It's difficult to fund and maintain those things if capitalists offshore production and don't repatriate profits.
Similarly, it's difficult to control costs on social outlays if the population expects a 4-bedroom ranch house with miles of million dollar pavement and other connecting services, cheap goods, a platinum health insurance plan (or at least the prospect of one--I don't think many ACA opponents realize how crappy their pre-ACA plans were and how precarious of a situation they were in and may be in again now that coverage mandates are no longer being enforced), etc.
The politics of the United States is in many respects like that of much poorer, more dysfunctional countries. The poor, working and middle classes are promised the stars and get scraps; but they vote based on the promises. And to the extent the promises are delivered, they're paid for with mountains of debt. We've even convinced ourselves that "deficits don't matter" (literal mantra of the GOP), ironically right at the moment (dwindling debt purchasers) when there's a regression to the historical mean.
Democratic socialism isn't viable in the U.S. The U.S. has all the bad qualities of conservatism and, increasingly, leftist populism, with little of the restraining characteristics of either.
If capitalists evade taxes, we will claw back their profits. We will contain the costs of public goods using technology, transparency, and sound governance. Defeatists have no place in building the future.
> Democratic socialism isn't viable in the U.S. The U.S. has all the bad qualities of conservatism and, increasingly, leftist populism, without any of the restraining characteristics of either.
We shall agree to disagree. See you on the campaign trail, the floor of Congress, or on the picket line. I see no other path forward for delivering compassion and a reduction of suffering at scale. We tried American Capitalism, and it has failed us miserably.
> If capitalists evade taxes, we will claw back their profits
But how? The only plans I've seen from Sanders, Warren, etc. are wealth taxes and specific taxes on stock transactions. I think anyone who thinks those can be implemented successfully and people are not going to change their behavior to evade them is just dreaming. Yang proposed a VAT tax, which seems to be the only thing that's somewhat viable for preventing evasion. No matter how well-intentioned these plans are, they're not going to work if they can't be funded.
Disclaimer: I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary. Based on his 2020 campaign, I would not do so again.
> If capitalists evade taxes, we will claw back their profits. We will contain the costs of public goods using technology, transparency, and sound governance.
We will, will we? No, at best you will try to do so. I seriously doubt your ability to do so, though. Especially that "sound governance" part. Everybody says they're going to do that, but delivering it turns out to be harder than people seem to expect...
Democratic socialism (healthcare, education, labor unions, etc) is still Capitalism, just with guardrails.
reply