[Vision2020] Socialism: Neither Cause nor Solution to Euro Crisis

[keely emerinemix]

Nick, this couldn't be better written or more timely, especially in light of Rick Perry's sober contention that Barack Obama is a socialist.  

That he's not, of course, matters little to Perry and his ilk, even if they could grasp why it is that he's not.  Also, in the same vein as the "Government Out Of My Medicare" posters at Tea Party events, I'm fairly certain that Perry, et al, are really pretty glad to have what we could call socialized police forces and fire fighters.  It's worked well for us, generally; the abuse and racism present among the police is an argument for continued State control, not for private control.  I'll keep my socialized police protection, thanks.  Same for LBJ's vaunted Texas and national socialist highway beautification programs -- the outgrowth of that nasty socialist Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway program advances.  

No, Obama must be a "socialist" to these folks because he's not one of them, in ways both true and significant as well as untrue and insignificant.  He is, unlike the power players in today's GOP, a reasonable, intelligent man who believes that government has done and can and should continue to do good for people; unlike them, and I suspect this is the Right's primary concern, he's "not one of  them" because he's not a conservative, not a Republican, not a Bible-banger, not from a rural background, not possessing a suitably "American" name, and not a white guy.  Anything he supports or proposes, and especially if it's even remotely close to where the GOP center was forty or fifty years ago, is going to sound downright dangerous to Perry and his "underinformed" followers.  "Socialism" in politics is lamentably like "faggot" on the playground:  An ugly, disgusting, hateful weapon of ignorance that doesn't even have to be true -- it's so awful in the eyes of the one who wields it that what it means and if it even applies doesn't matter.  I agree that unlike "faggot," there's a legitimate use of the word "socialist," but I contend that Perry and his pals only know that they think being one or the other is really bad, and so they let the name-calling fly, hoping to attract others who like calling Obama anything nasty, even if they can't remember why it is that it's bad.  

Disgusting.  Thanks, Nick, for a little truth-telling.  

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com


Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 12:21:06 -0800
From: ngier006 at gmail.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Socialism: Neither Cause nor Solution to Euro Crisis

Good Morning Visionaries:




This is the second part of my column on the Euro Crisis.  Both parts were published together in the Sunday edition of the Idaho State Journal, which does even a better job of saving money by having no syndicated columnists.


If the Daily News wants to spend money, they should choose much better conservatives and liberals.




The full version is attached.


Yours for increased revenues to balance deficits,




Nick

SOCIALISM: NEITHER CAUSE NOR SOLUTION FOR EURO CRISIS






GOP leaders are quick to claim that
Europe’s problems are due to its “socialist” governments and that, as a fellow
traveler, Obama’s policies will take the U.S. into an economic abyss. As
Republican Congressman Paul Ryan predicts: “What we are seeing is the failure
of European socialism and the social welfare states.” The facts prove Ryan
wrong.

The dictionary definition of “socialism”
requires that the state own the means of production, and only Cuba and North
Korea qualify as socialist states in this sense.  In Europe the means of production are in the
hands of world-class private companies operating in market economies. 

The World Economic Forum’s list of
competitive economies for 2011 includes seven European welfare states :
Switzerland (1st), Sweden (3rd) , Finland (4th),
Germany (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Denmark (8th),
and the UK (10th). The U.S. is in fifth place. The free market Economist has chosen Denmark as the most
business friendly and it hailed Finland was the most innovative. 

One way to measure the strength of any
nation to manage debt is to look at its credit rating.  Good credit means that governments are able
to issue bonds at low interest rates. 
Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain (GIIPS) are now paying so much
interest on their bonds that they will never be able pay off their debts.

Even before it lost its AAA rating, the
U.S. did not make the top ten credit worthy nations, but 8 European welfare
states did.  The latest ratings from
Standard and Poors indicate that there are 15 countries with AAA ratings before
the U.S. at AA+.  Except for Hong Kong
all of these countries have higher tax rates than the U.S.

The number of European nations led by
Labor, Social Democratic, or Socialist parties has been declining over 20 years
and now stands at an all time low. 
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Greece ran up their bills (all over 100
percent of Gross National Product) under center-right governments.  

In Ireland, where the Labor Party always
ran third, the budget deficit reached 32 percent last year and unemployment is
running at 14 percent.  By 2007 Ireland’s
Anglo-Irish bank has loaned out $91 billion. As a proportion of population this
would be the equivalent of an American bank loaning out $3.4 trillion.   

Those European countries with the highest
taxes have some of the lowest national debt. This is not the result of
socialism, but a common sense financial philosophy that one should balance
expenses with sufficient revenue.  Congressman
Ryan’s budget proposal which dramatically cuts taxes and spending—but wipes out
America’s social safety net—will reduce deficits by a paltry $155 billion over
ten years. 

Current
national debt per GDP in the Nordic countries was 36.7 percent for Sweden, 43.7
percent for Denmark, 48.2 percent for Finland, and 48.9 percent for Norway.  Sweden is the fastest growing economy in
Europe (4.2%) and Denmark—thanks to Social Democratic programs in the early
1990s—has had an unemployment rate of 3-4 percent for 20 years.  A Social Democratic jobs plan allowed Germany
to increase employment during the Great Recession.

Norway is currently running high budget
surpluses (13.1%) and Sweden’s financial books are balanced. Denmark and
Finland have been running very low budget deficits (3.9% and 2.5%
respectively).  From 2000-2010 Finland
has had budget surpluses in 8 of those years. 

The current budget deficit for the
17-member Eurozone is 4.1 percent, and that includes debt-ridden Greece,
Portugal, and Ireland.  Only Finland,
Estonia, and Luxembourg have abided by the 3 percent deficit agreed on in 1999.
Even Germany was one of seven that busted the 3 percent barrier in 2001.  From 2000-2010 twelve other euro economies,
including France, stayed below the limit more consistently than Germany.

Comparable figures for low tax U.S. are 100
percent of GDP for total national debt and a budget deficit of 8.6
percent.  The U.S. has run up more than
twice as much national debt as Europe. Each person in the EU owes $19,522, but each
American is $48,860 in debt.  

A recent cartoon depicted the Statue of Liberty warning
off a boat loaded with euros.  She cries
out: “We don’t want your economic policies!” 
Actually both American and European governments have very similar
austerity plans: dramatic spending cuts (especially in Britain, Portugal,
Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Greece), which make it impossible for these
economies to grow enough to hire new workers and pay off their huge debts.  

There is strong correlation between economic growth under
Obama’s stimulus plan the slide towards recession after the money was spent.  The right-wing’s call for austerity driven
economic expansion is a dangerous illusion. 
It’s not working in Europe and it won’t work here either.

Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho
for 31 years.

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