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Capitalism is a good thing. We up here in Canada have it too! It works well with the right amount of restrictions.


I totally agree with that. Capitalism WITH restrictions is the way to go. Problem here is that the restrictions are too little, and not enforced enough. And the longer that continues, the more power the private industry gets, and they use that power and wealth to influence what happens, buy television and radio time, not just to run their ads, but to actually manipulate the actual so-called "news" programming, and to threaten those stations if they don't like a way the "facts" are presented...

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The confusion is the difference between Capitalism and Corporatism. Capitalism is not the belief in the way a country is run. Capitalism is a cog in the wheel. Corporatism is when the companies exceed and/or influence the powers of politics. Canada is a good example where capitalism works well in a Social Democratic.



Of course Corporatism in it's extreme form is Fascism... a term that has been thrown about in this country a lot lately, misused as a perjorative attack against health care reform, which makes no sense, if anything it's the opposite

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This brings me back to my first point: I pay 22% of my income in taxes. I have free health care. Americans pay upwards of 50% of their income in taxes. I believe this whole view of "free enterprise capitalism" is a fairy tale built to keep people believing in their "free" country. If it was so free, there would be no taxes! So all this uproar about healthcare and no question as to where all the tax dollars are going in the first place! We can start any business we want here, and we can be privy to many legal exemptions when doing so to help us along the way. Defining "free" is highly relative to what people were raised to believe.



Well you don't actually have "free" health care, if you are paying taxes, but I see your point. (the way that your government spends that money)

Not sure by the way where you are getting the numbers for Americans paying upwards of 50% of their income in taxes. The federal tax here ends at 35%, & then there is state tax on top of that, there may be a few states/cities that charge 15% or more, will have to research that

Here in New York state, in our household we pay a combined joint fed/state 31% of our income in taxes, less than others pay, because we are nowhere close to hitting that $372,950 number, where the fed taxes alone go to 35%

Our US taxes are still far lower than countries like the UK, which is one of the reasons that many wealthy rock stars like Elton John, Keith Richards have relocated to this country

Last edited by Dow; 11/04/09 02:21 AM.
Dow