Isn't it funny, he started two posts asking about socialism and feigning that he was just curious but as he continues to post it sounds like he is running for a socialist leader in an election? That is how they work , sneaky , lying , underhanded but trying to come across as just a normal person asking a question.
I’m aware of everything you pointed out, RE the US pulling out of the TPP, etc.
Charlespig has really showed himself for what he is , kind of hard to take Charledpig seriously, but he starts out with these little questions and then wow, is Charlespig a Chinese socialist plant on the board is becoming the bigger question? We all know builderbob6 has just been a raving lunatic with no real basis in anything he says except hate and being a clown but @charlespig seems to have quite the agenda. Why dont you tell us all about it @charlespig?
How Germany doing in getting its people vaccinated? Socialized medicine is GREAT! (DWS)
www.bbc.com
I personally don’t believe in “equal outcomes” for living standards. When the government pushes/causes/institutes this scenario, it lowers the opportunities for the vast majority of the population. The only people who do well in this construct are “elites” in the government and people whom the government chooses/allows to do well.That actually describes the ultra rich. They can just sit on their big pile of money, let someone else do all the heavy lifting, and get paid just b/c they already have a big pile of money to begin with.
Again, I have spent years living in Hong Kong. When it comes to capitalism, Hong Kong was far more capitalistic than America. Tax rate is super low there. Until in the last decade when China exerted its control, China was free and market-driven. Milton Friedman even once portrayed it as the last bastion of classical capitalism.
So one side effect of this great capitalist city is the wealth gap it created. Housing is a crazy issue there. A typical apartment unit is only 550 sqft or so, but it cost $1.2M. It will take 21 (!) years of median salary to buy 550 sqft of living space.
Hong Kong still world’s least affordable place to live
propertylistings.ft.com
So it isn't that people don't wanna get out of the gutter, but if you are just getting the median salary, it is almost impossible for you to afford. So people live in 40 sqft "apartment", and you just have to see it to believe it:
Hong Kong’s Shocking 40-Square-Foot Apartments Photographed by Chinese Human Rights Group
Chinese Society for Community Organization has released photographs of Hong Kong’s claustrophobic apartments.inhabitat.com
It's ironic. The capitalist city created tremendous amount of wealth, and yet a large number of people can only afford living in cages.
www.timesofisrael.com
How Germany doing in getting its people vaccinated? Socialized medicine is GREAT! (DWS)
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/ge...rollout-shortages-bureaucracy-european-union/
How’s Canada doing?
Why Canada is falling behind in Covid vaccinations - BBC News
The country is lagging in its vaccination plans amid a delayed delivery of doses.
Free trade is what has allowed China’s rise. The Republicans may have always been about free trade, I disagree. I voted for Ross Perot in 1991.So you want governments to impose tariffs? What happens to free market capitalism? What happen to the Party of Free Trade?
So how is the US supposed to take a leadership role when its slogan is "America First"? In the UN, 167 votes in favor, and only 2 countries (US and Israel) vote against. And I can't even blame China bribing the small countries. It's everyone, even our traditional allies like UK.
2 to 167: Just Israel, US reject UN budget, over alleged bias against Jerusalem
Two allies object specifically to funding 20th-anniversary event for 2001 Durban conference, where motion equated Zionism with racism; $3.2 billion budget endorsed by 167 nations
So what are you proposing? Trade with China or not? If US stop trading with China, both countries will be worse off. China has RCEP (its free trade zone with the other Asian countries). They can still exercise their power. But American consumer will suffer. Then it leads to high inflation. Jimmy Carter 70s style. Is that what you want?
Republican is supposedly the Party of Free Trade, not Dems.
There can be dozens of reasons why Biden didn't reverse the tariffs. For example, he may want to use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with China? Or maybe tariffs is not his focus, and he is fine keeping it if he can use it to win support for his infrastructure deal? Who knows?
It's a nonsense question to begin with. Same sex marriage was passed under Obama's term. What hasn't Trump reversed it? Trump tried to undo so many things Obama did (e.g. Obamacare), so why not same sex marriage? A lot of evangelicals (who are mostly Trump supporters) were hoping Trump would uphold marriage to be strictly between a man and a woman, so why didn't he reverse it too?
Nice change of topic. Here I thought you were talking about how great the EU socialists were. Did you read the red tape associated with getting vaccinated in Germany? Socialist health care is great, so is Canada.Thank you for providence evidence with Germany and Canada that really highlight how impressive a job Biden has done in rolling out the vaccines compared to other countries, despite all the nonsensical conspiracy theories that make Trump-voting counties reluctant and hesitant in getting the vaccine.
Obama got the TPP done.Well, 3/4 of Republicans voted to allow China to be in WTO, despite 2/3 of Dems voting against.
All Info - H.R.4444 - 106th Congress (1999-2000): To authorize extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the People's Republic of China, and to establish a framework for relations between the United States and the
All Info for H.R.4444 - 106th Congress (1999-2000): To authorize extension of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to the People's Republic of China, and to establish a framework for relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.www.congress.gov
www.epi.org
For the record, though the government provides some of the funding, Germany doesn’t have a socialized healthcare system:
RE 5%... I found an article that could be dated where both the Canadians and Germans were concerned that their vaccinations programs were substantially behind the US. The number quoted was in the article...it’s linked above.For the record, though the government provides some of the funding, Germany doesn’t have a socialized healthcare system:
Germany
By Miriam Blümel and Reinhard Busse, Department of Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin Health insurance is mandatory in Germany. Approximately 86 percent of the population is en-rolled in statutory health insurance, which provides inpatient, outpatient, mental health, and...www.commonwealthfund.org
Employees and employers share the cost of insurance provided by non-governmental organizations, and people pay co-pays and deductibles. Aside from the insurers being non-profit, coverage being mandatory (I know it technically is here, but with no consequence of not having it), that it covers the entire population, and the fact that you can go to any doctor without having to worry about whether they are in network, sounds a whole lot like our system.
And I don’t know where your numbers came from, but Germany has fully-vaccinated ~30% with 50% having at least one dose. Behind us, yes, but nowhere near 5%.
Canada seems to be going slow, and they do have a socialized healthcare system, though, so I guess you’re right. Except UK also has a socialized system and they are doing better than we are. Israel does too and they’re also ahead of us. So does Hungary (less than .5% behind us). So does Qatar, (1% behind us). So, maybe there are other factors in vaccine rates besides simply the type of healthcare system?
We’ve done well with vaccines, and would no doubt be doing better if we didn’t have so many who are refusing to get it. But, it’s quite the stretch to say that fact means that we have this great healthcare system. I wonder what our rates would be if the government hadn’t “socialized” the process by making vaccines free for everyone. Since people without insurance often avoid care because they can’t afford it, it’s not a stretch to suggest some folks who have been vaccinated wouldn’t be if they had to pay for it and our rates would be lower.
yes, I read it before responding. It doesn’t say 5% either, though that may be a good estimate since it said 10% with at least one shot. The article was from March.
Deflecting again and rationalizing it. The socialism push these days isn’t due to concern over public welfare by and large, it’s people complaining about their lot in life.What is to address?
If you walk into a psychiatric hospital, and those patients keep calling you a psychopath, would you "address" it?
I walk into a liberal echo chamber, and people call me a racist when I point out the nonsense of cultural appropriation. If I explain my position and they just keep calling me racist, what else is it to address?
Similarly here. Just because I actually seek to learn what socialism is and am not as far right as the folks in this echo chamber, they keep labelling me a Marxist or socialist. After explaining a few times, there's nothing really to "address."
Sidetracking again. You asked if I am aware of the effort gap. I said effort might explain for some people, but there were also many that were not just as hard-working (or maybe more so) than me that are living in 250-sqft units. That's just what I've observed. Those people didn't complain, at least not that I am aware of, but when I see that I realize how fortunate I am to be at my position.
Like Warren Buffett said, he knew he won the ovarian lottery, by being born a male in the United States in the 1930s. If he was born in China at that time he would never be who he is today no matter if he put in 10x the "effort." If he was born a female, or black, it would also be entirely different.
// The ovarian lottery is “the most important event in which you’ll ever participate,” Buffett continued. “It’s going to determine way more than what school you go to, how hard you work, all kinds of things.” //
Warren Buffett: 'If I had been a female, my life would have been entirely different'
"I had two sisters that have every bit the intelligence that I had, have every bit the drive, but they didn't have the same opportunities," says Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett.www.cnbc.com
many u.s. manufacturers have requested they remove those tax increases.
any sourcing we did move from china (much still remain),
There are inherent issues with Capitalism as there are with Socialism. Historical Socialist and Communist countries had to utilize totalitarianism at the start to keep the masses from revolting and used it as an excuse to keep ruling indefinitely as they didn't want to lose power (Venezuela, USSR, China). There will never be a true Socialist or Communist country as those in power won't give up power to allow the people to rule.
