socialism vs capitalism

[Ian Livingston]

Hmm. What Would Groucho Do?


On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at verizon.net> wrote:
> On 1/2/2012 2:25 PM, Ian Livingston wrote:
>>
>> There is a link to the questionnaire used at the top of the column on
>> the right side of the page. Given the format, it seems the questions
>> were geared to get responses to the words, not to the ideas.
>
> That is my understanding.
>
> The results are useful to politicians campaigning for office. For example,
> Newt running against Obama might score points in calling the latter a
> socialist but it would be pointless, counterproductive even, to call him a
> capitalist.
>
> I imagine Karl Marx if asked would have answered positively to both
> "socialist" and "capitalist."
>
>  He believed capitalism was a hell of a success. (but it would someday be
> time to move along)
>
> I don't know about Groucho.
>
> P
>
>
>
>>  It's a
>> relatively small fraction of Americans who actually understand the
>> ideas in the first place, anyway, so, in order to get responses to the
>> actual ideas involved in capitalism and socialism, etc., an accurate
>> survey would have to break the ideas into simple terms. Re-posting
>> Paul's original link:
>>
>> http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-publics-response-to-capitalism-socialism/?src=prc-headline
>>  Look at the pdfs in the "Report Materials" section on the right.
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 10:32 AM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>
>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On 1/2/2012 12:45 PM, Bekah wrote:
>>>>
>>>> If asked if I had a favorable or unfavorable reaction to socialism,
>>>>  could
>>>> I say no?   (or does it have to be one or the other?)
>>>
>>>
>>> The positives and negatives don't add to 100 percent so I guess you could
>>> answer no opinion.
>>>
>>> This latter category accounted for 20 percent with respect to
>>> "capitalism"
>>> and 19 percent with respect to "socialism."
>>>
>>> P
>>>
>>>> Bekah
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 2, 2012, at 8:04 AM, Paul Mackin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/1/2012 10:04 PM, David Morris wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> P-listers should know that the Capitalism/Socialism polarity is false
>>>>>
>>>>> True, and I did slightly misstate the survey's question in my own
>>>>> introductory question.
>>>>>
>>>>> The question asked was, do you have a favorable or unfavorable reaction
>>>>> to "socialism?" (and same for "capitalism")
>>>>>
>>>>> No definitions were given, and it would certainly have been possible
>>>>> for
>>>>> a respondent to have a negative reaction to both of them, or to
>>>>> neither.
>>>>>
>>>>>  In other words. it wasn't a choice between the two isms.
>>>>>
>>>>> P
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sunday, January 1, 2012, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>
>>>>>>  wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> can you find the three groups that have a more favorable view toward
>>>>>>> socialism than capitalism?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-publics-response-to-capitalism-socialism/?src=prc-headline
>>>>>>>
>>
>>
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant