[Talisker]

Only those on the fringe left dream, these days, of socialism or central planning; in the current real world of DC, Jason Furman, whom Obama appointed earlier this year to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers, argues for a lower corporate income tax rate. Global competition has, indeed, melted away most kinds of socialism. Even liberals understand that you can’t rely on the Post Office to compete in a FedEx world; to compete against FedEx, you need UPS, not a unionized civil service.

Bizarre article. Libertarianism as neo-liberalism? Well hell, besides that 180 degree absolute opposite difference in claims of totalitarian enforcement authority, heck yeah, they're virtually identical!

Oh, that's covered by the quote above, that claims "only those on the fringe left dream, these days, of socialism or central planning"? Really? How about I blow that completely out of the water, to the moon, where we can watch it be vaporized into stardust and sprinkle down skittles and rainbows with one single word:

Obamacare.

[Q-ManRN]

I was also struck by these idealistic statements that socialism is fading away. Far too many people today are far too comfortable placing their faith in powerful, centralized governments. And you are right that Obamacare is a perfect example of that phenomenon.

I see modern liberalism/socialism as absolute authoritarian statism. Modern liberalism is the religion of socialists that places the government as a supposedly benevolent caretaker in the place of God. And liberals are zealous defenders of their faith in the powerful government.