You make a common sense argument :)

Socialism is for animals and savages, not rational free-thinking human beings.
Still it is each individuals choice. Be part of some Borgish collective or be free? Although, socialists don't want you to deciding that for yourself.

Oh, I agree. What I meant was the interest rate on the T-Bill. WHEN (not if) that increases, government debt is going to spiral out of control.

Socialism is common sense. For most people in most times and places, regardless of how the surplus is distributed, that is the expectation. I referred previously to "The WIERDest People in the World" about the measured differences between us and most other peoples. It is especially an undercurrent - not stated in that paper - that socialism is "common sense" to the people that most psychologists study, i.e., university undergrads in psychology. You can claim that they are "brainwashed" etc., etc., but they are only told what is "common sense" by others for whom it is.

I point to _The Unnatural Nature of Science_ by Lewis Wolpert (Harvard 1993). His thesis is that science is not common sense, but a close, exacting, demanding investigation that tests for truth. The Greeks invented science, once, and no one else before or since. Peter L. Bernstein in _Against the Gods: the Remarkable Story of Risk_ said that capitalism was impossible before the invention of the mathematics of chance. Merchants are common across cultures, but capitalism is unique to a time and place. For Ayn Rand, that Age of Reason also had to include a proper concept of _rights_.

All of that is to say that science, reason, empirical tests, falsifiability, rights, individualism, and capitalism are all of a piece. They are unique to our time and place. They are not "common sense."

(The WEIRD People here: http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~henrich/pdfs/W...)
Western Educated Industrialized Rational Democratic ... and not at all very much like anyone else in the world.

If you eat or travel, you see it.
If you have faith in the Fed, you don't

Inflation has already taken hold.

"A few bumps"? HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm aware.
But as our English brethren say, I like to call a spade a bloody shovel. If more people pointed out that we've become a Fascist state, not because of Capitalism, but because of a lack of it, it might open a few eyes. Or at least start an argument.

A Fascist economy has been renamed to "a mixed economy."

The easiest way to think of it is through property.
Socialism is when the government controls the means of production.
Capitalism is when the means of production are privately held.
Then there's Fascism, where the means of production are privately held but controlled by the government.
So when you hear Useful Idiots proclaim Capitalists as being Fascists you know they haven't a clue as to what they are talking about. And by the way, which of those three would you say best describes the USA at present? No wonder the idiots are confused. We are no longer a capitalist society.

"The economy is doing great, save for a few bumps in the road." - I don't think that you're shorting - I think that you're snorting! The real unemployment rate is something like 50% (40%+ that are not even intent on working, since welfare is a much better deal), of the remaining working people, how many are actually producing anything of value? Take away most government employees and millions of people that "work" for regulatory agencies or their contractors, who add no value and only detract from the economy. Official inflation numbers are something like 2%/yr - really? Prices have been going up at 8-10%/yr for several years. Government budgets that by law have to keep up with inflation (certain benefits) have been going up at that same rate, which proves that the government knows the real inflation rate. Money is available at low interest rate because the Fed simply print it, thus causing inflation. But getting those cheap loans is getting harder and harder. This is economy is almost a mirror image of the Soviet system just before the collapse. And you still think everything is great? And you must believe in leprechauns.

Based on economic factors, China is now freer and more capitalist (they do go together) than the US.

The economy sucks. The evidence is overwhelming. We have already dealt with a troll pushing the how good the economy is and how Obama is pro-liberty.

straightlinelogic is an expert in this area. HE has written several posts and runs a blog by the same name. He has said unless you are using sophisticated equipment and programs during this period, your risk is extremely high.

Not even worth commenting on and not on topic!
-1

"Communism [the most extreme form of socialism] might help men cope with poverty, but it could never get men out of that poverty." - Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage."

Well, you've just pretty much covered this issue.

Question: just how is the US going to continue to finance both its budget deficit and its growing interest payments without the Fed to buy up that debt? Answer: they can't. Something has to give.

My fear is that once that happens inflation is going to take hold - slowly at first and then building until it becomes the 800 pound gorilla that cripples our national spending infrastructure. The problem with any welfare program is that it is unsustainable. It is like an avalanche that sweeps up everything in its path and leaves devastation.

And if we have learned anything from the riots in Missouri, it is that when that happens there is going to be rioting like that all over the US.