Not Exactly Marx

[Nbadan]

...the conservative socialists?

Obama To Ask Agency Heads For Budget Cuts
WILL LESTER | April 18, 2009 07:34 AM EST | AP

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Saturday he will ask all of his department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets at his Cabinet meeting early next week as he searches for ways to streamline government spending.

Obama, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad this weekend, said in his weekly radio and Internet address that he would make the request for cuts Monday at a Cabinet meeting.

"In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," he said. "In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."

Huff

What's next? Shaking hands with leftist leaders like el jefe and Hugo?

[AntiChrist]

You don't really know what socialism is, do you?

[Nbadan]

social or fiscal?

[Winehole23]

You don't really know what socialism is, do you?

The relevance of Marx here is about zero.

What do you want to teach us about socialism, Darrin?

[ChumpDumper]

This should be good.

[PixelPusher]

Thursday, April 09, 2009
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Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

Here's the thing - I don't think the uptick in favorability for socialism is due to any resurgence in Marxist ideology, but rather the result of right wing radio and Fox News discovering that using the word "liberal" as a verbal club wasn't working anymore, so they ratcheted it up to "socialist" to compensate. Naturally, they used it recklessly and irresponsibly, assigning it to anything and everything to the left of Grover Norquist, like safety and environmental regulations, Medicare, Social Security...you know, things that have nothing to do with "controlling the means of production", things an intellectually honest political scientist would correctly classify as liberal.

As a result of their hackery, people accepted their labeling at a face value and decided that this "socialism" doesn't sound all that bad, or too "out there" compared to the mindless free market dogmatism espoused by those same hacks. They might as well relabel that poll "Laizze-faire Capitalism vs. Mixed Market Capitalism"