Social Spending and Welfare State Programs Are Popular the World Over

I always get a chuckle out of listening to wealthy people and wealthy to me is anybody making over 100K a year telling me that rich people are elitist and bad for our country. You know to each his own. You earn it or inherit then it’s yours and all the power to you. I make under 70K a year and support two children on my own (widower). I don’t expect the government to take care of me or help me make my life easier. I enjoy earning my own way and having self respect. I guess I am a dying breed. Are people in Socialist country really happier. I rarely see or hear of regular citizens telling everybody how happy they are living in a socialist or Communist country. Why is that? Everybody should be flocking to those countries if it is such a great political system to live under.

It’s a rare rich person who has the balls to go against his own class and become what they called FDR, a traitor to his class. It takes a lot of nerve to do that because really you are operating against your own self-interest. The Teddy Kennedys are not laughing stocks; they are saints and angels. It’s not an easy thing to do. Most folks just follow their own class interests. The rich are an elite in all nations, and in all nations on Earth, the agenda of the rich is always bad for all other classes. Generally it’s the top 2 Most people in European style socialist countries or in countries that have those kinds of programs anywhere on Earth do not want to get rid of the system and they do not want to get rid of those programs. The US is really the only country on the face of the Earth where majorities regularly agitate for and actually vote out social spending or welfare state style programs. In the rest of the world, people can’t get enough of them. Once you put in welfare state or social spending programs, people almost never vote to get rid of them, and they could vote that stuff out anytime they want. Politicians often try to or actually do get rid of these programs, but there is always a huge fight from the majority that opposes them when they do this. In the rest of the world, the only people who oppose social spending and welfare state programs are the rich and upper middle classes and the capitalist interests of those states. With the vast majority, these programs are wildly popular. The US is fairly unique on Earth in that majorities regularly oppose social spending and welfare state programs. I can’t think of another country on Earth where this is true. Of course people are happier to have these programs. The people voted them in, they love the programs, and they fight like wildcats when people try to take them away.

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0 thoughts on “Social Spending and Welfare State Programs Are Popular the World Over”

  1. ‘I don’t expect the government to take care of me or help me make my life easier.’
    You don’t expect the government to take care of you but one day you might need it to. The hardest working people can be made redundant or fall on hard times.
    Granted some people have that attitude of entitlement and expect the government to support them. And you definitely get people who take advantage of benefits/welfare, to the annoyance of everybody else. But is it worth eliminating welfare just to combat those people?
    It is much better for everybody to live in a society with an adequate social safety net. Most people need it at some point. Mental illness or old age or unemployment are things that happen to decent, ordinary people like you or your loved ones. You wont always be around to provide for your kids. One of them could find themselves homeless one day, if not for welfare. Its not always possible to find a job, even if you want one.
    The market can’t provide for all of the people, all of the time. It never has done up to now. In a purely capitalist country, with minimum government and no tax funded safety net, many people would fall out of society and into a state of utter degradation (many already do in America). It could begin just by losing your job. With no government support or savings, you are out on the street pretty soon. Probably third world slums and shanty towns would appear in places.
    ‘I enjoy earning my own way and having self respect. I guess I am a dying breed.’
    You know most people in socialist countries have jobs and contribute to the economy, right?
    ‘Are people in Socialist country really happier. I rarely see or hear of regular citizens telling everybody how happy they are living in a socialist or Communist country. Why is that? Everybody should be flocking to those countries if it is such a great political system to live under.’
    In my opinion, authoritarian communist countries sucked so badly in some respects that it out-weighed whatever benefits the system had. For one thing, it was an oppressive political system to live under. But there are different degrees and forms of socialism and its at least theoretically possible for socialism or communism to be combined with democratic freedoms and elections, just as it is possible to have a capitalist dictatorship.
    Generally, European countries like Britain have aspects of socialism. I think Bob Lindsay goes too far to actually define those countries as socialist, because practically all of the means of production are privately owned and run on capitalist principles. But Britain has socialist elements (it did used to be more socialist before the privatisation of the transport and energy sectors in the 80’s), such tax funded, universal healthcare (hospitals are owned by the government/public) and social housing.
    Everybody who lives in Britain is gaurenteed healthcare, which is widely popular.
    Some people slip through the net and end up homeless but many less than would without social housing or at least housing benefits. And the welfare system could be improved, of course.

    1. Even universal free education is socialist in the sense I’ve been talking about. You have a socialised education system in America but a politician couldn’t suggest universal, free healthcare without being branded a dirty socialist radical who is out to destroy America. Go figure, as you say.

      1. That’s because most of us have been to public school and don’t want a similar experience with health care.

        1. Nobody forced you to go to public school. You could always have gone to private school. And anyway, even with national health care, you would still go to a private doctor. The only difference would be that the payer would be the state. And if you didn’t want the state to pay, you could always just buy your own insurance or pay out of your pocket. Even with single payer, no one would force you to use the system.

  2. You are right on our education system and look where that has got us. I work in the Education System and it is resistant to any type of change or modifications. You hit that one right on the nail head!

  3. No! I don’t Robert. I would like to see some of our brightest minds develop and grow our education system into a more flexible institution that can adjust to change and so laden in governemnt regulations and red tape that makes almost impossible to make improvements.
    Everybody should have access to the best education we can provide no matter where you live or what economic issues you might face.

    1. so you are in favour of public education then. what did I hit the nail on the head about? The fact that a public education system is fundamentally a good thing?

  4. It is if it is a flexible education system that can adapt/change to meet the needs of those it educates.

  5. “I always get a chuckle out of listening to wealthy people and wealthy to me is anybody making over 100K a year telling me that rich people are elitist and bad for our country.”
    I make three figures. Don’t mind higher taxes at all. Won’t actively participate in movements but if they do get raised, will be ok with it and plan my expenses accordingly.
    “I don’t expect the government to take care of me or help me make my life easier. I enjoy earning my own way and having self respect. I guess I am a dying breed.”
    You drive on a road? Use a public library? Walk in a park? Went to Public school? Piss in a public restroom? Visited the Zoo? Aquarium? Surely the government has taken care of you. You’d think that with your 70K salary you could build miles of roads? You are a different breed indeed.
    By the way, it is hilarious that the state of GA has 159 counties for such a small state. See, they loved the government when whites ruled, slavery dominated and later on, blacks were segregated. Since desegregation, the mantra is all about “less government”. 159 counties buddy: only after Texas.

  6. Why do so many Americans think that public education stinks? The performance of white American highschool students on PISA doesn’t compare badly with the performance of their European counterparts. Granted, the average 18 year old American is not a fountain of general knowledge or a math wizard, but that is true everywhere. There are limits to the educability of people because the average person is neither highly intelligent nor burning with intellectual curiosity.
    Knocking public education must be a manifestation of the stupid belief held by so many Americans that governments can’t do anything right, unless government employees wear a uniform, such as in the military, the police and with jail guards. Strange! Put a person on the public payroll to teach and he will a hopeless incompetent, put him on the payroll as a police officer or soldier and he will be a selfless patriot and servant of the public good. Very strange indeed!
    Cheers. James

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