I was planning to leave the election alone for now and move to the more soul-searching issue of the Sen. Barack Obama – or BHO – phenomenon and how we got here in the first place. However, that can wait until it will be more relevant, given that we will already have a new president and an old problem.
Despite being extensively and expensively publicized, BHO’s "Plan for America" has been misleadingly explained to keep the voting masses on message and rather skillfully protected, shunning any opposition. But behind the smokescreen it is plainly and simply socialist, irresponsible and deceiving. So let’s give up the argument and see why socialism, or call it simply BHO’s plan if you get offended, is not the answer.
Socialism failed in the Soviet Union, thanks to lack of capital for absence of incentive, poor productivity for absence of ownership and government inefficiency for excess of corruption. China is now open ground for capitalism thanks to huge incentives for big corporations.
France has serious social problems rooted in inequality. You can hardly get a high-paying job there without a French name, and ethnic communities are relegated to poor quarters, which saw riots in 2005 and 2007. Where social practices are arguably effective, like Sweden and the Netherlands, people actually pay more taxes – about half their income. Similar to BHO chants, they protect their native corporations and economic interests in other countries, but do not attack them as BHO does. They also rely heavily on nuclear energy -something BHO is still aloof about.
BHO argues the "trickle-down" approach that failed to get money to the masses will work if government replaces businesses. He and his friends will trickle-down tax money to our table and "spread the wealth."
I am also disgusted with some corporate practices and CEO salaries, as are many Americans, but socialism will not solve that. I do not know about you, but I find it easy to "share the wealth" only when I have too much of something. My boss will give me a big bonus if he makes a ton of money. I have yet to meet a company owner that will tell you, "Here you go Joe, have this nice check. We didn’t make that much this year, and I have to pay most of it in taxes, but you deserve it."
Companies may have trouble sharing the wealth, but are great at sharing the costs. A dip in the financial charts, and prices go up as fast as my raise (if I get one) goes down, and my promotion (if not my job) goes out the window.
Capitalism and the free market are in trouble, and we need to fix them. Have we really reached the point where we need to declare this the land of opportunity no more and turn it into a welfare state under BHO socialism? I dare say not.
Bonilla, a project management technology graduate student, can be reached via [email protected]
