Dissecting John Stossel's Anti-Communist Lies

[Devils_Advocate]

Of course not, because I was born and raised here in the United States. It's illegal for me to live in a communist country, under American sanctions and threats of war. But anyways, why would I live in another country, when I can live here in the United States and do whatever I can to make it more socialist and communist?

It isn’t illegal for you to live in a Communist Nation at all, and who told you that?

Also let remember China isn’t a communist and North Korea is a Dictatorship like Cuba, so where would you like to go and try Communism out and please note you can not come back!

 

[ding]

Ask him to provide you with a capitalist solution to the replacement of wage labor with advanced 21st-century automation. Good luck getting a coherent answer.

That’s not how he operates. He criticizes what he doesn’t believe to arrive at what he believes without ever having to state or test what he believes.

 

[AMart]

I have an investment company that does that for me.

Good little capitalist boy you are

 

[Red Front]

Good little capitalist boy you are

We're going to see who is actually the little boy soon. Being wealthy doesn't make one a capitalist or exploiter of human labor. I want everyone to be empowered and own the means of production. I envision an America where everyone has a very high standard of living and no longer has to work for someone like me. No more lords and serfs, employers and employees, but rather a society where everyone is an owner of the machinery and facilities, the technology of production. Where democracy can flourish, without rich people like me bribing politicians to undermine it.

 

[Red Front]

The Soviet Union had gained an immense amount of territory after WW2, splitting the spoils of war with the West after the defeat of nazi Germany.

And they enslaved Eastern Europe too.

It was full of NATO troops from the US and Western Europe, so of course, a wall was built around it.

16 years after the war ended.

Furthermore, millions of Soviet citizens now had to rebuild their country and unfortunately, a significant % of them were shell-shocked and didn't want to continue with the communist experiment.

Of course, even after beating Germany, they still had to crush their own people under their boot.
And all because the people realized communism sucked. I guess they needed that iron curtain
to keep their people from escaping to freedom.

So until the death of Stalin in 1953, there were some serious restrictions on travel for Soviet citizens. Yes indeed, that was the situation. Does that imply that communism doesn't work?

It's some solid evidence, yes.

The United States spent billions rebuilding Western Europe and Japan, whereas the USSR had to fend for itself. There was no help for the communists after WW2, they had to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and rebuild

No more handouts for the commie slave masters.

Are you saying that NATO wasn't in Berlin until the 1960s? Clarify.

 

[AMart]

We're going to see who is actually the little boy soon. Being wealthy doesn't make one a capitalist or exploiter of human labor. I want everyone to be empowered and own the means of production. I envision an America where everyone has a very high standard of living and no longer has to work for someone like me. No more lords and serfs, employers and employees, but rather a society where everyone is an owner of the machinery and facilities, the technology of production.

That's nice

 

[Red Front]

That's nice

Not only nice but attainable. It's people like yourself that delay it, but eventually capitalism will be replaced with a better system of production, i.e. socialism/communism. The more advanced and capable automation becomes the closer we are to communist productrion.

 

[hadit]

We're going to see who is actually the little boy soon. Being wealthy doesn't make one a capitalist or exploiter of human labor. I want everyone to be empowered and own the means of production. I envision an America where everyone has a very high standard of living and no longer has to work for someone like me. No more lords and serfs, employers and employees, but rather a society where everyone is an owner of the machinery and facilities, the technology of production. Where democracy can flourish, without rich people like me bribing politicians to undermine it.

Okay, so you view yourself as part of the ruling elite. No wonder you like communism. It's a sweet deal for the few at the top. Everyone else, not so much. You pretend to work, and they pretend to pay you.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Petrostates are thought to be vulnerable to what economists call Dutch disease, a term coined during the 1970s after the Netherlands discovered natural gas in the North Sea.

In an afflicted country, a resource boom attracts large inflows of foreign capital, which leads to an appreciation of the local currency and a boost for imports that are now comparatively cheaper. This sucks labor and capital away from other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and manufacturing, which economists say are more important for growth and competitiveness. As these labor-intensive export industries flag, unemployment could rise, and the country could develop an unhealthy dependence on the export of natural resources. In extreme cases, a petrostate forgoes local oil production and instead derives most of its oil wealth through high taxes on foreign drillers. Petrostate economies are then left highly vulnerable to unpredictable swings in global energy prices and capital flight.

That's what happened to Venezuela, just as it has occurred to capitalist petrostates as well. Oil prices plunged from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016, sucking Venezuela into an economic and political spiral. Conditions have only worsened since then. Add the US empire's economic embargo and it makes the crisis even worse. But eventually, Venezuela is going to recover, despite the sanctions.

Following your line of reasoning capitalism is a huge failure because most capitalist-run countries are plagued with gross inequality and poverty (and they're not even being sanctioned by the most powerful empire in human history as Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and several other communist countries are). Most of the failed states in the world are ruled by capitalist plutocrats and oligarchs. It took centuries for capitalism to replace feudalism and chattel slavery and likewise, socialism and communism won't replace capitalism until material conditions permit.

The European mercantile class didn't transform itself into the powerful industrialists of the 19th century, acquiring more power than the monarchs and feudal lords until technology (material conditions) allowed it to happen. Your reasoning is flawed, due to your anger and fear. Readjust your line of argumentation and be more consistent and fair in your critique.

This sucks labor and capital away from other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and manufacturing, which economists say are more important for growth and competitiveness.

That's what happened to Venezuela, just as it has occurred to capitalist petrostates as well. Oil prices plunged from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016, sucking Venezuela into an economic and political spiral.

In Venezuela's case, capital was sucked away from manufacturing, agriculture AND oil.

How'd that work out for their growth and competitiveness?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Are you saying that NATO wasn't in Berlin until the 1960s? Clarify.

The Berlin Wall wasn't built until 1961.

 

[Red Front]

The Berlin Wall wasn't built until 1961.

I'm not of the ruling elite, I'm a little fish when it comes to wealth and assets compared to the big-money uber-rich. High communism would provide everyone with a very high standard of living and the wealthy would no longer be able to bribe government officials because we would all be living in a moneyless society. The people's councils would hold elections to appoint their congressional representatives and would have the power to recall those they elect when they prove to be incompetent or corrupt. I want the people to have control over their government and resources. So how am I an autocratic, power-hungry elitist?

 

[hadit]

I'm not of the ruling elite, I'm a little fish when it comes to wealth and assets compared to the big-money uber-rich. High communism would provide everyone with a very high standard of living and the wealthy would no longer be able to bribe government officials because we would all be living in a moneyless society. The people's councils would hold elections to appoint their congressional representatives and would have the power to recall those they elect when they prove to be incompetent or corrupt. I want the people to have control over their government and resources. So how am I an autocratic, power-hungry elitist?

So, IOW, you would eliminate the peoples' ability to vote for their own representatives. That's not very democratic of you.

 

[Red Front]

So, IOW, you would eliminate the peoples' ability to vote for their own representatives. That's not very democratic of you.

You're apparently not engaging in this conversation with any goodwill, you just want to contradict and maligned everything I say. The people would have more power to elect and impeach i.e."recall" politicians. Anyone can join a council and vote, so what are you talking about? You're just criticizing what I'm saying for the sake of arguing.

 

[SeaMajor7]

Swin home, commie.
The sharks will guide you.

 

[Red Front]

Swin home, commie.
The sharks will guide you.

This is my home, deal with it. You leave.

 

[SeaMajor7]

This is my home, deal with it. You leave.

Yeah, that's nice. We do freedom here.
If you don't like that SWIM!

 

[Red Front]

Yeah, that's nice. We do freedom here.
If you don't like that SWIM!

You're the enemy of freedom, so start swimming "sea" major.

 

[hadit]

You're apparently not engaging in this conversation with any goodwill, you just want to contradict and maligned everything I say. The people would have more power to elect and impeach i.e."recall" politicians. Anyone can join a council and vote, so what are you talking about? You're just criticizing what I'm saying for the sake of arguing.

I'm arguing for the sake of pointing out your inaccuracies, which are many.

 

[Red Front]

I'm arguing for the sake of pointing out your inaccuracies, which are many.

You're claiming that I proposed an undemocratic system of government yet I didn't. So where is the supposed "inaccuracy"? Just in your mind? How do you figure that a government that allows the people to elect its functionaries
isn't a democracy? Not only would the American people directly elect their government representatives but they would have the power to recall and replace them at any time. The constituency (i.e. the people of a particular district) organizes a commission to investigate, question, and determine whether that politician should remain in office or not. If the commission determines that the person in office isn't fit for service they're recalled and replaced with someone else.

If the United States adopts communism, there will be no other country bullying it around as the United States did with Soviet Russia and other socialist countries. If the US converts to communism, it would be the one big capitalist, imperialist bully becoming a communist, with all of his strength, resources..etc. There's no capitalist-run country that could hurt the US, because "we're it", militarily.

If a poor, under-industrialized, agrarian society full of illiterate peasants as Russia was in the early 20th century, was able to become an industrial juggernaut and rival of the United States in less than 20 years, imagine what the US would accomplish if it adopted communism today? With our present technology and the fact that America is inhabited by the hardest-working labor force in the world.

If the US adopts socialism, we will be colonizing space in a couple of decades. We will have cities in space and we will be mining the asteroid belts in no time. We will advance exponentially in every field of science and technology. America will become orders of magnitude more powerful than it is today. There's no capitalist bully strongman in the world that will be able to encircle and threaten, much less invade the United States. No other country will be able to impose economic sanctions upon it. America would become an extremely modern, industrialized nation offering its citizens a very high standard of living. Russia and China, would be left in the dust, economically and militarily.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

If the US adopts socialism, we will be colonizing space in a couple of decades

It worked for Russia.
Just look at how many men they landed on the Moon.
And all their exploration of Mars, Venus, Jupiter.......

You can hardly find a spot in the solar system that doesn't have a hammer and sickle planted on it.

LOL!

You gotta write for Colbert......You're fucking hilarious!!!!