Shhhhh, Don’t tell them its Socialism!
New York (International Herald Tribune)|If the U.S. government moves ahead with a plan to take ownership stakes in American banks, as seems likely, it would be an exceptional step - but not an unprecedented one.
The United States has a culture that celebrates laissez-faire capitalism as the economic ideal, but the practice is sometimes different. Over the past century, the U.S. government has nationalized railways, coal mines and steel mills, and it has even taken a controlling interest in banks when that was deemed to be in the national interest.
The corporate wards of the state typically have been returned to private hands after short, sometimes fleeting, stretches under government stewardship.
Finance experts say that having Washington take stakes in U.S. banks now - like government interventions in the past - would be a promising step in addressing an economic emergency. The plan being weighed by the Treasury Department, they say, could supply banks with sorely needed capital and help restore confidence in financial markets. Across Europe, governments rolled out similar initiatives Monday.
In other countries, the government bank-investment programs are routinely called nationalization programs. But that is not likely in America, where nationalization is a word to avoid, given the cultural aversion to anything that hints of socialism.
“Putting this plan on the table makes a lot of sense, but you can’t call it nationalization here,” said Simon Johnson, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. “In France, it is fine, but not in the United >>>Read the Full Article
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October 30th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I find it ironic that politicians are afraid of the word Socialism, when clearly it is the philosophical foundation of their ideas, and their entire campaigns. The 700 Billion dollar bailout is progressive socialism, if not worse. Karl Marx Communist Manifesto #5 says: “Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.” Maybe if we started calling our politicians communists it would sit better.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
The last quote by Robert Bruner illustrated a common thought, that the cost of not ding the bailout is to great. I have a question, what if doing the right thing would result in the death of 3 of your 9 kids, would you still do it. While it would be a hard decision to make, we do have a good example to look to. Have you ever heard of the war in heaven? Doing the right thing there resulted in the immediate death of one third of Gods children, and there are countless others who will be lost along the way. Do what is right let the consequence fallow! Call a spade a spade! If it is not win win, it will be lose lose, and all will be negatively affected. That is why God presented us with the plan and let us choose.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am
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November 9th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Just left this comment on “thesilent5.net”’s website:
Are you kidding me about the two “thriving” socialist organizations you’ve cited here: the postal system and our education system? Maybe you should take a course in Economics 101 and U.S. History 101. Why are FedEx, UPS, and a number of other evil “corporations” stomping on the U.S. Postal System’s butt? Because they are “for-profit” organizations who can deliver a better product for less money. There is a reason for the phrase “going postal”, moron. Also, have you looked at U.S. students’ test scores in relation to the rest of the world? My kids are NEVER going to public school…I will work my fingers to the bone to make sure they don’t. The education is not only poor but the teachers are too concerned about their pensions to care about the quality of the education they are giving our children. European students’ test scores are higher over-all thanks to an ironically more Democratic approach to education: they give out vouchers to parents (not democratic, yes socialistic) and then the parents decide what schools are the best at teaching their children and then send their children there. This produces healthy competition amongst the schools. Consequently the quality of the education is much higher and it shows in the test scores of European students. Get a clue homestray!