Man

I need to blog more ... lately though I've actually been avoiding the news it's just too depressing that so many people are so out of touch in this country. Though I suppose it shouldn't really be that surprising. I saw a poll that had been done recently (of course I can't find the article now), but in generic terms what it found was that 70% of Americans over the age of (I think it was) 50 had a favorable view of Capitalism and the Free-Market economy and an unfavorable view of Socialism and a Centrally-Planned economy. Under the age of 30 (or so), however, the numbers were more akin to 80% in favor of Socialism and Centrally-Planned economy ... and yet let's step back and take a look at something:

Specifically the USSR (for those youngsters among us that is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the poster child for a Centrally-Planned, Socialist style government) was founded in 1922 and dissolved in 1991.

Likewise it was in 1921 that the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded and it wasn't until 1943 that it actually came to power by defeating the Nationalist Party in a long and bloody civil war. The CPC is still the ruling body of the Peoples Republic of China, but in recent years has been moving more toward a more Free-Market approach to their economy.

The two largest Communist/Socialist 'empires' if you will ... One collapsed almost 20 years ago, bankrupt, and the other is moving away from a Centrally-Planned economy. The USSR lasted 69 years ... if you take it back to the start of the revolution then it lasted 74 years, maybe a little longer. The People's Republic of China is only 67 years old (89 if you go back to the CPC's founding) and is no longer a purely Socialist / Centrally-Planned economic model.

Conversely, the USA founded upon individual liberty, Capitalism, and the Free-Market was founded in 1776. To date it has stood roughly 234 years. When the USSR and CPC were founded the USA's model of Capitalism had been operating for 145 years.

This is where some people point out that we aren't a purely Capitalist economy anymore either, and that is true. Since the Great Depression (and FDR's 'New Deal') socialism has been eating away at the capitalist structure of this country and since then we have seen the greatest losses of economic liberty, the greatest growths of government, and the greatest decline in power. The New Deal and many of the later growths and mutations of the policies that stemmed from it contain some of the biggest problems in American government today ... Social Security (which was known at the time to be unsustainable and only meant to be a temporary system until a better version could be enacted), the FHA (which would eventually lead to FreddyMac/FannieMae), the SEC, and eventually Medicare.

Whether we would have survived had we not incorporated some of these socialist systems into our economic model is impossible to say. I believe that operating on a pure, or nearly pure, Capitalist/Free-Market system is possible ... and I believe that it is infinitely more likely than a purely Socialist/Centrally-Planned system operating successfully for any significant length of time.

In any case ... why is it that so many seem more than willing to move away from the system that has worked the longest and brought more people out of poverty than any other system in history, in favor of a system that seems to burn itself out in about 70 years. Why are we trying to become more like a system that failed? Do we want long bread lines, longer hours and lower pay? Because that's what the USSR was best known for ... and that isn't from text books or propaganda reels, that's from talking to some clients here at work that lived over there before the fall.

Maybe part of the reason that the young ones do have a more favorable view of Communism/Socialism is simply the fact that the USSR fell almost 20 years ago. They didn't see and hear about the problems, about the living conditions of anyone not in the political class, and things of that nature. They've heard stories, sure, but those are just propaganda, and besides they have all the answers, they'll do it right.

Pardon me if I don't hold my breath ......