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Uncle Sam? Uncle Socialist. Get the t-shirt!
No need for alarm, folks. President Bush said today that the partial nationalization of the banking system is an “essential short term measure to ensure the viability” of our highly dysfunctional financial system. Then Bush described these latest moves to stop the financial crisis on Wall Street from spreading as “unprecedented and aggressive”. Sounds like the makings of a fantastic reality TV series. How does “Extreme Money Makeovers” sound to you?
For starters, nine banks will be, as the Washington Post puts it, “partly” nationalized. The Post also noted the President stressed that this measure would in no way undermine America’s free market “principles.”
Bush said the government’s role would be “limited and temporary.” He wants us to know that these drastic actions to save our financial system from itself are necessary to preserve that cherished, yet quite ill, free market system.
This is a joke. Let’s be honest for once; we never had real free markets or capitalism in the first place. The federal government subsidizes a whole host of industry sectors. (Ever ask yourself why we have such an unhealthy love affair with corn?) And we have some very large social safety nets in place – ours just happen to be simultaneously expensive and inefficient, so many people feel they are nonexistent.
This latest stab at bailing out the banking system should make it clear to everyone: in the name of American values and Uncle Sam, our government champions warped free market principles during good times and then embraces outright socialism when the crud hits the fan. We let individuals keep the profits from their reckless schemes, but when they screw up, the whole country gets to share their losses.
My economy collapsed and all I got was this t-shirt
So, I made a new t-shirt called “Uncle Socialist” to celebrate the shenanigans of our government and the so-called “Free Market Musketeers.”
Pick up my t-shirt and show the world what you think.
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Tags: bailout, banking, capitalism, Cartoons, ethics, financial bailout, free markets, patriotism, socialism, t-shirts, Uncle-Sam, values, Wall-Street Discussion
3 comments for “Uncle Sam? Uncle Socialist. Get the t-shirt!”
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Don’t mix up socialism with the taking over of banks. Just because communist nations did that does not mean its socialist policy or even Marxist or marxian. In fact if you are Marxian you see this as both structural and endemic problem of capitalism. Take over of banks is a move by a capitalist corporate state trying to fend of another crisis in the system, a crisis in my opinion induced by ideas that began with Reagan and hopefully for the good of most Americans, will expire soon.
The ideal socialist state is according to Marx is small local democracies that keep (by implication the same mode of production) but that capital is now accumulated within those collectives and distributed by workers. There is nothing in marxist thought that encourages the take over of banks or industries by the state.
You are confusing, state intervention a Keynesian idea to rescue capitalism in the 30’s and communist command economy (designed to catch up with the west) with socialist ideas.
Is pure socialism being practiced anywhere today? The ideal set out by Marx was twisted to fit the desires of ruling elites right from the start.
This is the definition of socialism from Encyclopedia Britannica, which I believe applies to the current situation:
“social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.”
This is a very simplified definition. Your response shows that you have studied this subject with intensity and passion.
My point is that, in a state of panic, we seem to have shifted from private ownership along capitalist lines, to sharing ownership in failing private institutions, approaching the outlines of a socialist system. We are now “living in cooperation” as we ride toward the abyss.
I look forward to your reply. Cheers.
… and didnt Bush also say … that IRAQ would be A QUICK AND TEMPORARY SITUATION …