Fair enough. My gripe is with Americans who think that anyone who advocates income redistribution is a socialist. The last time I switched on CNN (I can only do this about once every 2 months while retaining my sanity) I kept it on just long enough to hear Glenn Beck, with a straight face, say that in his opinion Obama was a Marxist. :rolleyes: ← until I dislocate my eyeballs
By your (eminently reasonable) definition, no European nation is even close to socialist, AFAICT.
Out of curiosity, do you get Fox News over in Qatar, and how quickly does your head explode after turning it on? 
Re: your AFAYCT - got it in one.
I haven’t bothered to look very hard (self-preservation and all), but I haven’t seen it while channel surfing.
It’s funny you mention this, because I was going to post that how, after thinking about this topic a while, I remembered that Americans, or maybe it’s just conservative Americans, consider wealth redistribution to be linked with socialism.
Although thinking about it, it might not be too far off base. I mean, consider this, under pure capitalism the money you have is the money you make yourself, whereas under communism it’s the government that provides for you using that “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” logic. So social programs could be seen as socialist because they fall somewhere inbetween. Hey, social is even in the name of social programs:D.
So, using American programs, Social Security, Medicare, and other such programs could be seen as socialist.
I think though that the reason people don’t like the term socialism is that it is usually used in a derogatory manner. At least here in the US.
And by the way, I don’t see socialism as bad in and of itself, as long as it’s in small doses. I personally believe that if something happens to you, it’s a good thing if the government steps in until you get back on your feet, if at all possible. So for example, unemployment, Medicare, and Medicaid I’m perfectly fine with.
Sure, in the same sense that anyone who complains about cultural decline and wants greater centralization of government power is a fascist. Of course, conservatives in the US are often called fascists and liberals socialists. But it is always a misuse of the relevant terms, and is always the result of some combination of ignorance and/or hostility on the part of the accuser.
What I said wasn’t a complaint or accusatory.
I didn’t intend for my reply to sound defensive.
Thus, the US military is socialist.
::Waits for air strike::
I would say that many European countries are Social Democracies or have a variation of a Social Democrat Party in the mix somewhere.
There aren’t any socialist countries in Europe. They’re all mixed economies, just like the US.
And now the US government just nationalized AIG. Socialists!
Mmm, I dunno if that’s exactly the case - an $85 billion loan repayable over two years, with warrants that could be turned into common stock only if 80% of shareholders approve as collateral, doesn’t sound like “We’re taking this over now” to me.
Who’s the new 80% shareholder as a result of the deal, though?
Yeah, that’s if the existing shareholders approve. And what happens to the warrants when the loan is paid back? (Actually I am asking, since I haven’t been able to find that out.)