It's Not Socialism - It's Fascism

Neither the Wall Street bailout (as originally conceived) or McCain's plan to buy up mortgages at face value as a gift to the banks are socialism. They are a channeling of tax payer money to the top of the economic pyramid. They are more acurately a sort of crony-capitalism or even neo-fascism.

One of the problems with our current brand of "capitalism" that David Kay Johnston has outlined in his recent books is the extent to which the wealthy and corporations highjack goverment to write the rules to distribute wealth to the politically well connected. You see this in things like taxpayer funded sports arenas and in no bid contracts. Now you see it in underwriting the risk on Wall Street.

Real socialism or the Democratic Socialism of the sort that Bernie Sanders subscribes to seeks to use taxpayer dollars for things like free and affordable healthcare and free and affordable education. How many of us would really resent paying our taxes if our children could attend a state university for free and we knew we would never have to worry about being bankrupted by healthcare bills if we ever have cancer or need open heart surgery?

There are other things tax payer dollars could accomplish. Developing affordable housing is one of them. Isn't it funny how your tax dollars are going to be used to prop up inflated housing values now? If you were hoping that the over-priced housing would come back to earth and within your reach, you might be frustrated to realize that your tax dollars are about to be used to keep that from happening.

Whenever the subject of spending money for butter rather than guns comes up the right wing starts talking about deficits and fiscal responsibility. Where was the talk of fiscal responsibility when it comes to questioning whether we need to be starting a war against country that have neither WMDs or terrorists? Why do we always seem to rationalize staying there to the tune of 12 billion a month after we proved they had neither? The war is a gift to the war profiteers and oil companies hoping for ridiculously favorable royalty contracts.

It's not Socialism to be throwing bailout money structured as generous gifts to Wall Street and the banks, it's hypocrisy.

The really clever trick is that branding these dishonest bailout schemes as Socialism channels the truly deserved anger for this crony capitalism at Socialism instead. Socialism doesn't seek to reward cronies, it seeks to share some burdens across society in an attempt to achieve a greater good for all.

Of course there is subjectivity in what that greater good should be, but do any of us really believe right now that that CEOs on Wall Street are being rewarded according to their personal merits and hard work? Those crooks at AIG immediately turned around and used bailout money for luxury taxpayer funded vacations. That money was supposed to be used to pay off their creditors.

It's that type of unethical greed that neither rewards investors with anything but a paper mirage or finds it possible to give anyone but the CEOs at the top raises that keep up with inflation that has brought our nation to this brink. We are all stagnant except the stratospherically rewarded CEOs now.

This country is in need for some serious change. A government that is accountable, responsive and transparent to we the people is one of them. Some regulatory reform of our businesses including some punitive measures against excessive executive pay is another. But last and not least, this country could use a little real socialism that helps the vast majority of Americans out.

When your elected officials try to tell you there is no money for socialistic programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, call them the liars that they are. They know better.