Monday, October 12, 2009

The lie of the "advance" of socialism

Communist socialism was responsible for turning the world's largest wheat exporter (Russia) into the world's largest wheat importer in a few short decades. That same Communist-socialist form of collectivism was able to turn the African continent's wealthiest nation (Ethiopia) into that continent's most destitute nation in only 17 years.

As F.A. Harper has rightly said:

"[Socialism]... due to its inability to generate any accumulation of the tools required for an advanced society,... must subsist on the confiscation of what has already been produced under some other plan; it has to parasitize something. The confiscation of private property is civilization in retreat."
The leftist avant garde is, despite their motives and intent, taking this nation and the world back to the caves and jungles, not forward to utopia.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to argue about socialism and to what extent it's role played upon Ethiopia's decline.. but I just wanted to make a comment that nothing happens in a vacuum. In the 17 year period quoted (roughly 1975-1991), Ethiopia experienced an extreme drought that brought on famine that exists to present day. Not mentioning it and placing all of the blame squarely upon "socialism" doesn't present an accurate portrayal of that period.

RDCushing said...

So are you suggesting is that Ethiopia had never experienced drought before that might have affected the nation's wealth? Can you name any other nation in the world so dramatically affected by drought that it essentially wiped-out a very wealthy nation's economic resources?

And, how do you explain what happened in Russia? You make no comment regarding the fine economic "advance" of Communist socialism in that nation. A nation where one had to wait two years or longer to get an automobile and where the single largest cause of residential fires was exploding television sets. A nation where the workers, in ultimate sarcasm, began to say amongst themselves, "As long as the government continues to pretend to pay us, we will continue to pretend to work."

Anonymous said...

Listen: I'm NOT saying socialism didn't contribute to the problems in Ethiopia: they most certainly did IMO. I'm just saying that ALL of their issues cannot be blamed upon socialism. As much as I don't want to defend socialism, I must point out a 'counter' to your argument. While Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union are obvious examples of government smothering the populace's ability to change, adapt and evolve, what do you say about some of today's "successful", more socialist countries?

Nine European countries place ahead of the United States in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product — Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Netherlands — all socialist countries. While trailing, the United Kingdom, Austria, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany come up close on the heels of the United States. Considering the fact that these countries generally have less natural resources than the US while offering extensive government services (free medical care, ridiculously generous unemployment income, and retirement benefits to name a few) — one might argue that free-market systems like the US have flaws and disadvantages.

Thoughts?

RDCushing said...

The sad, but nonetheless true, answer to your question about rankings is that the U.S. economy has NEVER been a genuine free market economy. We have always had a "mixed economy."

However, government interventions in the U.S. economy have dramatically increased since the turn of the 20th century -- yet, we still have led the world economically most of that century. Unfortunately, the pull of government taxes and interventions is like gravity, with the "thrust" of free market entrepreneurship trying to escape it's downward force. The more government intervenes and burdens the free market with taxes and needless regulation, the more difficult it is for the free market to maintain its momentum.

The fact is, the U.S. is becoming MORE socialist and MORE interventionist day by day. That's why we've fallen behind other socialist nations of late. It was not so until quite recently. It has been our DECLINE, not their wondrous GROWTH that has made it so.

RDCushing said...

And one other thought: None of the nations you mention in your post are purely "socialist" either. They operate a "mixed economy," unlike what was attempted in the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia under communist socialism. The further these nations move toward a full implementation of socialism, the more complete will be their economic decline.

The former Soviet Union always had difficulty keeping food shelves stocked with quality merchandise in its stores. Then, under the auspices of perestroika, Gorbachev and the Central Committee began to allow agricultural workers to farm 3 percent (if I recall correctly) of the land "for profit."

Within one growing season, 80 percent of the produce reaching the store shelves in the Soviet Union was being grown on 3 percent of the land! I wonder why.