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Uncle Joe

(58,112 posts)
Mon Aug 6, 2018, 08:09 AM Aug 2018

George Pyle: Anything that isn't welfare for the rich is now 'socialism'



(snip)

A younger generation is more likely to associate the term with, well, the civilized world. The United Kingdom, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, etc., etc. Nations where the democratically elected government serves its constituents by setting tax rates high and putting the money toward a wide range of public services, everything from clean and efficient public transit to extended paid maternity leave to universal health care provided through one or another pipeline.

If socialism sounds radical — pleasantly or not — it is because the U.S. is so much like a Third World kleptocracy where all is set to transferring income from the bottom to the top that anything that isn’t welfare for the rich has that label attached to it.

(snip)

Health care belongs in a more socialist model because it isn’t what the private sector is good at. Free marketeers are good, really good, scary good, at stuff. Cars, phones, TVs, mini-fridges, toothpaste, laptops, junk food, T-shirts, toys, scratching posts, novelty coffee cups. Stuff that can be thought up and test-marketed and focus-grouped and manufactured in such amazing bulk that the unit prices drop to a level that most people can afford. And if they can’t afford it they can do without. And if the company selling it goes out of business, it was a rational market decision.

Heath care is not stuff. It is life. It absolutely, positively has no place in a free market because the customer cannot walk away. If you can’t walk away, you aren’t a customer. You’re a victim.

(snip)

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/08/04/george-pyle-anything-that/

15 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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George Pyle: Anything that isn't welfare for the rich is now 'socialism' (Original Post) Uncle Joe Aug 2018 OP
Kicked and highly recc'ed! Wednesdays Aug 2018 #1
Perfectly stated! stuffmatters Aug 2018 #2
So well done. Thanks for posting, Uncle Joe. Rec., for sure. n/t Judi Lynn Aug 2018 #3
Thank you Judi Lynn Uncle Joe Aug 2018 #4
Kick Uncle Joe Aug 2018 #5
K&R Solly Mack Aug 2018 #6
K & R. Good piece, thanks for posting. Add in Canada :) appalachiablue Aug 2018 #7
Thank you appalachiablue Uncle Joe Aug 2018 #8
Very good! Missed it the first time around. mountain grammy Aug 2018 #9
Thank you mountain grammy Uncle Joe Aug 2018 #11
I love actor/comedian Tom Walker and his Johathon Pie character Puzzler Aug 2018 #10
Is there a particular video of Jonathan Pie that you have in mind Puzzler? Uncle Joe Aug 2018 #12
Yes, give me a while and I'll try and find it :) Puzzler Aug 2018 #13
Here's an interview with Walker in real life Puzzler Aug 2018 #14
And one of the newest greatest rants ... Puzzler Aug 2018 #15

Puzzler

(2,505 posts)
10. I love actor/comedian Tom Walker and his Johathon Pie character
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 09:12 PM
Aug 2018

and this is one of his best rants yet. Maybe the best.

FYI: In real life Tom Walker is a hard-left Labour Party supporter



-Puzzler

Puzzler

(2,505 posts)
14. Here's an interview with Walker in real life
Tue Aug 21, 2018, 10:57 PM
Aug 2018


(I’ll post the rant I like after, although I think it’s posted on DU already)

-Puzzler
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