Hmmm. Yeah, I'm not sure about the comparison between capitalism and socialism that you make, either. I don't have enough information/knowledge to refute what you are saying, although I have a
feeling that your statement is a grotesque oversimplification.
"Vast amounts of people
seem to have had it better under capitalism than socialism."
Seem? From whose perspective? Standing where?
I'm no expert on socialism or capitalism. I do, however, like all of us, live in an environment that is now in the sharp, unsatiable, greedy clutches of unfettered capitalism. The most "succesful" and staunch capitalists will never be satisfied, no matter how many paper notes with dollar signs, euros, silver, gold, stock options, and precious moon rocks (hey, they're
greedy bastards!) they amass and put up in the World Bank for safekeeping. And as they continue to increase their status and "wealth" in a capitalist economy, millions of human lives are rendered insignificant, marginal, and impoverished.
Postmaster said:
Although at present some capitalist countries have a large divide with the poor, they still have that minute ability to work out of there situation, it just takes time, a change we have had to progress through.
This is another oversimplification, a patronizing platitude tossed like cake crumbs at the starving, thirsty, enslaved masses. To belabor my point, to me this is like patting child suffering from malnutrition on the back and saying, "Hey, I know it
looks bad right now, but maybe in thirty years, if you are still alive and have worked hard at it,
your child could have an apartment of her very own--perhaps even running water and money for canned goods!" And then, all across the civilized world, the teary-eyed television inebriated masses, tuned into this spectacle on the latest reality TV show,
Who Wants to Be a Captialist? continue to eat chips and stroke themselves for the
progress they are making. Ah, the symphony of the media-medicated heartstrings.
Is socialism the alternative? I don't know, I don't think so. The gut reaction of feeling like socialism is a system of hand-outs is valid. Where capitalism's ideal strength of empowering the individual to take charge of her own success and progress has failed miserably, socialism's ideal strength of providing sustenance and resources for all ends up degenerating into a system of welfare that does not stimulate/motivate an individual to achieve for herself.
I advocate for small, decentralized communities, local autonomy, and economies of real goods versus paper money signifying privelege (end result of capitalism?) or patronizing care-taking by benevolent authorities (end result of socialism?).
Peace,
Pathless