Obama: Labels “Capitalism” and “Communism” Aren’t “Practical”
“You should just decide what works” from each system
President Obama continued his “Spring Break” from America by undermining the foundations of the country’s successful economic system.
After dancing the night away, Obama was addressed the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Town Hall at Usina Del Arte in Buenos Aires, Argentina:
I guess to make a broader point, so often in the past there’s been a sharp division between left and right, between capitalist and communist or socialist. And especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate, right? Oh, you know, you’re a capitalist Yankee dog, and oh, you know, you’re some crazy communist that’s going to take away everybody’s property. And I mean, those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don’t have to worry about whether it neatly fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory — you should just decide what works.
And I said this to President Castro in Cuba. I said, look, you’ve made great progress in educating young people. Every child in Cuba gets a basic education — that’s a huge improvement from where it was. Medical care — the life expectancy of Cubans is equivalent to the United States, despite it being a very poor country, because they have access to health care. That’s a huge achievement. They should be congratulated. But you drive around Havana and you say this economy is not working. It looks like it did in the 1950s. And so you have to be practical in asking yourself how can you achieve the goals of equality and inclusion, but also recognize that the market system produces a lot of wealth and goods and services. And it also gives individuals freedom because they have initiative.
In case Obama has forgotten, capitalism is the economic system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. The chief flaw of that system is that crony capitalism undermines the healthy competition that needs to occur for citizens to get the maximum benefit of prices, job opportunities, and the ability to pursue life, liberty and happiness.
Socialism, broadly speaking, advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole; socialist nations place that community control in the (corrupt) hands of government. The continuing failure of Obamacare on its 6th anniversary is just one case from myriad examples that show the more the government tightens its grip, the more economic health slips through its fingers.
Communism, again broadly, is the system in which property is publicly owned, and each person works and is paid by the government according to their abilities and needs. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the usurpation of capitalist elements by China, and the real Cuba unknown to tourists are examples of the utter failure when an economic system doesn’t allow for individual choice or freedom.
Application of these theories has real-world consequences.
In fact, the new president of Argentina is going to spend his first 100 days in office attempting to undo the damage caused by long-term government controls in the country’s economy.
December election of center-right President Mauricio Macri, which ended 70 years of Peronist governments, has breathed new life into a frosty relationship. And Macri has hit the ground running. In his first 100 days in office, Macri set a clear departure from his predecessor’s approach, making a series of major economic and political measures to bring his country back into the good graces of international markets, putting an end to 12 years of isolation.
It has long been known by those who have actually listened to Obama that he wants to make the world “fairer”, and the redistribution of wealth is a perfectly valid option in his version of a free market quasi-capitalist America.
Conservative pundit Dan Mitchell contrasts the relative success of these economic systems even further.
It’s hard to object to the notion that people should choose “what works,” so perhaps there’s not a specific quote that I can add to my collection. However, the President’s implication that there’s some kind of equivalence between capitalism and communism, which both systems having desirable features, is morally offensive.
Yes, Obama’s statement is morally offensive to liberty-loving people everywhere.
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Comments
Bill Ayers must be rolling over in his … no wait … he is not dead yet , is he … oops … Marx must be rolling over in his grave because Obama’s next book could well be titled The Capitalist Manifesto.
This spring break of his is little more than his way of gaining exposure and “auditioning” for his next job — say, “Leader of the unified, unfree world.”
What works is not simply ‘decided’, it is established through the experience of application and the evaluation of results, a process that always dooms socialism and communism.
…thus confirming what I’ve always said about Barracula…
he is an opportunistic Collectivist, who will happily pull from all Collectivist theory anything that works for him at the moment.
He NEVER was a pure anything. Purity is beneath him, as it would signal that he is someone or others acolyte or follower.
What he, Bernie, and Der Donald are is most clearly defined as “fascists” in terms of their economics. It is strongly Collectivist, but it leaves the patina of ownership in private hands while really under government control. It favors BIG BUSINESS, and HATES entrepreneurial businesses. It perverts competition to lobbying, and crushes innovation as a driver of competition.
What we are finally seeing, because he is almost out of office, is the real obama. He has always been a Communist and how he is saying that it is no different from Capitalism. Is the man insane? Communism dictates who is in charge and who runs things. It decides who is put into prison and who is the elite. The people do not vote or if they do it is a sham. There is no guaranteed rights or freedoms. There is no Constitution. Can anyone tell me all of the “Latest” inventions or medical discoveries that have come from Communist countries? They are on a par with muslim countries at ZERO.Can someone who has been through all the levels of education that obama has(?) not see the huge difference? Wow! This just shows the depth of hatred for America that Demorats have.
Seeing Capitalism fail was truly “the dream of his father”.
Is there anything he likes about America?
Her vast tax base and frequent flyer miles to Hawaii are probably the only things he likes. Oh, and the NCAA March Madness Tournament…
Decide what works? I think history has proven what “works” and what doesn’t, Mr (and I use the term loosely) President. When are you going to learn?
It always works in the immediate when you can “legally” take your neighbors property.
No, it isn’t. Education and medicine in Cuba are worse now than they were under Batista. And Cuba’s medical system is cr*p. There is no way they genuinely have a life expectancy close to that of the USA.
MAYBE “education” in Cuber is more universal, but that would ONLY be BigBrother at work, propagating the control of thought and information by the Collective.
I was interested to learn this last year that Cubans coming to the U.S. pre-Castro as tourists…legitimate tourists…FAR exceeded the number of Americans going to Cuba. This suggests that they were doing pretty well, GDP-wise.
Yes, they were. Their literacy rate and medical system was the highest in Latin America. The communists inherited this, and did not improve it.
Why Cuban cab drivers earn more than doctors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-mUZRP-fpo
Cab driver graduated as an engineer. He drives a cab because he makes more than as an engineer or medical doctor.
Um, no. It seems that you need the same lesson that 0bama does. If trade and industry are controlled by private owners then crony capitalism becomes impossible. Crony capitalism means that the government controls trade and industry, letting its cronies run it for their own profit, and taking it back from them when they fall out of favor; thus the most efficient way to get rich is not by producing things of value but by cozying up to the government.
It’s not just government, but any effective monopoly. An excess or absence of the former, or the existence of the latter, are both incompatible with capitalism or a dynamically stable economic model.
In a market economy…NOT perverted by government interference…NO “monopoly” or anything approaching one CAN exist for long.
Organic market forces immediately set to work on dragging a monopoly…or any business operating LIKE one…down.
The ONLY way monopoly business CAN survive long is WITH government collusion.
Read up on your Adam Smith. This isn’t new, and it isn’t rocket surgery.
What Rags said. An effective monopoly is almost impossible without government enforcement. And it isn’t what crony capitalism means. Crony capitalism is by definition a system controlled by the government, not by the market.
See “ethanol as motor fuel”; see also “Solyndra”, “wind power”, etc.
Say it with me peeps…”Markets innovate, use resources most efficiently, and improve the standard of living for everyone!”
BIG GOVERNMENT RUINS…
Um, no…I don’t. I had about 600 words to contrast 3 different economic systems. That every other readers managed to understand that the other 2 systems are disasters, whereas Capitalism is mostly awesome, is not my responsibility.
That was nice of you to take to explain for those who last a firm grasp of the obvious.
LACK.
Shouldn’t post during my first cup of coffee.
Um, yes, you do, and the fact that you think you don’t shows that you still do. You were constrained by a word limit, and yet you spent some of those words to misdescribe crony capitalism as a flaw in capitalism. Capitalism is not mostly awesome, it is completely awesome and without flaws, because it is, by definition, the way people behave when they are free of all fear of violence.
In a capitalist economy crony capitalism is impossible. Crony capitalism is a feature, not of capitalism but of authoritarian government; it is exactly like socialism, with the government controlling all means of production, except that there’s no pretense that it’s being done for the public’s benefit. Since an authoritarian government is not answerable to the public, it can openly say that it’s running the means of production for the benefit of its own members and their cronies.
The labels of “capitalism” and “communism” are correlated with well defined philosophies. Perhaps he’s thinking of the labels “liberal”, “progressive”, and “conservative”, which have meanings correlated with individual societies; or “pro-choice” which simply implies selective or variable (e.g. selective child, selective exclusion “=”, etc.).
Why not suggest Venezuela as a prime example of how communism works. A country rich in oil, but poor in honor, integrity or intellect.
Revealing that Osama says “just decide what works” to the YOUNG Leaders of America. The young don’t have a skin in the game yet and want free tuition, etc., not being concerned about who pays. Just ask Bernie.
It is Obama who is not practical. Nothing he does works. Nothing. The sooner he goes the better for all of us.
When Obama and others of his socialist ilk tell young citizens to ‘decide’ what works, they know these young economic illiterates will ‘decide’ that things like a free college education and other unearned benefits are what works.
My daughter graduates from UNC in May. It took me 15 minutes to get a couple of her peers to understand that just because something is free to them, it doesn’t mean it is free – somebody has to pay for it. I could not believe the difficulty they had in understanding and accepting this very basic bit of plain ‘duh’ logic. I had to take them step by step through questions like: A college needs electricity – who pays for it? A college needs staff and faculty who won’t/can’t work without pay – who pays for it? And so on… Their first answers? The government pays for it, so it’s free! Sooooo, we had to go through how and from whom the government gets its money.
These were seniors at a major university. I cannot fathom the ignorance.
These are the stories that I file under “while we were sleeping.” Conservatives, private and polite people for the most part, have been silent for decades as our education system, our local, state, and federal governments, and our entire culture has been taken over by people who not only don’t have the best interests of this country at heart or in mind, but who also are happy to use our children to further their aims.
When I was in college (many many moons ago), critical thinking, though it wasn’t called that because it was an understood factor in obtaining an education, was foregrounded. We read a wide range of materials, we discussed opposing viewpoints without retreating to or even conceiving of “safe spaces.” Our intellects were engaged, and we were invited to share our views and to listen to (not just hear or, and this would never have happened then, shut down) others’ viewpoints. We never knew where our professors stood ideologically or politically; in fact, we didn’t even think about our professors’ politics. We were in college to learn and to expand our horizons, to gain a well-rounded education, not to become political pawns.
All of that changed, though, and while it began long ago (Andrew Breitbart’s Righteous Indignation provides a great overview if you want to share that with your daughter and her friends), it’s really accelerated in recent years. Higher education is fast becoming a joke, and I don’t say that lightly given that is my “day job.” The students are not to blame, of course, but they do suffer because not only are they never asked to engage with opposing viewpoints, but they are begging not to be exposed to them. We’re in trouble in this country, and with all the horrors abroad, it’s quite overwhelming. I think, sometimes, that this might be why people are so focused on Trump or Cruz or Hillary or Bernie or whomever. It’s easier to focus on one thing that seems manageable and provides an outlet for our seemingly impotent anger and frustration than to take a good hard look at how far things have fallen apart.
Anyway, I am rambling now, but seniors in college should have a clear idea not only of the various political ideologies but of how they have played out historically. Should. But don’t. And through no fault of their own.
Fuzzy, the problems you mentioned and the others that are too numerous to list are destroying this nation. In our society today what influence do conservatives have on its people? Take a few examples. Hollywood and the filth they pump out every hour and then lecture us on how we should live our lives to be good citizens. MSM and their leftward slant on everything they print. The net is helping a little to alleviate that to some degree but the youth are drawn to the daily beast and huffpo as well as the odious slate and salon. All levels of education are filled with socialist lefties who indoctrinate our kids from pre K to post grad. Our own government and all of its agencies are left wing cesspools where a conservative citizen cannot expect fair play. The US military used to be an area of merit based performance and promotion. No longer. “Equal outcome” is now the mantra instead of equal opportunity. Where do we begin to correct this? I believe that as Thomas Jefferson said “The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots from time to time”. We are reaching a point that our differences cannot be settled at the ballot box
Stealing works well for the thief.
It’s pretty simple, actually: capitalism is why America is great, and Communism is why much of the rest of the world turns to America.
John Kerry Says World Leaders Are ‘Shocked’ … by GOP Campaign Rhetoric
“Everywhere I go, every leader I meet, they ask about what is happening in America,” Kerry told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “They cannot believe it. I think it is fair to say that they’re shocked. They don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America. And to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country.”
The author then proceeds to cast blame …
Although he didn’t mention anyone by name, it seemed evident Kerry was referring to the rhetoric in the GOP camp …
… but this seems to be a perfect description of Barack Obama’s foreign policy.
I mean, there have been reports of European diplomats asking visiting Americans if our President is “insane.”
The operative here is “everywhere I go, every leader I meet…”
Considering where Kerry goes and with whom he speaks, I’d be surprised to learn anything different.
Words from America’s First Dumbass – and a trial balloon for fascism, aimed for consumption by America’s ignoramus population.