Socialism is the New Capitalism

Interesting.

Some basic definitions that I use:
Economy refers to the people who participate in the production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services of a particular geographic and political area.

The definition of capitalism is an economic and social system in which capital, defined as the non-labour factors of production (also known as the means of production) such as investment funds, land, technology, factories, equipment etc are privately owned.

This sets up a three class infrastructure. The upper class and lower class are of small size. The focus of this type of economy is on the middle class, and the expansion of private property rights to include the majority of the population is a key attribute of capitalism.

Socialism and its ilk, such as fascism, tribalism and communism reject private property rights and insert the government as the economic owner of capital or wealth production. The problem with this structure is that it obviously rejects the middle class. It sets up a two class system; the elite who govern and the masses who are ruled.

A direct result of this two-leveled infrastructure is that the society comes to a screeching halt; it loses all capacity to adapt because innovation and small business emerges only from individuals. Not masses.

An economy with over 25% of the GDP in the control of the government is no longer capitalist but socialist. Dead.

What ET said.....
Greece calls itself capitalist....
China calls itself communist/collectivist.
China is more capitalist than Greece.
But then East Germany called itself democratic...

Toronto

I used to live in Greece in late eighties. Lovely country, great people, however there is a dark side.

"Corruption in Greece has been systematically cultivated by all governments and parties. Everyone has relatives living off the public sector in cushy, do-nothing jobs. They get paid through various funding sources that successive governments have created so even though the nominal wage is low the actual take home and all benefits are quite high."

One of the big contributors has gotta be the extent of corruption in the country.

I read that tax compliance is very small, that public workers will charge you for doing their job after hours, that the bureaucrats will charge for doing their jobs and that the decision makers get kickback all the time.

That my friends makes them into Africa and Ukraine and very prone to failure.

Captain says it well. Socialism/Marxism is constantly attempting to delude Joe-six-pack into thinking that the ideology supports him, when in fact it seeks to enslave him.

bryanr, Toronto??? What a cesspool!! But like Sodom and Gomorrah, there must be some good people there, somewhere.

Have to agree with all of the above. Anyone who has voted NDP or Liberal in the past and believes in a socialist society should visit Cuba and see where the social experiment has taken them in the last fifty years. And don't come back with the communism isn't socialism argument, I'm not here to split hairs. If the elite have their way all of the middle class peons will be lining up cap in hand, waiting to be told what to do by elitists who wouldn't know what the working end of a hammer is, and they're going to tell us how to build the great society.

The welfare state of Greece is coming to an end.....much like the fate of Quebec here in Canuckistan.

Last night on Hannity, a liberal Poli Sci professor tried to get away with the old misdirection that there are many different types of socialism. That's like saying there are different types of baseball teams.

The definition of socialism is extremely simple: government or collective control over the means of producing private goods.

While not definitive, socialism almost universally redistributes income or wealth.

Re: "Everyone has relatives living off the public sector in cushy, do-nothing jobs"

Is it that difficult for the Greeks to figure out why economic production is in the tank when half the population isn't producing anything valuable?

Look at all the old fossils in Ottawa. There has never been an NDP gov't in Ottawa. I guess it's ok if it's Tories or Liberals.

This is list of topic government need to review as soon as opened:
==============================================
Let’s go one more step closer to cause of action to the origin of cigar that is controlled by farmers who are growing tobacco used for making cigar in Ontario or other location by government regulations

...../wiki/Ontario_tobacco_belt

The Ontario tobacco belt is the tobacco-growing region located in Norfolk County and eastern Elgin County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Being close to the north shore of Lake Erie, the region has moderate climate with sandy and silt-loam soils well-suited to a wide variety of crops. High-value horticultural crops are valuable here and can be grown with relative ease. About 90% of all tobacco grown in Canada is produced here.[1] Members of Parliament elected to ridings in the Ontario tobacco belt have strong pro-tobacco policies in addition to other policies in the interest of their rural constituents The irony comes from the fact that farmers protest against the regulations that keep them in business.[1]
Or look for better Farming in Ontario:

/www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/environment/efp/efp.htm

More references:

://ontag.farms.com/

" better farming in ontario 2010 to buy farm agriculture " by google.ca

"WORKING PAPER #33
Hobby Farming – For Pleasure or Profit?" by google

-www.ontariosoilcrop.org/en/Programs/GYFP091.htm

-www.countyofrenfrew.on.ca/developmentproperty/Agr/RenfrewCountyFarmNews-Winter2009.pdf

Where do you like to move a) city or b) farm? Why?
What crop gives more profit to farmer or to public?

Help farmers in education, soil, water, housing, safety security, fun entertainment, tax, farm equipment, insects and hazardous, borders, water plumbing, financial assessments,tractors, workers,illegal competition, marketing, Agriculture and residential, industrial zoning...Help Farmers means you help yourselves
switch them from grow bad crop to good used one