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. Lets 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. Whats 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, its 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 ones 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. Thats right around average for advanced economy but far gloomier than South Korea (52) and emerging Asian nations such as Vietnam (94%) and China (85%).
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I think the word “but” should be replaced by the word “and” in the title.
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.
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.
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
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.
~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.
Really?
Then why do Democrats cheat during elections?
Why do Democrats consistently oppose requiring voter ID?
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.
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)
“The future is dark”
That sounds racist to me but true.
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.
Fascism is what it is.
Would be nice if we actually had one.
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.
I certainly wish the US had a free market system
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.
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.
Thank you.
Sums it up nicely.
Smiley Face Fascism, but Fascism nonetheless.
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