Putin Warns The US Against Socialism

Young Amercians Documentary ^ | 2/16/09 | Pat Dollard

[pissant]

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”

Putin also cautioned the US against using military Keynesianism to lift its economy out of recession, saying, “in the longer run, militarization won’t solve the problem but will rather quell it temporarily. What it will do is squeeze huge financial and other resources from the economy instead of finding better and wiser uses for them.” Putin’s comments come in sharp contrast to Russia’s own military buildup and expansion.

Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”

“The time for enlightenment has come. We must calmly, and without gloating, assess the root causes of this situation and try to peek into the future.”

[listenhillary]

I did, that is why I posted the link. ;)

[Revolting cat!]

Everything you know about Putty (and parrot above), you know from the MSM. How come no one here questions it as they question EVERY bitty MSM report on our darling George W. Bush? Rhetorical question, of course, but the power of the MSM is ever underestimated. I’m no fan of Putty, to anticipate the flames, but I know that you don’t know and don’t know that you don’t know!

[pandoraou812]

Well said.

[pandoraou812]

I have the same fears for Sassy. I remember sitting in the school hallways with our heads on our knees. I really thought that the iron curtain was an actual curtain made of mesh when I was a child. I would ask my mother how it worked. I let Sassy watch the news, sometimes she reads posts on FR, I don't hide things from her as do my friends from their children. I figure she may as well know what is going on in the world.

[txhurl]

I meant read as in 'did read it myself'... and although I'm not finding any expressed or oblique reference to socialism, these paragraphs are good:

-------- In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.

[mowowie]

Un-freaking believable.

[SuperLuminal]

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev must laughing his ass off in hell and screaming "I told you so!".

"Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you," [4] a reference to the Marxist saying, "The proletariat is the undertaker of capitalism"......

[pissant]

I have no clue what you are getting at.

[listenhillary]

Yes, I thought about posting that section. Those paragraphs were sent out with my emails with the link to the speech.

Russia even has a flat tax I believe. Black is white, up is down. We’re definitely in Heinlein’s “crazy years”

[Revolting cat!]

Russia even has a flat tax I believe.

If not Russia, then other countries in the region. Slovakia, for example, once the poorest country in their neighbourhood, now the only growing economy in Europe, according to this week's WSJ.

Why? Radical reforms, which are no longer possible in an old corrupt democracy such as ours. Small countries may be corrupt in small ways, we are corrupt in big ways. It will take a violent revolution to reform and simplify our tax code. The bribes (euphemistically called something else to keep up the appearances) to maintain it as is and "improve" it, are the bread and butter of every single U.S. congressman and senator.

[txhurl]

Chicago and Islam can not and will not be able to believe that we red states will not tolerate them.

Until they get schooled. Which is coming.

[MtnMan101]

I've lived too long and the world has taken a turn for the surreal. Putin warning of Socialism! Our Media hiding the truth. INSANE! OPEN THE BOX, Arrest the Guy, Try him for Treason AND BE DONE WITH THIS MADNESS

[Yardstick]

LOL!

Go Pootie-Poot!

[flash2368]

“The Russian people are also rediscovering their profoundly religious beliefs of the Russian Orthodox church. Not too long ago, Putin even convinced atheist Cuba to allow the construction of a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Havana. This is a side of Putin rarely seen in the West, as the secular leader of a very Christian people, with very traditional moral values.”

You nailed it right on...I see the exact things. I guess not a lot of people know it but Vladimir Vladimirovitch also had an authentic wooden orthodox church built at his country home a few years ago.

At least the Russians “know who they are”.. seems we have lost any real sense of ourself as a nation.

[jessduntno]

“So,....Putin is more conservative than Obama. Who knew?”

I DID!!

[ichabod1]

Jeez-Louise, this guy is as smart as he is dangerous. I really do admire him, while at the same time he scares me almost as much as “that man in the wh” does.

[LibertyRocks]

If Putin really wanted to help us out, he could always release some of HIS files on Obama (and his parents). Some people have suggested that the Communists knew a LOT about little Barry for quite a while now...

I wonder if Putin realizes that Obama is more of an Islamic Fascist than a Comrade Communist, yet?

[ichabod1]

So, let’s see how this worked. We had simple capitalism, robber barons, and all the rest. Then we had a stock market crash. Then we had a recession. Then we got socializm, and we never recovered from the recession. Then we got a BIG WAR and everything was essentially command economy.

So, we actually WERE socialist, and we WEREN’T the “America we once had.” So what happened?

Seems like there was a somewhat successful pushback against the commies in the fifties and sixties. They fought back in the late sixties and torched Nixon in the seventies, but then things got so bad that we swung back to the right in the 80s and had a whole generation of growth and prosperity that even eclipsed that of the late fifties and sixties, which many of us never thought possible.

So, why do we listen to the commies now? Why do we let them trash us once again?

[ichabod1]

Makes me wonder also about his prediction that we’d split into 5 superstates.

I've been thinking about that. Republic of California, Republic of Texas, Republic of Chicago, Republic of New England, and Republic of Florida. Surrounding states could latch on or not. I see Texas and Oklahoma forming a very strong bond, but a state like New Mexico -- I don't know what happens to it. It could be ceded back to Mexico. I don't know if Texas will want to support the entire vastness of West Texas either. It's just too much territory to defend, and there isn't that much that's economically viable out there. It might become wilderness, with the border being drawn south from Lubbock through the Amarillo area and on down to Brownsville or maybe Eagle Pass. The Northern Tier of states might want to consider joining Canada. Everybody has to be aligned with a state that has enough manpower to provide military defense. Chicago will dominate the Great Lakes region, and could possibly encapsulate Toronto. It will all fall into gloomy disrepair, but they may be militarily adventurous, seeking booty as they produce nothing. Some kind of republic probably would happen in the southeast. Republic of Florida? I don't know. Florida woould probably be a heavy, heavy player in it, but the capitol might be at Atlanta. I think it would be great fun. We could all spend great quantities of labor and wealth creating weapons to defend ourselves against "the Others", but there will be lots and lots of work to do, and hopefully, if people don't work they won't eat. Arizona will probably be claimed by California.