Do you really want a socialist or communist country? Why?

 Yes! Because socialism and communism mobilizes societies resources for the common good, strives for equality and solves poverty and unemployment problems. Also the living proof is that Communist China is the leading world economy.

But… Communism with its rigid centralized system of government tends to breed corruption that creates the inequalities that it has proclaimed to be fighting against. Also, communism and socialism tend to stifle innovation - the iPhone was invented in America - but, of course, is made in China. On the other hand the Soviet Union beat America to space.

Communism is an old idea - since the time of Plato and Aristotle, even Jesus preached against private property. Still it has too many weak points and it is free markets and democracy that have brought humanity prosperity and technological progress (and that includes China).

https://www.quora.com/Do-you-really-want-a-socialist-or-communist-country-Why/answer/Alex-Great-5

First, I thought communism was good and capitalism bad.

Then, capitalism is good and communism bad.

 Democracy and market forces should take care of that….

 

 

And that seemed to be so true because then we won the Cold war – Soviet style communism crumbled under its own stupidity eager crowds dismantled the Berlin war and turned the pieces of the hated barrier into souvenirs – under the sounds of Pink Floyd singing “break down the wall…” Then the US bombed the Serbs!

Then NATO didn’t disband and kept going for no obvious reason. Then the Chinese communist system managed to bring their country out of poverty to the leading position in the world economy.

Then America is in multi trillion-dollar debt…

I still believe that it’s not by the benevolence of baker and shoemaker that we enjoy prosperity and that we have those inalienable rights.

What I don’t know is – what went wrong?

I know Marx does – he was confident that it was the ownership of the means of production that was the problem but while that does seem to be true with China’s success and the recent economic crisis triggered by US financial institutions it doesn’t seem to explain everything. Communism did fail in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Capitalism or Communism? Or Do We Have a Choice?

 At the end of the eighties things were crystal clear: communism lost, capitalism won and we will all live together happily ever after in material abundancy and liberal bliss, at last.

Now thirty years later the Chinese Communist Party has declared victory over poverty while in the US the middle class is slowly withering away while the media is increasingly turning into a propaganda machine of those in power.

Not only is the trend pointing to China becoming the #1 economy in the world but the US is foolishly isolating Russia (and increasingly the EU) thus pushing them to look for more reliable friends in the East.

How did that happen? Why? Can we do anything about it? Perhaps organize a demonstration on Tiananmen square or march on the Capitol or the Kremlin, or maybe break down the Berlin wall (that’s already broken) but we can always try the Korean demilitarized zone? Revolution?  I hope that will never happen because revolutions usually hurt the innocent and cement the power of the corrupt elite.

I do believe in unity in diversity. That we the people can and will unite and acknowledge that everyone has a right to an opinion (and that means everyone including those you don’t like or don’t agree with) as long as that opinion does not involve hate, or planning to harm someone, or planning to coerce someone into changing their opinion or choice. And that unity will bring reason, stability and abundance.

You may say I’m a dreamer but I hope I’m not the only one….

How to take over the world in a couple of easy steps...

Why humanitydoesn’t live in everlasting peace and prosperity if we have already mastered the technological means and have access to the resources for that?

Possible answers:

Is it a greedy clique of corrupt politicians and business people who conspire against us to protect their undeserved profits because they know of no other way to safeguard their privileges other than instigating division, conflict, war and chaos? More...

Dear friends, I have started a new blog at: https://factsandtheoriessite.wordpress.com/
Please, check it out and tell me what you think?

Russian Spring and US National Interest

One night the Khalif Harum al Rashid summoned his vizier Jafar and said to him: “I wish to go into the city to find out what is happening and to question the people about the conduct of my administrators so that I may dismiss those who they complain of and promote those they praise...”
from the Tale of Three Apples not Newton's, Beatles' and Steve Jobs' but the one from The Thousand and One Nights

The Khalif in Moscow seems to have forgotten that he has to check what people think of his administrators and confident in his popularity after ruling uncontested for over 12 years was unpleasantly surprised by his party's loss of more than 20 per cent of their seats in the Russian parliament regardless of the intimidation of his opponents and his control over the media (perhaps that was caused in part by the 20 per cent increase of internet penetration among the highly literate Russian population). Even worse he seems failing to acknowledge that the people have genuine concerns and dismisses the protesters in true Leninist style as paid by the West. To top it up US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed her concern with the rigged elections, prompting Mr Putin to retaliate that she was instigating the protests which is hardly try. Try spending several hours outside in the Russian winter. No matter how big a fan of Mrs Clinton you may be that thought won't be enough to keep you warm. Just how shaky Putin's position is at the moment can be discerned by his nervousness and lack of confidence (this is the man who rides his horse half-naked even when Sarah Palin is not watching from Alaska) but making the allusion that the white ribbons used by the protesters look like condoms is pretty low (and exposes ignorance that condoms may come in different colors). Gorbachev too (hardly a political competitor anymore) incurred the wrath of Putin by calling for a rerun of the elections.
Having said all that most of the protesters have spent most of their creative lives under the relatively secure, stable and prosperous rule of Putin and his political allies especially if compared with the chaotic Yeltsin regime. Those are the less flamboyant KGB guys (the more extravagant ones are in London dazzling the UK public with extreme wealth obtain though unthinkable corruption) and they may continue to rule Russia for quite some time with or without Putin mostly because they are unlikely to give up their positions without a fight. On the other hand the protestors are not the workers, soldiers and sailors of the October Revolution from the previous century. They are mostly middle class people who are looking for a government that can provide for more opportunities for development and innovation besides selling oil and gas to the West and China.
And that is where the interests of the people standing in the cold in Russia coincide with US national interest. A more democratic Russia where innovation and development will create more markets for US products and more products for US markets can only benefit the US middle class.
In that line of thought it was lucky timing that Russia was accepted as a member of the WTO just when it needs a boost. US – Russia relations cannot be fully covered by the philosophy of a “reset”. They need much more creative thinking to build a whole new system of interdependence and cooperation that will not only boost domestic economies but help create the conditions for stability and prosperity across Eurasia where pockets of volatile conflicts and regional animosities threaten to blow out of proportions, not to mention the imminent collapse of Chinese communism with yet unknown and unpredictable consequences.
The most precious legacy of the G.W. Bush era is the expensive lesson that the US cannot and should not act alone attempting to resolve international issues no matter how well-intentioned and powerful it may feel. It is debilitatingly expensive and the results are at best inconclusive if not disastrous.
The cheapest and most effective way to promote US national interest globally (and in space) is through cooperation – Marshal Plan style, or Kissinger's policy towards China style or International Space Station style. That is not confined to US international experience. Post WWII French policy to entangle Germany in an EU, (I remember it was originally an US idea) but it only became successful after France started pursuing it with religious fervor, and has managed to forge fascinating unity on the Old Continent torn by the most devastating wars in human history less than a century ago, and that united continent is one of the most reliable US trade partners and military allies.
Russia has moved a long way since the stagnation of the Brezhnev era. It is not perfect but it is moving slowly forward. It's in our interest to support that movement.

… the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it— but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor...
--- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

All Hands on Deck!

We discussed global economics in a group at my local church
We discussed the need to incorporate ethical judment in the study of politics. I know its dangerous to mix science and ideology or even worse try to pass ideology for science. I come from a communist country and know first hand how bad is that. Still politics, philosophy and economics have profound effects on people's lives and we cannot pretend to study them without any bias. If we judge by effectiveness in achieving goals and popular support certainly Hitler would come up high in our evaluations scale at least in the first years of his leadership but was he good? We all know the answer and don't need political science to tell us what it is.
My son remarked that society hasn't really changed much from ancient times, but I said that is probably because we only choose to remember particular events from the ancient society, In reality I believe it was much more primitive and horrible but we remember the good things that only came to matter in our age because people made them happen.
Now we have a crooked world. A world in crisis. A world that have exhausted most of the intellectual and philosophical capital of the past. Western Enlightened that came about when Christian West European medieval thinkers rediscovered ancient Greek philosophy preserved by Muslim scholars who had managed to combine Judaism and Christianity (born on the border of Greek and Roman fascination with Judaism) into Islam a spiritual-political system that went on to create one of the most far reaching and culturally diverse empires only to collapse under the weight of corruption and resistance to change to it's present pitiful condition. The Catholic empire went the same way so did Communist Russia. In the East Buddhism found acceptance in Taoist, Confucianist China and Shinto Japan that wen on to adopt Western ways after being humiliated by the Commodore Perry. China went on to adopt Russian Leninism and make it even more horrible. Then Deng figured out the it doesn't matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice and here we have contemporary Communist China as the main creditor of capitalist USA.
And that's it. Since Kant, Marx and Keynes nothing radical new under the sun of human thought. After “We the people hold these truths to be self evident … “ we have only the pale echo of the UN Charter and Declaration of human rights and that's it. Where on from now? The great philosophers a thing of the past, the great spiritual prophets too. Yet humanity faces problems immensely more complicated than thousands of years ago.
I believe the answer is in respect for every human being. Only collective wisdom can help us overcome. It is there we have to reach for it. And make sure the voices of millions disenfranchised are heard too because they may come up with important part of the solution.