socialisim in the us

Stalin: No government is to corrupt for socialism mister.

 

Honestly mass transit will never work in most of the United States, especially cities out west. Chicago, New York, Boston, they're old old, dense cities that have decent transportation(fun fact, the NYC metro is in fact the only metro in the world that runs 24/7, 365 days a year). But I mean look at LA, it is literally impossible to live in LA without a car, city was just no built that way, it's so spread out. Plus the population density thing is the main factor, even on the crowded east coast. Outside the D.C.-NYC-Boston metro area it can still be sparse. For example, Belgium has 11 million people packed into a country that is smaller than the state of South Carolina, which has 4.5 million people.

The SUV thing is annoying though, the good news is their sales are minuscule compared to what they were, it's just a lot of people bought a lot of big cars when it was assumed gas would be $1.70 forever. Our gas is still cheap though, average gallon in the United States cost about $2.80, average gallon in Belgium cost about $7.60. Americans would literally riot if we had to pay $7 for a gallon of gas.

That tax on gas though probably funds a lot of nice things, especially when you don't have the a ridiculously huge military to support.

 

i have done it; lots of people do it

it's not much fun, but it's possible

of course, half the reason it's no fun is that the mass transit system sucks . . .

 

That seems like some terrible form of torture.

 

Shit, that sounds pretty bad ass. Many countries in Europe seem to have a decent system of socialism down pretty well. God knows they're not perfect, but it bugs me when American conservatives point to, say, Sweden and claim "Their national debt is incredible, their unemployment always hovers around 9 percent etc." Claims like those just serve as a conversation killer in America, attributed to the black-and-white logic of SOCIALISM = BAD!!

Balancing our market culture with a real safety net would literally improve the lives of millions of citizens. Imagine a wife and husband in their 30s. They have socialized healthcare, so they save money on health costs. They went to college for a minimum amount of cash, as do their children. Their government doesn't actively work to weaken unions, so their pensions upon retirement don't vanish as soon as they go to collect it. By the time that couple was of retirement age, they'd be able to live comfortably.

Not, ya know, have to move into a one-room apartment in the bad side of town because their pittance of a social security check can't cover the rent.

Conservatives think a life of constant work and struggle to pay the bills and keep the house is just fine and dandy. Remember how that old broad told George W. how she worked three jobs? And he just sat there smiling, as if that WASN'T a crime that an old woman and citizen in good standing had to pull double shifts at Walmart to stay afloat. It's embarrassing.

No sane person can look at how we treat our most vulnerable citizens and not be ashamed.

 

I think you might be right, Socialism might get rid of some of the corruption in America. There would definitely be a big difference without the millions of $ of campaign bribes going around Washington.

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Remember on the flip side in Europe, cheap university only goes to certain people, it's not that everyone is going to school for free. If your grades weren't in say the top 1/3, you're basically paying for it all out of hand. We've made college diplomas the new high school diploma here so we have universities and colleges for every grade and income level, and the PELL grants and subsidized stratford loans can go to anyone.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pell_Grant

 

http://www.quickanded.com/2010/07/phoenix-makes-history.html

 

there is some interesting stuff out there about money-hoarding by private universities, i cannot find it right now and need to get some work done

[high school grad only]

 

PELL grants are awesome, if your income is low enough they'll pay for near 2/3 of a semester here at a state school in CT.

Makes sense though, the people getting the most money from Pell grants are the ones from socio-economic backrounds least likely to finish school in the 1st place, I should know, I was one of them. But at the same time there's tons of students in college on their parents money/federal and private loans/their own money who also never graduate.

Can't be going so bad, the US is tied with Spain for 4th in terms of the amount of 20 year olds enrolled in university.

# 1 Greece: 56%
# 2 Belgium: 46%
# 3 France: 42%
= 4 Spain: 38%
= 4 United States: 38%
# 6 Canada: 37%
# 7 Ireland: 35%
= 8 United Kingdom: 33%
= 8 Australia: 33%
= 8 Poland: 33%
= 8 New Zealand: 33%
# 12 Netherlands: 32%
# 13 Finland: 31%
# 14 Portugal: 30%
# 15 Norway: 28%
= 16 Hungary: 26%
= 16 Italy: 26%
= 18 Czech Republic: 23%
= 18 Sweden: 23%
# 20 Slovakia: 21%
# 21 Austria: 19%
# 22 Germany: 15%
= 23 Switzerland: 14%
= 23 Mexico: 14%
= 23 Iceland: 14%
# 26 Turkey: 13%
# 27 Denmark: 11%

granted the data is from 2002, I doubt any of the numbers have changed dramatically.

 

As long as you keep a 3.0 average in Georgia the Lottery will pay your tuitions for 4 years.

The V.A. paid for my AA degree and BEOG paid for the rest. That's what they used to call the PELL grant. I always got substantially more than I needed for tuition and books, which gave me a little food money. Plus, the first 2 years, the V.A. gave me almost $500 a month living expenses.

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Check ABC and PBS, it was on one of the 2 last night about their recruitment of unqualified students and leaving these people with huge debt for loans.

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Wait until the tea party realizes this is socialistic and demands it be destroyed.

 

amerika were mor better wen them kids was skooled bye there mom and dad's

 

In all honesty, when I finally do have kids I'm gonna try to teach them shit that I never learned.

If they learn more practical stuff (fixing appliances so they last longer, little plumbing stuff, basic car repair) they'll save a fuckload of cash. Teaching kids to be self sufficient will be vastly more important in the future, I think.

Most importantly, teach them to think for themselves. Once they got that down, college is peanuts.

 

quig, i see no problem with you assisting in the education of your kids, but if you keep them home all the time they will probably turn out to be unsocialized parrots like the homeschooled kids i see around here

 

lol Oh I'm still gonna send them to school. But I just have a low opinion of schools in general, mostly because I wasn't that bad of a kid...yet I still managed to steal, cheat, and do drugs wherever I pleased. And the most I ever got suspended for was smoking a cigarette in the bathroom and one time when a teacher caught me punching a dude in a crowded hallway between periods.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe Ron Paul said Obama is not a socialist. If that's true it's good enough for me.

I do recall seeing a picture of a lady holding a sign that said "keep your socialist hands off my medicare". That got a major lol out of me

 

I long for the day when we can educate our children so they can tell where a candidate stands on the issues without having to be told by his/her opponent where he stands. I long for the days when voters can no longer be deceived by such obvious lies. And most of all, I long for the day when someone puts a piece of duct tape over Sarah Palin's mouth.

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