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HappySqurriel on 14 September 2009
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ManusJustus said:
HappySqurriel said:

In what way has the American government become "More Capitalist"? Between social security, Medicare and Medicaid more money is spent on wealth transfers from the federal government today than any other expense; and more money is spent redistributing wealth today then at any other time in history. It could be argued that this ever increasing social spending is correlated to (and potentially causing) the increase in disparity between the rich and the poor.

You are correct that spending has increased over time, but government control over the economy has decreased over time.  I am specifically thinking of deregulation and privatization.

Do you consider government spending as a factor of captialism or socialism, or do you do consider freedom of the market as a factor of capitalism or socialism?  I consider the freedom of the market to define capitalism and socialism, as taxes are the norm for pretty much every system of government ever devised and increasing or decreasing taxes doesn't have much of an affect on government idealogy. 

If North Korea decided to cut taxes for everyone while keeping the same economic practices, I wouldnt say that they were suddenly more captilalist.

If you think there are less restrictions from the government on the economy try building a power plant. What was once a fairly simple process of getting the plans approved of has now become a multi-decade struggle with the government to provide demanded energy to the public. Beyond the obvious growth in environmental and health and safety regulations, there has been massive growth in labour regulations and corporate welfare over the past 50 years.

Now, a tax-cut is basically a statement from the government that an individual can make rational decisions to provide for themselves without the need of government intervention; and is a move towards economic freedom of the individual which is implicitly capitalistic. If the individual does not have personal property rights, contract law is not protected, and a person does not have the ability to control the means of production the country may not be a capitalist state; but the act of reducing taxes is a step towards more free markets.