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Poll: Americans are still individualists who love capitalism — but they think the future is dark
American Enterprise Institute ^ | October 10, 2014 | James Pethokoukis

Posted on 10/12/2014 9:56:12 AM PDT by george76

Edited on 10/12/2014 10:35:41 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

Some fascinating results from a new Pew Research survey of global opinion. Let’s start with the US: 70% of Americans still think most people are better off under a free-market system, even if some people are rich and some are poor. That compares to 63% for the average advanced economy. What’s more, 73% and 62% think working hard and getting a good education, respectively, are very important to getting ahead in life vs. 40% and 39% for the average advanced economy. (For France, by the way, it’s 25% and 24%.) Finally, just 40% think success is determined by forces outside out control vs. 51% for the average advanced economy.

So Americans still have a great faith in the power of individual effort to make one’s own breaks and climb the ladder of success. At the same time, though, they are worried about what the future holds with just 30% confident that the next generation will be better off than the current one. That’s right around average for advanced economy but far gloomier than South Korea (52) and emerging Asian nations such as Vietnam (94%) and China (85%).

more


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: capitalism; freemarkets
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1 posted on 10/12/2014 9:56:12 AM PDT by george76
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To: george76

I think the word “but” should be replaced by the word “and” in the title.


2 posted on 10/12/2014 10:04:17 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing)
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To: george76

What Americans say and how they vote are 2 different things. Ask these same people if they are willing to give up their subsidies, government loans, welfare, licensing rules that protect them from competitors, etc. and I’m sure you will get a much different response.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries of government spending are businesses of various kinds. Food stamps are a boon to farmers and grocery store owners.


3 posted on 10/12/2014 10:04:33 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: george76

The U.S. is already a functional State Capitalist/Police State.

With 40% marginal tax rates on anyone with an income over subsistence, and the “Public” portion of the economy running at 30% (which is way low), we now have an economy which is more about government then England in the Middle Ages under Feudalism.

The Police State is necessary to keep the Serfs working and to put down any unrest when they sense that the Aristocratic Class living in the Beltway might really just be unnecessary and are nothing more then parasites.

There is no investment based on pooled capital; it’s all funny money from the Reserve Bank, and debt on a scale unseen in human history.

And the only beneficiaries are the Made Guys who work in the bureaucracies, who figured out long ago that Civil Service now means working for biggest and baddest gang in town. Nothing More.


4 posted on 10/12/2014 10:06:21 AM PDT by Regulator
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To: george76

Is it a free market system when there is so much corruption?

I don’t think that the situation we’re in such that the chamber of Commerce is so influential over politicians (republicans) that we can’t even get our borders closed when there’s a deadly virus, never mind changing our language and culture for the southern out of control migration) is actually free market capitalism.

We think of the monopoly guy, and kids getting into their careers are dreaming of six figures with no one to disabuse them of that drug induced notion, but it’s really the small business operator who runs the machine, and they are on the wane


5 posted on 10/12/2014 10:07:37 AM PDT by stanne
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To: george76; All
Hardly surprising that so many Americans are pessimistic. They have been manipulated by a minority, leftists and liberals, into perceiving anti-liberals and anti-leftists as the minority and the leftists/liberals as the majority.

Democrats aggressively oppose voter ID and promote Motor Voter registration for a reason. Democrats cheat in elections for a reason.

They have to cheat because if they didn't, they'd lose. Why? Because they're the minority. However, they dominate in the media and pop culture, creating the illusion that there are more of them than there actually are. Sure, there are a lot of leftists and liberals in America, but not enough to win elections legitimately. THAT's why they have to cheat. And the reason so many Americans hold their fellow Americans in contempt for "electing these clowns" is because they have been bamboozled by the MSM/pop culture illusion that liberals are the majority, when in reality liberals are ONLY the majority in the MSM/pop culture and fraudulently-won elected office.

Everywhere else, in real America, on the ground, liberals are scorned and held in contempt by MOST people, probably two out of three or very close to it.

There are so many whining whimpering self-pitying conservatives who wail about how "stupid" Americans are. Just talked with one last night, in fact, who clung tightly and stubbornly to his ego-gratifying position of perceiving himself as the small group of conservatives in America who are so much SMARTER than "everybody else." But when I asked him, repeatedly: "So why do Democrats cheat in elections?"

He had no answer. None.

6 posted on 10/12/2014 10:09:17 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: george76

~the US: 70% of Americans still think most people are better off under a free-market system, even if some people are rich and some are poor. ~

Well, we can only hope they are honest. Mankind has a chance in this case.


7 posted on 10/12/2014 10:10:57 AM PDT by wetphoenix
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To: Pining_4_TX
What Americans say and how they vote are 2 different things.

Really?

Then why do Democrats cheat during elections?

Why do Democrats consistently oppose requiring voter ID?

8 posted on 10/12/2014 10:12:30 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: Finny

Of course there is voter fraud, but what would happen to a farm state politician who voted against farm subsidies? Even in the reddest of red states, OK, Sen. Inhofe campaigns proudly on how much he has “done” (pork) for Oklahoma. When the army decided there was some cannon it no longer wanted, conservative Sen. Inhofe insisted it was vital to our military because some part of this equipment was manufactured in a small town in OK.

Defense contractors and others are smart about making sure they can influence how politicians vote. Nobody wants to give up his place at the trough. He wants the other guy to give up his.


9 posted on 10/12/2014 10:18:56 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: george76

Yeah, yeah. That’s what they say but I’ll bet if you asked about individual issues as to who should pay for their education, medical, etc the answer would be Government. (aka taxpayers)


10 posted on 10/12/2014 10:27:32 AM PDT by Vinnie
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To: george76

“The future is dark”

That sounds racist to me but true.


11 posted on 10/12/2014 10:28:31 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: george76

A country that leaves its borders open in the face of such disease and pestilence because it has become so crippled by PC mindthink, is a country that has sunk to almost unfathomable weakness. Add the sheer moral depravity of things like homo-marriage into the mix, and it appears nothing less than suicidal.

America has become a gutless and depraved nation. And, yes, it does kill me to both recognize that and say that. A few short generations ago, we were “John Wayne’s America.” But now we’re a weak, faggoty “pajama boy” nation. Just look at the pathetic leaders we’ve elected to run the country for evidence. The future indeed looks dark.


12 posted on 10/12/2014 10:29:07 AM PDT by greene66
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To: Regulator

Fascism is what it is.


13 posted on 10/12/2014 10:30:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (The "Fire Muschamp" tagline is back!)
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To: george76
70% of Americans still think most people are better off under a free-market system

Would be nice if we actually had one.

14 posted on 10/12/2014 10:31:40 AM PDT by dfwgator (The "Fire Muschamp" tagline is back!)
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To: Pining_4_TX; All
So ... my question remains unanswered. WHY does the left cheat? Even on the right -- Thad Cochran -- the left has to cheat.

What would happen to a farm state politician who voted against farm subsidies? You ASSUME he wouldn't be re-elected. Your assumption could very well be wrong; I am related to farmers and ranchers, and it is likely that you have yourself eaten produce from the farm that my great-great grandfather pioneered. And if you think that these farmer/rancher agriculturalist relatives of mine approve of farm subsidies, you are very much mistaken. I'm not saying that ALL farmers are opposed to them, but I am saying that your assumption may very well be in error.

The left HAS to cheat, the left HAS to seize control of public education, the left HAS to go the way of activist judges for override the will of the people, for a reason.

The single biggest challenge facing American patriots right now is garnering the courage to have faith in their fellow Americans. But the path of least resistance is always so tempting ... and believing that "everybody but us" is stupid and responsible for this screw-up, is a lot easier and takes zero courage.

15 posted on 10/12/2014 10:39:05 AM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: george76

I certainly wish the US had a free market system


16 posted on 10/12/2014 10:42:51 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Finny; george76; All

Are you suggesting Republicans do not lie as a matter of routine during elections and campaigns? Are you suggesting Republicans do not concoct dirty trick schemes/campaigns and they do not lie and attempt to manipulate votes?

Lets hear your answer Finny.


17 posted on 10/12/2014 10:42:53 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
I think the word “but” should be replaced by the word “and” in the title.

Thank you. Absolutely my first reaction as well.

The word "but" suggests we think the future is dark due to some failing of capitalism.

Such an interpretation would encourage socialists elsewhere on the globe.

18 posted on 10/12/2014 10:43:15 AM PDT by frog in a pot (We are all in the same pot.)
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To: george76
Poll: Americans are still individualists who love capitalism — but they think the future is dark

Why wouldn't they think it's dark? Most of them are free-market capitalists but their government is under the control of Big Government statists. The White House and Senate are under the control of the radical wing of the Big Government party, while the House of Representatives is under the control of the Republican Party, which for all practical purposes serves as the moderate wing of the Big Government party.

There is no political party representing the interests of small-government, free-market capitalists. Americans must opt between choices which offer no real choice - only hard-core Leftism hiding behind a paper mask of competency from the Democrats, or watered-down Leftism with a few head-fakes toward conservative principles from the Republicans.
19 posted on 10/12/2014 10:44:10 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: dfwgator

Thank you.

Sums it up nicely.

Smiley Face Fascism, but Fascism nonetheless.


20 posted on 10/12/2014 10:46:28 AM PDT by Regulator
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