| vivster said: Let me tell you, I live in a socialist country and it's an unstable mess here. I'm basically wondering every day why I even go to work when the state would just easily steal money from hard workers and give it to my lazy ass. I think I may be doing socialism wrong. |
Germany is not a socialist country. It's more like socio-political ordoliberalism with a strong focus on welfare capitalism. A socialist country likely wouldn't have billionaires while the average salary is 47000 USD.
Here are some easy means to tell if a country is organized according to socialist principles:
1. Are most associated workplaces managed democratically? If so, are profits shared among the workforce or do they disproportionately go to stock-holders or proprietors? If either of these are no, then the country is not socialist.
2. Are markets more tailored toward circulation and use or are they more tailored toward accumulating enough personal wealth as possible? If the first, then it might be a market socialist economy. If the latter, then it is a variety of capitalism.
3. Are there absentee landlords who can evict people whom are occupying a piece of land or a home? If so, then the country is not socialist.
4. Are financial institutions centralized by a either 1. the bourgeois state or 2. private-public partnerships? If so, then the country is not socialist.
5. Can people easily exit the wage labor-force and still produce income or join a community which would supplement them? If not, then the country is not socialist.
Welfare capitalism =|= socialism
That you think it is okay that the state (through taxes) and capitalists (through usury) exploit workers strongly implies that you're not a socialist, merely a welfare capitalist.
