Dictionary definition of Socialism
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
Obviously, in practice, it is a bit more complicated than that, however, not much, and the primary point of delineation between Democratic Socialism and Democratic Liberalism (what is often called Classical Liberalism) is that the government is heavily involved with the economy, controlling and owning huge parts of the private sector. So, this couldn’t be socialism, could it?
President Obama will call for new government power to regulate insurance-rate increases as part of comprehensive changes to the health-care system that the White House will unveil on its Web site Monday, senior officials said.
The proposal — part of a package that a top official said will serve as a “starting point” for the bipartisan health summit Thursday — comes as Obama has pointed to recent rate increases as evidence that his proposed changes are necessary.
Ownership and control of GM, dictating pay at companies that took bailouts, and in some cases, trying to dictate pay for non-bailout companies. Add to that the Obamacare plans, which would see the government taking a huge controlling stake in the health care industry. Now we have Obama calling to control the practices of private insurance companies. Seems like socialism to me!
Of course, there is no concern that, if this flaccid idea were to pass, political abuse wouldn’t happen, correct? You wouldn’t see one company receive better regulated rates over another, causing the first company to be profitable, and the latter to go out of business, would you? We wouldn’t see investors dump their stock in insurance companies, because they thought to be unprofitable anymore, would we? We wouldn’t see insurance companies just close down, would we, because they are unprofitable? They wouldn’t do something like outsource as much of their workforce as they can to other countries in order to attempt to make a better profit, would we?
But, don’t call Obama a socialist.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU
