Dear Lynn, to echo what has been mentioned by Bryan Etzel and Alex:
You presuppose that leaving capitalism alone would have created social unrest (I assume by creating greater differences in income / fortunes) - although I have never seen any evidence of this claim: in fact, the Cato institute publiced a study on this some years ago, where the only detectable causality was between more capitalism (economic freedom) and less inequality - so one may in fact state that every implementet social policy has brought socialism closer, not saved capitalism. ...and on this last point! Has capitalism been saved? The current government involvement in the US economy - and thus de facto ownership of ressources is enourmous by any historical standart - even if it is low compared with Europe. Just because we have seen socialism in one hiddeous form (e.g. soviet union etc) - it does not necessarily follow that other forms of government (the US today) is Capitalism. - jacob > The program I was manly referring to was the unemployment insurance program. > By calls for the US to abandon capitalism I was referring to the vocal > supporters of American socialism back in the years leading up to the Great > Depression. The % share of the US public which advocates socialism has > seemingly declined since programs like unemployment insurance have been put > in place. > > If it were not for these type of programs might we have seen an increasing > level of social unrest with a decreasing patience with capitalism. Such > increasing unrest finally giving way to the end of capitalism and to US > socialism. Thus it would follow that limited govt interventions in the > market actually "saved" capitalism. > > Lynn > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Perich [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 11:03 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: economic history question > > > There are a lot of abstractions that it'd help to qualify in that last > statement. For instance: which government programs (FDR's right-to- work > packages? LBJ's war on Poverty)? Whose calls for the U.S. to abandon > capitalism? What is a "safety net [...] for capitalism as a whole"? > > We need data! > > -JP > > > >From: "Gray, Lynn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: economic history question > >Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 10:08:41 -0500 > > > > > > > >Would it be safe to say that the introduction of govt programs such as > >unemployment insurance had an impact in quieting the calls for the US to > >abandon capitalism and take up socialism? In other words did these types > >of > >govt programs serve not only as safety nets for individuals in need but > >also > >for capitalism as a whole? > > > > > >Lynn Gray > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ > -- > I'm never gonna work another day in my life. > The gods told me to relax; they said I'm gonna be fixed up right. > I'm never gonna work another day in my life. > I'm way too busy powertrippin', but I'm gonna shed you some light. > > - Monster Magnet, "Powertrip" > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com > > -- NeoMail - Webmail
