undefined | Better HN

story

0 pointsrefurb4y ago0 comments

To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher “Socialism works great until you run out of other people’s money”.

And the ironic part is when the people asking to maintain social programs complain too much attention is paid to economic growth - the very source of what pays for those programs.

The truth is as economies stagnate and the demographic shift happens, Western Europe will have no choice but to cut back programs.

You cant maintain the same system when you go from 1 worker and we retired to 1 worker and 2 retired.

0 comments

virtualritz4y ago

What exactly is your point?

Socialist capitalism[1] is mainly about making sure the wealth and opportunity gap between members of a society doesn't become a 'canyon'.

We're talking mainly legislation here.

What you're seemingly talking about is how a government is managing pensions when faced with an aging population?

Quoting Thatcher in this context is hilarious to someone like me who lived & worked in the UK.

There is a reason continental Europeans jokingly often call the that island the 'last 3rd world country in Europe'. ;)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy

Edit: missing link

refurbOP4y ago

It’s amazing how many fans of socialism, such as yourself, don’t see the connection.

The UK would be even less able to afford social programs if the economy had continued on its pre-Thatcher slide down.

And calling the UK third world just shows how laughable the understanding is - try “socialist paradises” like Greece where much of the economy has gone underground because the tax burden is so high in people who can barely make ends meet.

bratwurst30004y ago

It was a dumb idea to conect the social system to the economie…. But still a social system has a lots of benefits that are apparent if you once lives in the us and europe. What would be your solution for schooling, housing etc… just keep dumb people dying on the street because somehow the market will regulate it??

Edit: because even if the economie goes bad there are humans living there that need a certain baseline of living. In the capitalist world there is only taking more debt , cuttings and hope … if that doesnt work.. what then?? Adorno once said that one cant do right in the wrong world. Right can only be done in a right world. Its hard to sustain socialism if its bound to capitalism

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse