Socialism in One Country

Socialism - refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.

Tony Howard's definition of Socialism - everybody suffers equally.

To those of us who studied Russian and Soviet history, there was a clash of wills and a clash of ideologies following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. In one corner, there was Leon Trotsky. He was the intellectual who espoused "international Socialism." In the other corner was Joseph Stalin. He was not an intellectual. He was a bureaucrat. He was dismissed by those who thought they were intellectuals [Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev]. He espoused "Socialism in one country." In the end, Stalin got his way, the others died.

Fast forward about 70 years. We're seeing the same thing happen in this country. Socialism in one country - ours. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "Government Sponsored Enterprises." These are quasi-government entities who haven't really done all that well, and now that they both have gone "Tango Uniform", you and I are bailing these guys out. As a result of mismanagement of these two entities, banks are failing. When banks fail, they are taken over by the government. So now we have mortgage institutions and banking institutions being taken over by government. Democrats desire more regulation. More regulation is not an answer for poor management. A case in point - the US Air Force has strict regulations on the handling of nuclear materials. Yet somehow nukes got temporarily misplaced and cost the AF Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force to lose their jobs. The regulatory mechanisms were in place, but management, or the oversight of management, was lacking.

When oil prices started to go through the roof, Democrats wanted heads on pikes. I'll confess - so did I. But here's where I differ from the Democrats. Maxine Waters let the proverbial cat out of the bag when she said last summer that she wanted to "socialize" the oil industry. She meant "nationalize" but it all amounts to the same thing. For Democrats, government is always their stock in trade answer to all of society's ills. I'm sorry, but I can't go there. Government doesn't actually produce anything. When they buy and sell things like subprime mortgages [as Fannie and Freddie did], they screw that up. Where does government get its money from? YOU!!! Every paycheck you earn, Uncle Sam takes a bite. Every April 15th you have the privilege of filing income tax returns and, if you're lucky, you might get some of YOUR money back.

Where do Republicans stand? They don't want more regulations. They will be accused by their opponents of being in bed with Wall Street and "Big Business" for this stance.

Here's a novel idea - how about the "regulators" doing their damn jobs and actually enforcing the regulations that are already on the books? I don't see how more bureaucracy will make anything better, but I do see how stricter enforcement of the rules by those charged with doing so can help avoid further financial calamity.

In 2003 and 2005, Republicans warned us about the crisis that we're currently in. They produced legislation [Senate Bill S.190] that would put more restrictions on what Fannie and Freddie could do. This bill was killed by Congressional Democrats who were getting campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie. That means YOU, Christopher Dodd. That means YOU, Barack Obama. But don't take my word for it. Do some research of your own, as I have. Here is an interesting video that interest you:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o

If the link doesn't work, cut & paste it to your browser.

First the mortgages, then the banks. What will the government take over next? Who will they "bail out" with YOUR money? Will the government take over health care? Will we have Stalin's dream of "Socialism in one country"? I sure as hell hope not!

Should this "bail out" go through, I intend to write to my Congressman and ask for a "bail out" of my own. That seems to be the thing to do these days. When in doubt or you're in over your head, have the government take care of you. Our Founding Fathers would cringe at what is going on today.