah
but you might want to move to England or Canada!

[Amitava]

Not in the united states.

[xpatinasia]

Everyone is socialist, to a degree.

[Resistevil]

Depends on where you live, apparently. Millions do just fine in many other countries and even in some parts of this nation and also what form of an economic socialist. But then again what difference does it really make if you agree with most parts of the ECONOMIC construct of socialism. Socialism is an economic construct, not a political construct.