Comments by "TeeKay" (@teekay_1) on "Why Has “Real” Socialism “Never Been Tried”?" video.

@kennethmacalpin7655 _My point is that "Socialism doesn't work" is used as a Straw Man argument _ I want a system like Denmark". Then you'll say "Denmark isn't socialist, it's capitalist. Well I don't care what you call it" What you're looking for is a capitalistic country that gives a lot of social benefits. However, the issue is that this type of government only works because the population and economies are relatively small and homogeneous. Denmark has an economy of roughly the same size as Wisconsin ($401M v $406M) and an ethnic mix of 86% Danish. Which works very well because everybody is probably a 2nd or 3rd cousin to everybody else in the country. And they only support one language, Danish. None of this will work in a country much larger than Denmark.
28
@johndiss Well, name a successful socialist country.
26
@josephnebeker7976 In universal healthcare, the smart doctors head to the United States where they'll make far more money. There can only be one best doctor in the world, and he/she is not working for $60K in some government hospital.
21
@kennethmacalpin7655 You do understand in the US, most workers are covered by comprehensive health care insurance and most have access to world-class healthcare almost immediately, even for specialties and cancer treatments. As workers retire they effectively go to a one-payer system paid for by taxes they themselves have paid in, and they can be supplemented by private insurance as well.
14
@dropian Profit and competition is a good thing. The problem is nobody's competing. And the government mandates they shouldn't compete. Every medical providers should be required to have a standard set of services with prices listed. The problem with government providing anything is there's no impetus to provide better service, and there's no competition, so prices never go down. So as medical costs go up, they don't cut government employees, they cut services, and they know you may complain, but you're not going anywhere because you're forced to use them.
1
@dropian _You don't stay a medical doctor for the money _ That's funny. That's like saying people don't get MBA's for money. Or they don't go into computer science for the money. The fields that pay the best attract the smartest people. If Doctors are paid $60K a year, you'll either get 3rd world doctors, or the equivalent of an average automobile worker making life and death decisions about you. Doctors do have a standard of set services and that is quite literally ingrained into their code of ethics when you become a doctor Ethics and a standard list prices for services are two completely different things. You can be as ethical as JC of Nazareth, and say "we don't charge a standard rate, it's all negotiable depending on how much business we do with each other".
1
@SaintNyx The end state of socialism is communism, which claims as true communism is achievedthe state goes away. Either that, or the people come to their senses and throw the socialists out of power as happened in Sweden.
1
Socialism has to be authoritarian because it cannot tolerate people ignoring it. OTOH, if you want to be a socialist in a capitalist economy, nobody cares, because you're putting yourself at a significant disadvantage.
1