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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><a
href="http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2010/10/do-we-fear-s-word-but-like-reality.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Flhav+%28jobsanger%29">http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2010/10/do-we-fear-s-word-but-like-reality.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Flhav+%28jobsanger%29</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
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bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<h2><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Tuesday,
October 12, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h3><a name=5709995183067146864></a><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'><a
href="http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2010/10/do-we-fear-s-word-but-like-reality.html">Do
We Fear The "S" Word But Like The Reality?</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=4
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>There is little doubt that for most Americans calling them
a socialist would be about the worst thing they could be called.
Americans seem convinced that having a socialist system of economics (and it is
an economic system - not a type of government) would be against everything <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> stands
for. They feel this way because the word has been demonized for decades
in this country by right-wingers and corporate interests.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Most Americans equate socialism to communism (a different
economic system) and dictatorship (a type of government). The truth is that
socialism has little to do with either one. I don't think most Americans
even know what socialism is. To them it is just an evil lurking in the
shadows waiting to steal our freedom, something akin to slavery or tyranny.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>But there is an interesting survey that tends to show we,
as Americans, may be more afraid of the word than the reality. There's
no doubt Americans are afraid of the word, but <a
href="http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/norton%20ariely%20in%20press.pdf">the
survey</a> by Michael I. Norton of the Harvard Business School and Dan
Ariely of Duke University shows that a huge majority of Americans may actually
think socialism produces a fairer and better result than our own biased-toward-the-rich
capitalist system.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Their survey, which included a large group of 5,522
American citizens, showed a couple of very interesting things. The first
is that most Americans don't realize just how out-of-whack the distribution of
wealth is in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Survey respondents believed that the richest 20% of Americans controlled
about 59% of the country's wealth. The truth is much worse. In
2005, the richest 20% actually controlled about 84% of the wealth in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> (and
that percentage has undoubtably grown in the last five years).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>The authors of the survey then presented the respondents
with three unmarked pie charts. The first showed an even 20% of wealth
for each fifth of the population. The second showed the distribution of
wealth in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The third showed the distribution of wealth in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sweden</st1:place></st1:country-region>
(definitely a socialist country, where the richest 20% controls 36% of the
country's wealth). They were asked to choose which pie chart showed the
most appropriate (fairest) distribution of wealth. Here are the results:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>WHEN ASKED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ALL 3 CHART.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>United States...............10%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Equal portions...............43%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Sweden</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>...............47%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>WHEN ASKED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN EQUAL AND SWEDISH CHARTS.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Equal...............49%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Sweden</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>...............51%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>WHEN ASKED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN EQUAL AND US CHARTS.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Equal...............77%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>United States...............23%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>WHEN ASKED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN US AND SWEDISH CHARTS.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>United States...............8%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Sweden</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Tahoma'>...............92%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>It is interesting that a small majority of Americans chose
the Swedish distribution of wealth over an exactly equal distribution of
wealth. They were quite willing to accept that there will be some
inequality in an economic system and thought the Swedish (socialist)
distribution of wealth was the best possible outcome. But virtually none
(8%) of the respondents thought the distribution of wealth created in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
was fair or appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>And even more amazing is that the preference for the
Swedish distribution of wealth over the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> distribution of wealth cut
across gender, party and income lines. Here is that breakdown:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>PREFERRED THE SWEDISH (SOCIALIST) DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Women...............92.7%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Men...............90.6%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Democratic voters...............93.5%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Republican voters...............90.2%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Make under $50,000...............92.1%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Make $50,000-$100,000...............91.7%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Make over $100,000...............89.1%<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>These lop-sided figures bring into question the supposed American
hatred of socialism. It turns out that at least 90% of Americans would
prefer the distribution of wealth created by a socialist system to the
distribution our own capitalist system has created. They may be afraid
of the word "socialism", but they believe the results of socialism
are better -- as long as you don't use the "S" word to describe it.
In other words, years of propaganda and scare tactics have frightened
them into accepting a system they know is fair only for the richest few
Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Now I know that some will be screaming that socialism
involves "income redistribution" -- another term Americans have been
convinced is a bad thing. But the truth is that there is income
redistribution in all economic systems. In our form of rich-biased
capitalism, that redistribution is to the richest citizens in the country from
everyone else. In a socialism, the redistribution is much fairer and
more even.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Americans are really socialists at heart and believe in a
fairer system of wealth distribution. They have just been convinced by
decades of propaganda to vote against the best interests of themselves and
their fellow citizens, and that's just sad.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Tahoma'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=post-authorvcard><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Posted by </span></font></span><span
class=fn>Ted McLaughlin</span><span class=post-authorvcard> </span><span
class=post-timestamp>at <a
href="http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2010/10/do-we-fear-s-word-but-like-reality.html"
title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" title="2010-10-12T00:06:00-05:00">12:06
AM</abbr></a> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
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