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Nine Myths about Socialism in the US
Glenn Beck and other far right multi-millionaires are claiming that the US is hot on the path towards socialism. Part of their claim is that the US is much more generous and supportive of our working and poor people than other countries. People may wish it was so, but it is not. 
As Senator Patrick Moynihan used to say “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But everyone is not entitled to their own facts.”
The fact is that the US is not really all that generous to our working and poor people compared to other countries.
Consider the US in comparison to the rest of the 30 countries that join the US in making up the OECD – the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. These 30 countries include Canada and most comparable European countries but also include some struggling countries like Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Turkey. See www.oecd.org
When you look at how the US compares to these 30 countries, the hot air myths about the US government going all out towards socialism sort of disappear into thin air. Here are some examples of myths that do not hold up.
Myth #1. The US government is involved in class warfare attacking the rich to lift up the poor.
There is a class war going on all right. But it is the rich against the rest of us and the rich are winning. The gap between the rich and everyone else is wider in the US than any of the 30 other countries surveyed. In fact, the top 10% in the US have a higher annual income than any other country. And the poorest 10% in the US are below the average of the other OECD countries. The rich in the U.S. have been rapidly leaving the middle class and poor behind since the 1980s.
Myth #2. The US already has the greatest health care system in the world.
Infant mortality in the US is 4th worst among OECD countries – better only than Mexico, Turkey and the Slovak Republic.
Myth #3. There is less poverty in the US than anywhere.
Child poverty in the US, at over 20% or one out of every five kids, is double the average of the 30 OECD countries.
Myth #4. The US is generous in its treatment of families with children.
The US ranks in the bottom half of countries in terms of financial benefits for families with children. Over half of the 30 OECD countries pay families with children cash benefits regardless of the income of the family. Some among those countries (e.g. Austria, France and Germany) pay additional benefits if the family is low-income, or one of the parents is unemployed.
Myth #5. The US is very supportive of its workers.
The US gives no paid leave for working mothers having children. Every single one of the other 30 OECD countries has some form of paid leave. The US ranks dead last in this. Over two thirds of the countries give some form of paid paternity leave. The US also gives no paid leave for fathers.
In fact, it is only workers in the US who have no guaranteed days of paid leave at all. Korea is the next lowest to the US and it has a minimum of 8 paid annual days of leave. Most of the other 30 countries require a minimum of 20 days of annual paid leave for their workers.
Myth #6. Poor people have more chance of becoming rich in the US than anywhere else.
Social mobility (how children move up or down the economic ladder in comparison with their parents) in earnings, wages and education tends to be easier in Australia, Canada and Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway, and Finland, than in the US. That means more of the rich stay rich and more of the poor stay poor here in the US.
Myth #7. The US spends generously on public education.
In terms of spending for public education, the US is just about average among the 30 countries of the OECD. Educational achievement of US children, however, is 7th worst in the OECD. On public spending for childcare and early education, the US is in the bottom third.
Myth #8. The US government is redistributing income from the rich to the poor.
There is little redistribution of income by government in the U.S. in part because spending on social benefits like unemployment and family benefits is so low. Of the 30 countries in the OECD, only in Korea is the impact of governmental spending lower.
Myth #9. The US generously gives foreign aid to countries across the world.
The US gives the smallest percentage of aid of any of the developed countries in the OECD. In 2007 the US was tied for last with Greece. In 2008, we were tied for last with Japan.
Despite the opinions of right wing folks, the facts say the US is not on the path towards socialism.
But if socialism means the US would go down the path of being more generous with our babies, our children, our working families, our pregnant mothers, and our sisters and brothers across the world, I think we could all appreciate it.
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273 Comments so far
Show AllWhat is this guy, a Communist? But seriously folks, this data only underscores the fact that the average American(especially conservative) is an idiot.
It also underscores that the majority of the Tea-Party types are far from the simple salt-of-the-earth workers that they like to think they are - or they wouldn't be protesting so much to anything that even slightly hints of "socialism".
Lets have a simple and quick way to make are country socialist (or we can call it the reshuffling the economic deck), and that would be to have a nation wide lottery. Americans, or at least our leaders like to gamble, just take a look at all the crazy wars and power struggles were engaging in around the world. Hoping beyond hope that all these lemon wars will line up and bingo we'll win the giant colossal payoff of corporate capitalist victories all over the globe and McDonalds and WalMarts will pop up everywhere with the next big win being out space infinite chain letter expansion right up to the footsteps of corporate heaven.
Here's the scheme:
Starting with a million dollar raffle which would just be a warm up kind of like the pre-runner in a downhill race.
This would produce in each state one winner of:
$20,000
One billion raffle would produce in each of the 50 states:
20 millionaires
One trillion, which is just a fraction of what we gave the banksters would produce in each state:
20,000 millionaires ... some estemates say we gave the banksters 4 trillion.... which would be 80,000 millionaires each.
One trillion is also about what we spend each years on national war, spying, imprisoning various malcontents who don't bend to the corporate playbook.
Lets not forget the biggest badest socialistic juggernaut in the world: the United States Department of War and Imprisonment with it near trillion dollar budget a year. Spending as much as most of the rest of the world does on bullying.
Here you get FREE housing, food, health care, cloths, transportation and a coffin all for just being a killing mercenary for corporate power.
No, Eagle Bill,
Not idiots, just ignorant and uninformed. Which is not surprising considering the state of our media and schools.
The bottom line is this. If you think of people as idiots you can't educate or organize them. If you think they are merely ignorant, you can.
The guys at WSW hate Obama more than Beck does, I always wondered if Obomber was such a socialist why they didn,t embrace him?
Never underestimate the stupidity of the american people!
"But if socialism means the US would go down the path of being more generous with our babies, our children, our working families, our pregnant mothers, and our sisters and brothers across the world, I think we could all appreciate it."
Who is "we" in this context? Common Dreams readers? Well, then maybe you're right. Americans as a nation? Hell no! Most Americans outside a few liberal oases would be clutching their Horatio Alger novels and bellowing about their tax dollars being used to support "losers".
This tax year, 47 percent of USAns - mostly families withe low or moderate incomes, paid no taxes. The bottom 40 percent on average, get a net gain (mostly the EIC) from the IRS.
Of course, state and local taxes make up for this by (in most states) being terribly regressive. In Washington State, in the supposedly "progressive" northwest, the bottom 20% pay 17% of their income in state and local taxes and the top 1% pay just 2.9%.
So, most of this bellowing, toward the federal government anyway, is either sheer idiocy or those bellowing are hardly poor. And, if a state tries to relieve the burden on the poor, through higher tax rates on the rich or on resource extraction** they bellow about that too, and I suspect this bellowing is not coming from the poor either.
There are a whole lot of very rich people who put on a big act of being poor - like the guy who crashed his personal plane into the IRS.
here in PA we can't even get a tax imposed on the extraction of the huge Marcellus gas resources - something every other state, especially the apparently "socialist" states of Alaska and Texas do.
Actually, the most vociferous of the lot tend to be those who are poor, but have somehow managed to convince themselves that they are "middle-class" even when they have to choose between medicine and food because they can't afford both.
I wonder if there are any stats on how much capital is spent feeding false information to the public in America compared to the other OECD countries?
You could add the total capitalization amounts for the largest "news" outlets to see the monetary power of the Propaganda System and then make your comparisons.
Myth #6. Poor people have more chance of becoming rich in the US than anywhere else.
In fact, the situation here is not too different from that in the England that Dickens wrote about - a rigid two-tiered socio-economic system.
Despite the opinions of right wing folks, the facts say the US is not on the path towards socialism.
---------------------
Corporate Socialism is thriving.
Three quick examples:
The U.S. government handed over the public airwaves and the new digital tv spectrum, worth trillions of dollars, to corporate media, without challenge, for virtually free.
The U.S. government pays for the majority of big pharma's R&D, enabling them to create drugs they then sell back to us at inflated retail prices. (Those who despise socialized health care should stop using the drugs created with taxpayer money and demand only "free market drugs", even if it means their death.) This gift from Uncle Sam is easily worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The U.S. government launches unnecessary wars for the benefit of defense contractors, oil companies and bankers. They even get to use the U.S. military for free. This government gift is worth untold trillions of dollars.
"Corporate Socialism" is an oxymoron. If you doubt me, look up the two words in the dictionary. What you describe in your post is corporate fascism or corporatism. Words have meanings and anyone who picks up the terminology and dictionary of right wing fascists engaged in obfuscation and lies isn't doing anyone any favors.
Relax my friend.
I was simply working within the framework of the author.
No problem Cy. What I observe these days is a left that will often repeat the right wing wordsmithing we are deluged with today. I view it as a a bad thing and we would be wise to be more aware of when we are doing it.
I _strongly_ agree that it's a bad thing. For both political and neuropsychological reasons.
If more of us were aware that repeating something, even a lie, creates a "wider" and "smoother" pathway to that node in memory while at the same time allowing paths to less-favored nodes to decay and become less-reachable and in some sense less "true", I wonder how many of us would continue to do the propagandists' work for them.
Aye. And we can start by jettisoning the term "war" for what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yep. That's a classic, right up there with "Defence Department".
The United States, however, is Number One in bumper stickers.
Trylon
Just debunking the propaganda.
Again.
This article could have been written a couple decades ago and be just as true. But the people that spew this propaganda don't notice, they keep pounding their points and counting on the rubes not to fact-check.
Spoken like a true corporate fascist.
Excuse me, WHAT?
This article debunks some persistant myths and I was pointing out that these myths have been with US for a while, that is, they are not new, they have been debunked repeatedly and still persist. Nowhere did I try to deny or argue against Quigley's thesis, I happen to agree with most of this article as is, where is.
How does that make me a corporate fascist?
Unless we reform media and get rollback much of Bill Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996 to get break down the media oligopolies, we are going to be debunking the same propaganda 10 years from now also. The Democrats complain about Fox and have the power to change media laws, but are so corrupted by money they don't do anything. Additionally, they appear as guests of Fox thus giving it legitimacy. Ugh!
In order to establish such traditionally despicable human failings as greed, lust, envy, and violence as admirable traits, it is necessary to devalue the better parts of human nature such as empathy, kindness, generosity, and love. The attacks on socialism are simply part of the effort stated by Reagan thirty years ago.
Just spend some time on a right wing blog when the subject is a disaster or child abuse or rape to see glaring examples of what I mean.
q
Myth #10. The US public is in touch with the facts of their society.
In fact, facts are uniquely irrelevant to the perception of reality for about 2/3 of the US public.
E.g. 27 % know that Bangkok is the capital of China, but no more than 31 % are aware that crude oil is made from dead plants and fish. 4 in 5 thinks the moon is American, and 35 % answered yes to the suggestion that the North Pole was once covered in trees. 53 % believe gunpowder was invented by Ben Franklin, while 48 % say the U.S. Constitution was written before the American Revolution. Fully 69 % say there's never been a socialist party in the USA, and 36 % believe "Crime and Punishment" was written by the Department of Justice.
Such is the state of the union.
(Just kidding - but you knew that, right?)
I believe Beijing to be the capital of China.
Smarter knows that too, but he is citing a survey that shows that 27% of USAns "know" that Bangkok is the capital of China. Are those actual poll results?
HE'S KIDDING! Satire, you know?
In the thriving China economy, I thought the capital was Pay-King.
All that was made up on the spot, to make a point.
Smarter, you could write statistical reports for Glenn Beck....
I heard this joke from an old guy that I worked with on a golf course for minimum wage(back during that other recession/war under that other Bush presidency). He said "ya know; we live in a country where 75% of the people believe that wrestling is real, and that the Moon-landing was fake". I thought that was pretty funny. He also said he was a 33rd degree Mason & could travel around the world without a dime in his pocket. Don't know if that's significant, but I thought that was interesting.
One more, Bill.
After more than a hundred years, it always comes down to defining what socialism is and the different kinds.
The problem with that is when you are explaining things you are losing.
The power elite knows this and use it because they have their secret built in Socialism or high society collectivism where they can change all rules to increase their class power and profit since they control the big corporate world, Wall St. and international banking systems that in the end control the governments, media and war machine.
They claim they are doing the people a favor by allowing them to wait for the trickle down that never comes.
People's taxes (borrowed with interest) of trillions dedicated to the financial firms and their betting habits, and the working people get pissed on.
Why wouldn't the right and most people be confused about socialism when it was the sworn enemy of America from the beginning of the Industrial revolution? The FBI files prove it!
Socialists, Communists, Peace Activists, Civil Rights Workers or anybody who understood Socialism for the people were snuffed out in one way or the other by the forces of the covered up socialism for the rich.
I'll just call this The Truth About Socialism in the US.
It's Trickle-Up Economics folks.
Take from the needy. Give to the greedy.
Here in the good ol' U.S. of A.
what goes up, stays up. Damn it!
LOL... "Gravity works..." Eventually. ;o)
Facts will never convince people who have an emotional investment in a myth.
We as the left must learn to appeal to emotion, once there is a rapport people will discover the facts for themselves.
And it's not a bad thing to appeal to emotion, emotions such as empathy and compassion motivate the great acts of good in the world.
it's called cognitive dissonance....
from "when prophesy fails"
showing how when a doomsday cult plans for the end of the world...and then when it doesn't happen - instead of coming to their senses and admitting they were wrong - they become even more enamored with the false believe......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
and that led to the church of scientology.........
Morticia -- I agree with you, but I think "emotional investments" go beyond what people want to believe into primitive identification with images, which is why images from television and movies are so effective in perpetuating the corporatocracy.
The sleek bomber, "top gun" fighters, explosions, etc. create an excitement almost irresistible to many people. It is necessary for image-makers among us to aggressively create alternate images that carry their own emotional charge and somehow distribute them. (There's the rub.)
(Incidentally, we go back and forth here about efficacy of street protests, but the creativity that goes into the images of protest is unique and it is one argument for such protests to be part of our arsenal of dissent.)
You touched on a few different things here.
Totemism, where people identify with the images of power of their culture. A nominally powerless citizen can feel strong by identifying with the military power of their culture . And unlike other measures , like the ones cited in the article above, the part about the US being the strongest is based in fact. They won't want to give that up.
And excitement. Yep, people in the US seem to be all hyped up all the time. Quiet pursuits like reading and contemplation are derided as for nerds and, being solitary occupations, not very social. (I know, a huge generalisation ) Doing nothing has to be recognised as a healthy activity.
I think there's some sublimation going on with all the excitement and violence . Maybe if this were a less sexually oppressed society things would be different.
Coming from overseas I am amazed at the constant assault on my senses. From noise pollution to advertisements and manmade ugliness everywhere.
Good points. Yep, that noise and hyperactivity covers over a big empty hole.
Mortica, thanks you!!! You just answered a question that has been nagging at me for years (I have always wondered what a person from another country would think of the constant 24/7 advertising.) Now I know, and the answer was as I suspected.
Cheers:)
The thing about those like Beck and Hannity is that they will use the word "socialism" one minute, the word "fascism" the next, and follow that up with "anarchist" a moment after that and be talking about the same person or party the whole time. And they count on their listeners to not know the difference between any of them well enough to never call them on it. So far, they are right.
We aren't going anywhere near any of the ism's, other than fascism. The corporations own the politicians, who pass laws that benefit the corps at the expense of the rest of the population. They involve us in wars that we have no business in, but they get rich off of. They gin up even more fear and hate so they can start even more wars. They make the world a less safe place so they can profit off of it. Pretty textbook.
Those who scream about how one person or another is a "far left radical" have NO idea what the far left even IS. What they see as far left is right-center. We haven't seen anything resembling a left wing in this country for nearly 30 years. More's the pity, it's hurt us dramatically.
You can point out facts, figures, and reality from the most solid reporting source ever to the righties, and they will still NEVER believe you about anything. They have their minds made up and all the reality in the world will NEVER get in the way of that. Maybe we should give them a few states, and let them have their right wing dream. They can lie to themselves all day and night about how much better they are than everyone else, while they slid down into poverty and wanton neglect. The rest of us can then have a truly civilized society, one that doesn't depend on fear mongering and war making and actually allows it's people to have LIVES.
I can dream, can't I? That seems to be all they have left us...
Who needs Glenn Beck when our own Left can't get its own house in working order? Of course Obama is no socialist. He chose to work within the system and that's fine but what he should have done was work on fixing the system even from within instead of waiting for it to say yes go ahead. So what's left? Say what you want but we gotta make him work for us. If you want socialism, then make government give it to you.
obama is the manchurian candidate brought about to destroy the progressive base all the while claiming his fascist ways are in fact socialism....
thank god we're too damn stupid to know the difference between the 2 words.....
thanks in part to the senile old bastard ronald reagan - who ended free higher education in california becuase he was sick of college students protesting the evilness of the vietnam war....so he said "make them pay for college so they have no time to protest - because they'll be too busy working at a shitty low-paying job trying to pay for their education to have time to protest....besides then they'll already be in debt when they graduate so they'll have to toe the line......
which is why june 5th - the day reagan DIED should be a freaking national holiday!
I always have a party celebrating Reagan's death, and Washington's. The more one learns about US history, the more one laments the South's loss, which enabled the Union/Empire we have today.
I've seen people here express their frustration with Obama praising Reagan and I would share that disappointment. Perhaps my disagreement with some is what makes Obama do it? Is it Obama himself or is it the system? It's hard being a Democrat when you have a leader like that. It would have been great if Carter had won reelection in 1980 or Mondale had defeated Reagan in 1984 but the damage is done. Now the question remains on how to fix this.
which is why YOU MUST quit the democratic party......
besides the reagan victory in 1980 was FIXED - they bargained w/ the iranians to hold onto the hostages until after the election to defeat carter.....
add that to the stolen election in 2000 - florida recount stopped....
the 2004 election in ohio - where the rethug IT expert just happened to die in an airplane crash days before he was to testify.....
and the 2008 election where obama was well BEHIND until goldman crashed the system the day after mccain said the economy is fine.....
a long list of stolen elections is the supposed "land of the free"
Socialism is just a word that the right wing has managed to give a pejorative connotation. I used to work in Reading, PA, which had a socialist government in the 1930's. Even the asphalt plant for road building was owned by the city.
Right and left agree that this was by far the best and most honest government the city ever had. Red-baiting finally scared the inhabitants so much that they opted for Republicrats. The city rapidly acquired a reputation for being the most corrupt in the eastern U.S.
If socialism is what they have in Norway or Sweden, bring it on.