Tuesday, June 30, 2009

George Reisman On Socialism

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"Socialism is not actually a positive economic system. It is merely the negation of capitalism and its price system; as such the essential nature of socialism is one and the same as the economic chaos resulting from the destruction of the price system by price and wage controls"



"I need to anticipate a possible misunderstanding concerning my thesis that socialism is totalitarianism by its very nature. This concerns the allegedly socialist countries run by social democrats such as Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries which are clearly not totalitarian directorships.

"In such cases, it is necessary to realize that along with these countries not being totalitarian, they're also not socialist. Their governing parties may espouse socialism as their philosophy and their ultimate goal, but socialism is not what they have implemented as their economic system. Their actual economic system is that of a hampered market economy, as Mises termed it.

"While more hampered than our own in important respects, their economic system is essentially similar to our own in that the characteristic driving force of production and economic activity is not government decree but the initiative of private owners motivated by the prospect of private profit."

at 3:24 PM
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJune 30, 2009 at 7:59 PM

    One could argue that a function of government is to regulate capitalism. This appears to be an essential function of government after the financial meltdown in the US. It is clear that capitalism needs to regulated and the 'invisible hand of free enterprise' frequently needs to be rapped on its knuckles.'

    The Europeans have a more equitable system than in the US. Europeans are now taller, healthier and happier than Americans.

    You can call it socialism, people-ism or the welfare state. The European approach to government is more humane than the bad deal Republicans have been offering the average American.

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