In the latest Rasmussen opinion poll, only 53% of Americans think that capitalism is better than socialism. While only 20% believe that socialism is the way to go. Read more, see photos and video below.
Lenin and Stalin
The debate about capitalism, and socialism has been raging in America for some time now; but it has only been on the front of American’s minds since this past election cycle, with so many liberal candidates who fit the Marxist socialist mold. A current Rasmussen poll shows that only 53% of Americans believe that the capitalist way of life is better than the socialist.
With the election of Barack Obama, socialism is becoming the in thing with a lot of people, especially the younger generation. Adults under 30 are almost evenly divided in the Rasmussen poll; 37% opt for capitalism while 33% prefer socialism, a staggering 30% remain undecided. Those in their 30’s are more supportive of capitalism with 49% favoring the free enterprise system. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism over socialism with only 13% saying that a socialist government is the right way to go.
People also tend to put their money where their mouth is; those who invest are 5 to 1 in favor of capitalism while only 40% of those who don’t invest their own money favor the capitalist system. Not surprisingly, 25% of those who do not invest favor socialism.
Once again, no big surprise, but those who favor capitalism or socialism are divided in a partisan way as well. Republicans favor capitalism by an 11-1 margin, while democrats are much more divided on the issue; 39% say they favor capitalism while 30% favor socialism.
Amazingly, Rasmussen conducted the same poll in December of 2008; the results were astonishingly different. Just four months ago 70% of those polled preferred a free market economy. This Rasmussen poll tells me that the Obama administration is very effective at getting it’s big brother style message out to the masses, while conservatives have been lacking sufficiently in that regard.
It is still very easy to convey the message of socialism in today’s entitlement society. Folks are in a very fragile, vulnerable state, and the Obama administration along with the democrats in congress, the media and other socialist governments around the world are hitting them hard with the socialist message; without ever really calling it what it is, socialism. This Rasmussen poll demonstrates that very clearly.
Milton Friedman Video
April 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
This all started when we decided to make everyone a winner and not keep score in sports. (the kids kept score) And passing kids onto the next grade even if they failed. It also didn’t help when mom and dad bought cars for their kids instead of matching what they saved and buy it themseleves.
We have a generation that has the ‘I am entitled to this.’ attitude.
I thought the 90’s where the whiney 90’s, but this next decade has it beat.
Why teach history?
April 9th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
it is not really about keeping score
we do not allow certain games because they do not add to a student’s physical education
for example, Duck Duck Goose, Giants, Elves, and Wizards; kickball; Musical Chairs; relay races; Steal the Bacon all are unsuitable as PE.
they were the original inductees to the PE hall of shame for good reason
April 9th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Why the ‘detracting’ qualifier word only here. Obama won over McCain 52.9% to 45.6% and people treat that like a mandate. The agenda is always given away on how people use qualifying adjectives.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Socialism is the most painful path between capitalism and capitalism.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
No “ism” is better than any other. They are all equally terrible. You cannot simply rely on any single paradigm, as each one has its own individual shortcomings that cannot be accounted for. Different problems call for different solutions, and to completely rule out a particular approach because it doesn’t fit within a certain “ism”, or to give preferential treatment to an approach because it does, is just foolish.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:53 am
This is not a left vs right thing. The numbers appear to be substantially influenced by low income folks…
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/have-nots-arent-having-it.html
…I’m a Democrat, have owned two businesses for 15 years in total, and am most definitely a capitalist.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:01 am
The “debate” over socialism v. capitalism is smoke and mirrors invented by the right to attack anyone who thinks that government should do anything at all to help its citizens, unless you happen to have fifty million dollars in the bank–then it’s OK.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:29 am
This guy nailed it:
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/socialism_for_sucka_free_mcs/
April 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Sorry, but we are living in a SOCIALIST society right now! When that first stimulus check was received, when that first company was “saved” we became a socialist society. Free enterprise means the right for a business to come AND go. Not come and then let the government give you billions of dollars when you perform poor business. Idealistic capitalism would be great, it would create competition and the best man or business would win/succeed, but when those people are just given money for doing crap work it defeats the purpose. In reality, communism would be the utopia for a society. Everyone would be equal. Isn’t that what liberals want equal rights for everyone?
April 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
If we can socialize their debts, we can socialize their profits. It’s also about time that we create a “socialized” health care system by cutting out the insurance middle men, so that health care provision can be as efficient as it is in most of the other western industrialized countries. We’ve been fooled for too long by the insurance companies, and by our arrogance that no one does it better than us. Even some big businesses in the US now see the sense of having universal health coverage because they can’t compete with their counterparts in western Europe due to having to contribute to worker health care plans. Democratic socialism for all of us will improve our society, with the wealth of the country used in ways that don’t just benefit fat cats and the elite.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Yeah, we should all be able to suckle off the government teet. Suckle till it’s dry. What do you mean it’s already dry well just print some more money and we’ll all get some more stimulus checks. We’ll make the rich pay for it. The rich are evil. Who cares that only 60% of Americans pay federal income tax. We should all be getting free stuff even when we don’t pay our fair share. In a civilized society it’s our moral obligation to pay healthcare costs for extremely unhealthy people. Fat, lazy, welfare getting people, now those are real patriots.
April 11th, 2009 at 5:17 am
So the corporations and the elite who look for all kinds of ways to avoid putting taxes into the pot are true patriots? Give us a break!
April 11th, 2009 at 5:29 am
About 47 million, including children, without health care, a couple of million in jail, massive gap between CEO pay and shop floor worker pay, and millions without work or under productive. Yep, capitalism looks great! If we had a factory system that was this defective, we’d say let’s go back to the drawing board because the system is a mess, and so let’s change it. Also, ever thought about the insurance companies that have been sucking off all of our teats whenever we need health care. It sounds like many Americans are starting to see that we actually live in a TRICKLE UP SOCIETY.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:00 am
In the quote above, just under the keep ‘em dumb “Hot Celebrity Photos” ad, it’s claimed “It is still very easy to convey the message of socialism in today’s entitlement society” Really? I think many would strongly disagree. Rarely is socialism given a positive spin for the masses. Socialism is never portrayed in the so-called “liberal” corporate-run media as something that would greatly improve the lives of the majority of American people. I believe this is because it is an economic system that would threaten the selfish interests of the rich and powerful minority in the world, including the corporations that profit from war, sickness, criminality, and keeping us ignorant through their media. As for “entitlement,” the sector of society that seems to think it’s entitled to something right now is big business, especially banks and insurance companies.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:25 am
The sad part about this is that theres that percentage who dont even know enough about either form of government to make a decision.
Aroth, socialism wont work in America.
We are a people who are used to a capitalistic society and half these idiots who oppoose it dont even realize how dependent they are on a capitalistic society. They’re so damn ignorant that they think the two systems will work side by side. Socialism will destroy and drain whatever capitalism puts into the system.
Aroth, everytime the fed or some state sends someone a buck doesnt mean the country is socialist. We have programs that support our infrastucture and a few that redistribute money to the needy but that doesnt make us a socialist country. When the banks, health care, and the corporate sector are all being managed by the fed, thats when you can say that were a socilist country.
Tom, please, tell me what countries have a functional “socialized health care system”?
“Democratic socialism for all of us will improve our society, with the wealth of the country used in ways that don’t just benefit fat cats and the elite.”
Typical Marxist crap. “democratic socialism”
Its still socialism bro.
April 11th, 2009 at 7:53 am
“So the corporations and the elite who look for all kinds of ways to avoid putting taxes into the pot are true patriots? Give us a break”
Thats beside the point.
The fact is that even with the exeptions these guys manage to pull of they still pay the largest percentage that keeps this country afloat.
If they didnt look for and take advantage of the loopholes they would all gp broke. These are the people that create wealth, not take it.
Our system of progressive taxation is already set up well enough where theres already too many getting plenty of what they dont deserve.
You and the rest of those on this thread are forgetting that we got into this mess due to the greed of the the democrats and the low income sector who bought houses under that administrations policies of wealth redistribution via the CRA, Fannie and Freddie.
It allowed entitlements of low to no interest rates on properties they couldnt afford. Now the rest of the country from the individual tax payer to the corporate sector are picking up the tab.
That is socialism by default, and it almost took this country down.
“the sector of society that seems to think it’s entitled to something right now is big business, especially banks and insurance companies.”
Bull, GM, the banks, AIG are all beggining to reject fed funding if they dont regret doing so already. Once they saw what it meant to be obligated to Obama they said thanks but no thanks. The rest that are holding out for funding are mostly the projects included in the stimuls that go wastefull useless programs or extending welfare and unemplotment in most states. Some of these states have turned down funding as well due the commitment it ties them to in the long run of having to continue these policies on their own dime.
You’re wrong
April 11th, 2009 at 7:56 am
An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single
student before but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had
insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one
would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok, we will have
an experiment in this class on socialism.
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so
no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the
grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard
were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the
second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even
less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so
they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted
in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All
failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism
would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to
succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one
will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that….
April 11th, 2009 at 8:05 am
[...] news. Another poll sent a shock down my liberty loving spine. Of course I am talking about the Rassmussen Poll that revealed only 53 % of Americans prefer capitalism to socialism. Worse than the fact that people [...]
April 11th, 2009 at 8:41 am
AA.
I’ve worked as a trouble shooter for rest. chains.
The first line of order was to do away with the tip pooling system.
Motivation, morale, customer satisfaction and revenues all picked up immediately. The natural process of culling the defective waiters kicked into gear and within weeks we had a more efficient streamilined happy wait staff.
Yes AA, there are some very simple examples out there to follow but like in your example its always the egotistic/idealistic youth who think they’ll be the ones after seeing repeated failure in a system for decades be the ones that can finally make the square fit in the hole.
“Everyone else has been doing it wrong” is the mindset in play for those who want a world where wealth comes easier than actually having to produce it. The mob mentallity doesnt understand that in order for their to be the collective there must first be the individual.
Period
April 11th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Micky
yes and thank god we have HOPE and CHANGE now!…. ha ha. Hope is like a rocking chair, it’s fun. it gives you something to do but in the end your still in the same place. If it was up to me, I would have let all of the corporations fail.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Yea, we’d probably be over and done with this mess by now. Or at least half way through it.
What am I sayin ? hell, they probably wanted all this to happen. Theres enough out there to make me believe it seeing as how everything is designed to drag it out forever being the “crisis you dont wanna let go to waste”.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
The way you lead the uninformed red-stater to belive that we as a nation are nearing socialiism should be insult to your own intellect. To define the difference for them between a system of government and an economic system would undoubtedly overweigh those you hope to influence. In truth, capitalism is no more a form of governance than is socialism, and I love capitalism. I love truth in education even more. One must know that we favor a form of governance in which each person shares equal voice (socialistic ?)and the individual freedom of choice and growth, are vastly different things.