DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Can Capitalism Support the Welfare State?

***Playergirl*** · 10-08-2011, 06:08 PM

Ok, just to be clear.

Pretty much every European democracy would be classified as a democratic socialist state. Even the United States to a lesser degree. All have a good degree of capitalism in them.

If you think central planning of an economy from top to bottom (classic socialism) works, you haven't been paying attention.

The question of the article is can the capitalism support these socialist democracies long-term. In other words, is a big welfare state sustainable?

The answer simply is "no". Public housing, food stamps, etc are not long-term solutions yet too many use them as their primary means of support/income. That wasn't the intent of these programs but people prove time and time again that if you put your hand out then they'll keep taking and taking and taking.

10-08-2011, 06:08 PM	#8
*Playergirl* Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 440 Senior Member	Ok, just to be clear. Pretty much every European democracy would be classified as a democratic socialist state. Even the United States to a lesser degree. All have a good degree of capitalism in them. If you think central planning of an economy from top to bottom (classic socialism) works, you haven't been paying attention. The question of the article is can the capitalism support these socialist democracies long-term. In other words, is a big welfare state sustainable? The answer simply is "no". Public housing, food stamps, etc are not long-term solutions yet too many use them as their primary means of support/income. That wasn't the intent of these programs but people prove time and time again that if you put your hand out then they'll keep taking and taking and taking.
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