Romney, ‘Capitalist Pigs,’ and Khrushchev
For people who dared to start their lives again from scratch in order to become citizens of this great country — as I did, and as did those millions who have patiently waited in line for their immigration papers — America is “the Canaan of capitalism, its promised land,” as prescient German economist Werner Sombart called it in 1906. This “Canaan of capitalism” was not created by Jeremiah Wrights; it was created by a long procession of American presidents who were capitalists like Mitt Romney, men who were daring enough to become successful in business and to earn sizeable fortunes. George Washington’s assets are estimated in today’s dollars at $525 million, Thomas Jefferson’s at $212 million, Theodore Roosevelt’s at $125 million, Andrew Jackson’s at $119 million, James Madison’s at $101 million, Lyndon Johnson’s at $98 million, Herbert Hoover’s at $75 million, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s at $60 million. John Fitzgerald Kennedy may not have earned his own fortune, but he inherited an estimated $1 billion. Some of these presidents were better than others; none has ever been called a “heinous capitalist.”
Europe generated two world wars along with Nazism and the Holocaust; our “Canaan of capitalism,” led mostly by capitalist presidents in the Romney mold, defeated them.
After World War II, our “Canaan of capitalism” generated an unprecedented technological explosion that pampered the whole Western world with a flood of cars, household appliances, and nutritious foods, throwing open the gates to an unimaginable new era of television, automation, and computerization. Concurrently, Eastern Europe devolved into one of the most destructive dictatorships the world has ever known, a behemoth known as the Soviet empire, which killed some 94 million people and waged some forty long years of Cold War against freedom and democracy. In the end, it was our “Canaan of capitalism” run by capitalist presidents that assumed the burden of freeing the world from the Soviet boot.
Now, the president insists on denigrating America’s uniquely successful capitalism as he attempts to change our country into a debt-ridden socialist realm. I have no reason to doubt the patriotism of our president and of the Democratic Party leaders. Nevertheless, I can see a frightening similarity between the Democratic Party’s electoral tactics aimed at discrediting American capitalism and the Kremlin’s plot to damage the United States by portraying its leaders as capitalist monsters during the years I was at the top of the Soviet bloc’s disinformation community.
Thank you for your writings and commentary Mr. Pacepa.
Yes well written BUT Obama is NOT the First black president- he is 1/2 black 1/2 white from a commie mommy and Kenyan Socialist daddy he got to see one time for 4 hours when he was 10, daddy dumped him at age 2 & moved to Harvard, mom living off of grant money as an anthropologist Send young Barry to live with her commmie parents age 8 in Hawaii went to private school- Commie mommy shipped him home because her then squeze was becoming a Capitalist & SHE hated Capitalism- funny how she got free money from Capitalist but hated them & Transfered that hate to Obama who was Parentless from age 8 till he became a father – no Family Structure why he is a Sociopath
Buckeye Abroad- aer you a welding Engineer- worked with lots of Buckeye engineers In Texas & overseas
No, but I have a lot of friends I grew up with who call Texas home.
With lies he does brew, with hate he does bake
And then the liberty of all he will take
If not enough catch on in time to his evil little game
That Hussein Vissarionovich Obama is his real name!
Exactly.
Lenin didn’t seem quite like the monster he later became until after he cemented his grip on power. Lenin did have Stalin figured out pretty well, which some contend was the reason why Lenin died when he did.
Stalin didn’t do Lenin in, but he made positively sure that he was the sole inheritor of the revolution by murdering the other founding members (including Trotsky in Mexico) and then having them systematically removed from Soviet history.
We have a warped sense of what socialism is all about. Somehow wanting to make private property and who has title to the means of production the essence. The Soviets by the 80s recognized they needed the revenue from the private sector and nationalization in 3rd world countries hurt that revenue. “Use capitalism” become the operating policy. In the industrialized West, then socialism is coming at us in other ways that effectively cut off individual freedom and economic freedom.
You don’t need legal title if you regulate and restrict the use of private property and tax away much of the benefit of ownership. If you have used education to train the mind to respond from emotion as a matter of habit, you have a citizen who is easy to mislead. All the more useful if socialism is wearing the guise of a Corporatist economy redesigned around the utopian illusion of Sustainability.
Sustainability is the means for restructuring the means of production and consumption. Education “reforms” take out or remold the noetic systems. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/rigor-relevance-and-relationships-the-new-3rs-to-get-to-a-caring-economics/ shows you how terms that seem innocuous quietly remake the economy, minds, eliminate political freedoms, and everything any Soviet leader ever schemed to obtain in a desire to gain subjugation.
All designed to be put in place with your tax dollars out of sight before we can protest. As John Goodlad, the education professor and former UNESCO official in the 70s who I mention in the first paragraph, put it last fall:”if the American people understood what was really going on in education, they would be much more upset about that than healthcare.”
Indeed. Time to try to change that.
Place of honor? because of his race? What poppycock.
He should have a “place” of the lowest infamy. He is a communist wolve in sheep clothing.
(and yes, in kind he is exactly like those “Soviet Monsters” of yore; the only difference is that he does not have yet as much power as they possessed.)
Stop buying in to the Left’s race narrative.
You can see through the propaganda of their economic program. Why can you not see though that of their racial program.
The Left wishes to destroy this nation.
As a military historian of the Soviet Union, I see that virtually everything Obama does is taken right out of the Soviet playbook. Obviously he has studied it well.
Several Russian friends who emigrated to the US shortly after the USSR collapsed, are really frightened since they say they see the same thing. It is happening here.
People here should also realize that the only reason this man was elected president was as the ultimate act of affirmative action.
“I have no reason to doubt the patriotism of our president and of the Democratic Party leaders.”
Unpatriotic is as unpatriotic does.
I purposely utilize my professional status in this comment in order to communicate not only my personal graditude for your articles, but also, for what it is worth, my professional admiration. (I have printed two books on the “mytho-poetic” origins and evolution of Marx’s “scientific” [sic] thinking. In the final analysis, I contend, Marx’s critiques of capitalism were embedded in a value system of late German Romanticism.) As a student I lived through the “disinformation” atmosphere on many a college campus, one that continued on during my days as an active professor. All that is not important for my “professional” evaluation of your efforts. I have always enjoyed the analyses of ex-communists, whatever the stipe. Sidney Hook could, despited his leftism, offer much insight. But, the person with whom I associate you most is the ex-Trotsky-ist, James Burnham. I found in Burnham and I find in you something for which I have no adequate designation. I simply call it “hard-core” evaluations. Burnham always sought to look beyond the words and find the “hard” reason for them. Although a bit timidly you have drawn a parallel between Krushchev and Obama. Let me suggest a Burnhamian analysis that might remove a bit of your timidity.
Burnham, revolting against Trotsky’s ideological affirmation of Stalin’s Russia as still the homeland of the proletariat, initiated a critique whose principles led him to his “Managerial Revoluton”. In that book Burnham was able to establish a morphological similarity between the Soviet Union, National Socialism, and, inchoately, FDR’s New Deal with regards to socio-economic structuring. I suggest that there is a morphological similarity between the value system of Krushchev and the one of Obama, a similarity that you effectively have depicted. That you do not equate Obama with Krushchev is “objectively” correct. Nevertheless, morphologically, relative to “Canaan capitalism”, there are parallel structures which lead to parallel opinions and parallel critiques. Your politeness relative to Obama is right, your timidiy (at least as I experience it) need not be so reserved. Borrowing and perhaps distorting a communist theme, namely “ungenuine consciousness”, the consciousness of Obama and the one of Krushchev exhibit as a deep structure a morphologically identical value system. Just an idea, one by a person who affirms “Canaan capitalism”.
A final personal note that you might appreciate with a sense of joyous irony. The first time I visited the Soviet Union–>Russia in 1990 I walked with a Russian colleague past the Communist Party’s headquarters in Leningrad. I saw a 3 meter high bust of Lenin and scrambled to íts top and sat there drinking a can of American Cole-Cola toasting Lenin’s demise. When my Russian colleague became nervous, I popped open another can and … noticing some unfriendly eyes piercing me … I quickly left. So, perched on Lenin’s head I toasted the downfall of his system. So celebrate “Canaan capitalists”. Once again, my appreciation for your analyses. I am proud to have you a co-citizen.
When I first visited Moscow I got to spend some time at Red Square. I noticed the ГУМ (GUM) shopping centre across from Lenin’s tomb and couldn’t help but notice the amount of luxurious western goods for sale. The irony made me laugh.
Dido! It was my nefarious plan to repeat my toast in Lenin’s tomb. You know, “Here is a coke to you, Lenny!=ne for your decomposition.” However, I did not want a Russian Militia–they are mean and tough — retaining me, or what would be left of me. But, the irony of all fills my occasional dreams with saddistic joy.
Recently Obama has made his infra structure argument for his socialism. Well, I started visiting St. Petersburg regularly beginning with 1990. I have repeatedly walked from the abode of my host to the Metro in an outlying district, about a mile. The streets were already there and have, except for some repairs, not been modified. In the beginning there was one large “public” building for food distributrion for miles around. First, the roamed streets were dotted with small food and whatever stands, then a concentration of larger stands around the Metro, then disappearance of said stands to be replaced with small, larger, and large supermarkets dotting the streetscape. The difference is that the owners risked cash, made profits or loss, became rich or poor(er), success or bankruptcy. Same streets and same infrastructure with different levels of business development. This experience of mine disconfirms empirically Obama’s gov.-does-it-for-you thesis. I think Gen.Pacepa has put his finger on it. I suspect Obama would feel more at home with the welfare value structure of the 1990 dying Soviet Union than with the “Canaan capitalism” somewhat there today. –Oh the GUM store was not there when I visited Moscow years ago. Once again, same streets, different levels of business.
As Elizabeth Warren’s rant, and Barack Obama’s similar rant, were making the news, I had been reading Thomas Sowell’s Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. This doesn’t make me an expert on Marxism, but it gave me some insight into it. Based on my understanding, Obama and Warren were both spouting a fundamental Marxist concept: Surplus Value. According to this concept, all accumulated wealth in a capitalist economy is the accumulation of labor-value created by workers in excess of their own labor-cost. This Marx called Surplus Value, and is the illegitimate source of all capitalists’ wealth. Thus, no capitalist can claim to be the legitimate owner of what he thinks is his own wealth. It was created by the sweat of the brow of exploited workers, and is fair game for taxation, or outright seizure and redistribution.
Why am I talking about surplus value instead of the infrastructure argument Obama and Warren made? Because the idea that the accumulated wealth of a capitalist is not legitimately his, is one of those things that “everyone knows.” That is, everyone in the faculty lounge. Perhaps Obama and Warren were just being cagey to avoid using terminology directly from Capital or the Communist Manifesto. And perhaps they were speaking from the heart.
i like to think of this more of the collectivists deliberate confusion regarding simple economic realities as exhibited, for example, in milton friedman’s reiteration of “the pencil”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8
the parasitic nature of leftism attaches itself to everything and claims ownership on the good days and “blame the capitalist pigs” on the bad
cherry picking and befuddlement are the tools of the trade for these scum
Ernie-I think Obama and Warren are both repeating what they heard from Cass Sunstein, the regulatory czar. His 1999 book, Free Markets and Social Justice lays out this vision perfectly.
I would argue it goes back to Obama’s communitarian view of society. Which is unfortunately embedded deeply in all his education initiatives we are paying dearly for and will be for years. It pushes the idea that everything an individual is he got from his environment or interactions with others. In this view, the we is what precedes and creates the I. So what anyone is or has is derivative of the community they find themselves in.
I hope to hear you give a speech at the Republican National Convention, Mr. Pacepa.
As I have recently commented at another article:
“How much socialism does the Democrat Party have to profess before they are seen as the overt Communists they really are?”
Barrack Obama and Elizabeth Warren are both spewing Soviet ideology, and they seem to have a following that will march into a volcano for them.
Of course, they have an obsequious media to facilitate their agenda, which is part and parcel to the conspiracy.
And, if you publish your articles and disseminate in Spanish, that would help in reaching the intellects of some of the most servile.
Dear Mr. Pacepa, I am deeply grateful for your columns. They tell the ‘been there, done that’ story like no other.
I admire Ion Mihai Pacepa. He was one of the top dogs in the Communist regime of his old country, and now he’s got it pretty good here in America. Takes a good eye for opportunity.
Stan,
You are a typical commie/Cheka/progressive troll using personal attack with nothing of substance. You can not dispute anything author said.
How much do the Democrats pay for your posts?
I do not know why you and avotu are directing complaints against Stan S. Whatever his intentions, he has inadvertently, perhaps, just told a good and valid capitalistic truth. “Opportunity”, that is the secret of capitalism. One makes it good in tryanny, recognizes the disgusting situation, risks it all (do not capitalists risk capital?)and defects and, then, seizes the opportunity for success in a “free” country! Finally one (Gen. Pacepa) contributes to informing his fellow citizens about the dangers of the old tryanny. Pacepa’s experience is our “opportunity” to learn, it we have an “eye” for it. It makes no difference what Stan S. might have meant. He hit it right on the nail, and I affirm the excellent “eye for opportunity” exhibited by Gen. Pacepa. If only Obama understood what “opportunity” and an “eye” for it means in “Canaan capitalism”, we would not be lamenting his presidency today.
Wow! This should be printed up and passed out throughout the United States. By the millions.
“Hard Facts”, indeed!
“Now, the president insists on denigrating America’s uniquely successful capitalism as he attempts to change our country into a debt-ridden socialist realm.”
You’ve got that right! Obama’s entire upbringing has prepared him for this unique moment in American history. He was certainly raised a socialist, if not a complete communist, by his parents and friends. Now he’s in a position to do something about it, much to the horror of the American people. And if the last four years have not convinced you that Obama is a full-blown European-style socialist, then nothing will. ObamaCare alone will stand as the single most destructive government program ever adopted by Congress. And it MUST be stopped. The financial future of this nation depends on it.
But ObamaCare is only one example. You had the “stimulus” that only stimulated more debt, you had tons of bailouts for companies like Solyndra, GM and Chrysler, you had “cash-for-clunkers,” mortgage debt forgiveness, student loan rate reductions, and God only knows how many government programs that have exploded under this administration (such as food stamps and unemployment, not to mention welfare). It all boils down to money being taken away from the productive parts of society and being showered on the unproductive parts, the people who have no problems living off of what other people make and having the stones to demand more.
America has looked into the socialist abyss and it doesn’t like what it sees. We don’t fancy ourselves to be the same as Greece or Spain, nor should we. We are Americans, and our brand of democracy and capitalism has made us the most powerful nation on the planet. As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For almost four years now Obama has tried to “fix” America in his own image. So how’s that “Hope and Change” working out for you now? Obama MUST be thrown out of office in November. The fate of the nation depends on it.
I can’t understand why people like Romney don’t contrast the economy of the world before and after the American revolution, and the economies of free countries vs the enslaved communist countries post WWII.
You would think it would be second nature.
It makes me think they don’t really want to win.
It’s much easier, after all, to be a favoreed crony of a fascist ruler. No competition in that mode. Note the fortunes, btw, the republic cronies have all make from 2008 until now. They put up just enough of a fight to lose every important battle, despite the fact that one might think the overwhelming opposition of the American people to everything the marxists were doing would have been a trump card.
Of course, that favored crony status doesn’t always last very long.
American politics are sound bite oriented, due to the ignorance of most people. It is difficult to compare and contrast in a sound bite, especially to a population who, by and large, don’t even have a grasp of history. I am with you on this, but I think Romney has to work with the realities in order to get elected. As long as I believe HE knows the historical differences, I can vote for him over any communist. That would include comrade Boobily. ABO2012
Communism doesn’t work but apparently we have to say this over and over again. Keep calm and carry on Mr Pacepa. Mr Obama continues to promote the “comfort that kills” and it seems that about 40% of Americans are willing customers. Go figure.
Thank you sir for another very interesting article. It is always good to see things from someone that understands where the other side is coming from.
Obama et all, talk about the roads the businesses use, the police and fire services and such. They say the people paid for those which is true but they don’t say where the people got the money to pay for them. Could it have been another capitalist starting a business, hiring the people, paying for their labor that gave them the money needed to improve their surroundings? That paved the way for more industry to move in, hiring more workers, putting more money out to allow the people to afford the upkeep on all those roads and services? How come they never mention that?
“all the leaders of the former Soviet Union regularly referred to capitalists as ‘pigs.’”
In his book Animal Farm, George Orwell referred to the Marxist leaders of the Soviet Union as Pigs. Under real free enterprise each man labors and earns the fruit of his own labor – he is not a greedy pig. Under Marxism the men of government collect the fruit of other men’s labor – and wallow in it – they are the greeedy pigs.
“With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others [the Marxist Pigs], the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny.” Abraham Lincoln
I recall seeing it, but I haven’t been able to pull it up on U-tube: some stupid, black, female politician raving about how dare they tell these people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they have so little!”
I which I’d grabbed the link. My mother and my father started out with nothing. Not even a toothbrush. I went through a period when I owned a car, my clothing, and enough debt to declare bankruptcy (I got divorced, instead.)
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps happens to be a long-standing American tradition precisely because it IS possible, and it is exactly what you can do, if you are poor and self-reliant. Learned helplessness is for serfs.
It is worth recalling that Sergei Khrushchev, Nikita’s son, emigrated to the United States in 1991 and became a U.S. citizen in 1999. He is now at Brown University in Rhode Island, not a long distance for Elizabeth Warren to travel to begin to get a true understanding of communism and socialism.
If Runaway Slave wins, Obama loses!
http://www.runawayslavemovie.com/
I suspect that the denigration is less about Obama’s ideology, which Mr. Pacepa has described perfectly, and more about self serving politics. We are watching a contest between two ideologues, but neither of them is a true capitalist or Republican. It is closer to the contest between Hitler’s national socialists and the communists in pre-WWII Germany. I suggest this video at Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDJEc92d38
It illustrates the actual differences between the two men, in their own words, far more succinctly than I could here. The so-called two party system, isn’t, and we are being subjected to a bait and switch. Everyone I know, including me, intends to write in the only real choice we have. I won’t mention his name, as the media has so effectively trained conservatives’ gag reflex that there would be no point (and no, we aren’t ardent followers, just people who’s eyes were pried open by McCain’s and Boehner’s antics, among others). I can already hear the terrified screams of “You’re throwing away your vote!” from the anybody-but-Obama crowd, but think about that for a minute; we’ve been voting for the lesser of two evils for years now, and where has that landed us? When you do that, vote for the lesser evil, you get exactly what you voted for, more of the same evil.
It is time … as we have very little left … to refer to Mr. Obama as a communist he is. Dancing around it is simply foolish.
All of his family, Mother, Father, Grandfather, mentor Frank Marshall Davis, the Ayes, David Axelrod, by way of his parents, Cass Sunstein and his wife, Samantha Power, and so many others. He had no capitalists to light his way, just those words from all of them that tear down our country. “God damn America”, rings in his ears.
By the way, all of the extraordinary actions he is taking under the cover of executive privilege, pretty much falls under the title of, dictator.
We must elect Mitt Romney or America is doomed.
Russia’s Top Cyber Sleuth Foils US Spies, Helps Kremlin Pals By Noah Shachtman July 23, 2012
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/ff_kaspersky/
Shoe Pounder Nikita had his bluster knocked out of him during his America tour. The Ukrainian farm boy was blown away by the affluence and suberb equipment on a family farm. Then he marvelled at the abundance and variety in a supermarket. He said, “We will never catch up.” I expect the Politboro was not amused. He was supposed to tell the farmer, “You didn’t build this.”
The Real Unemployment Numbers
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1748956928001/real-unemployment-numbers
It’s likely that even the Shadow Stat’s number of about 22% unemployment is low. He counts people who have been unemployed for 2 years, people who don’t get counted in U6, to get to 22%.
But I don’t think he counts retirees and other people (like stay-at-home moms), who need and want to return to the workforce because they now need the money. He also may not be counting people who used to operate small businesses or 1-man shops, and perhaps not young people trying to enter the workforce..
Seems to me that the most accurate employment statistic would be “total full-time workers (or business owners) divided by people between 18 and 65″. That would get rid of a lot of the shenanigans with the numbers.
Of course, the gubamint already has a similar metric, and it’s also probably a lie. The bureaucracy is incented to lie, since their political overseers are incented to lie.
Heaven forbid I should be understood as comparing President Obama to any of the Soviet monsters. I strongly believe that the first black American president…
Well, don’t apologize too much. The dude ain’t even black; he’s a mulato.
… should have a place of honor in our country’s history…
Nor is he an American. But, things have gotten so surreal, that when the birth certificate he belatedly issued turned out to be bogus, the opinion programmers in the news entertainment corps breathed a sigh of relief that the proof was finally there, and we could move on. Surreal, as in fictive. To question the document makes you a birther a la Sheriff Arpaio, who is obviously a clinically insane conspiracy theorist.
If you or someone you know believes what Obama believes, thank a teacher. More specifically, thank some college professors with an opinion and, a soap box to spout it from, who have almost unfettered access to some of the most gullible, some of the most impressionable, and some of the most self-centered young people in our population. One of the things I have learned over many decades is that someone with a Ph.D. does not necessarily have to be particularly intelligent. All they have to do is say the words that the rest of academia approve of.
Capitalism is a receding balance between crony syndicalist capitalism versus innovative entrepreneurial venture capitalism. Crony capitalists focus primarily on maximizing profit by lower wages on the long term and higher prices (Keynes inflation policies) Crony capitalists use ‘communists’ to infiltrate the top of the trade unions.
Syndicalism is a great word. And you’re right, that’s what we’re face with.
Thank you, Mr. Pacepa for enlightening all of us to the insidiousness of the political philosophy seducing this country. Imagine, demonizing success to incite envy and suspicion of the wealthy, namely Mitt Romney. Wealth carries its own burdens, but it should not be used as a political ploy to inhibit liberty. The Socialist seduction promises the most generous benefits to its people, yet it inevitably collapses as it bankrupts a nation fiscally, as well as extinguishing the human spirit and “stupefying a people till they are reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.” (Alexis de Tocqueville)
Capitalism is risky for humans, as it can lead to greed and other ills, but we will deal with the ills of humanity no matter what. Capitialism is still the best philosophy out there as it gives the individual the opportunity to succeed or fail. It is all up to the individual. And, it is up to all of us, who know and have seen what socialism has done all over the world to educate the younger generations, who just don’t plain understand why we are so appalled to what is happening to our country.
“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville
Obama’s Bain attacks remind you of Nikita Khrushchev’s “capitalist pig” taunt of JFK? I think Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s “vulture capitalist” taunt of Rawmoney is much more current and pertinent and accurate description.
What jobs-creation Rawmoney did were low-wage jobs in the few companies that actually produced something, the rest of what Bain did was looting and destroying, loading successful companies with debt by giving it to themselves and then bankrupting them and foisting the dead carcass off on the courts and taxpayers. He got the gold, the workers and their communities got the shaft. But, in the America that Rawmoney lives in and that the people at this sad little website get a big chubbie about, this was not only legal but perfectly admirable.
What he did with the money he made, now that looks like serious violations of both the intent and letter of the law. That’s why you won’t ever see those tax returns.
“We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man’s support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels for his country.”
-Alexis de Tocqueville
While I can agree with most of this excellent column I would however disagree with one fundamental point,
“I have no reason to doubt the patriotism of our president and of the Democratic Party leaders”
I personally believe that President Obama has a visceral hatred of America and more than any political leader America has ever produced been directly responsible for the destruction of it’s founding principles by endless attacks against the Constitution and the fundamental liberties it enshrines. Obama’s actions and that of the Democratic party has in my opinion been nothing short of treasonous and how he has not faced impeachment is beyond me.
His history is lies, he has lied, bald faced lied, to the American people. He has invoked Executive privilege where none exists, he has directly blocked the authority of the Congress. His spending, borrowing and collusion with the Federal Reserve has put the entire nation at risk of total collapse. He refuses to direct the DOJ to pursue criminal charges against known fraudsters and thieves who have pillaged not only the banks but the treasury.
Patriot, hardly. Try enemy of the state.
Here i a list (Forbes) of what recent university graduates in different countries can demand of their economies. Please note that what you lot would call socialist counties dominate the list, and, as usual, the US is not at the top of the list. Try not and confuse tax paying (sometimes high taxed countries), social democratic governments with hard socialism, and stop ranting about the US being best at…anything
The 2012 Cost of Talent Worldwide (monthly salary, pre-taxes):
No. 1 Switzerland, $6,612 (up 27.5% from 2011)
No. 2 Norway, $5,913 (down .5% from 2011)
No. 3 Denmark, $5,489 (up .4% from 2011)
No. 4 Canada, $4,594 (up 5.4% from 2011)
No. 5 Germany, $4,451 (up .3% from 2011)
No. 6 United States, $4,220 (down .8% from 2011)
No. 7 Sweden, $4,125 (up 3.1% from 2011)
No. 8 France, $3,766 (up .1% from 2011)
No. 9 Finland, $3,748 (down 3.4% from 2011)
No. 10 United Kingdom, $3,299 (down 1.5% from 2011)
Cute. The VAT of some of those places is over 20% and the cost of living doesn’t give you much to live on after unemployement and social insurnace, state pension contribution, etc…
Would suggest you look at disposable income intead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_per_capita_personal_income
just curious, who pays for the national defense of Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Sweden, France, And Finland?
Perhaps those countries are so successful, and so much better than the US that countries like Russia, China, and terrorist states would never contemplate attacking them. yes…that must be the ticket. Their inate goodness wraps them is a cozy blanket of national security.
And btw, where did the trillions come from to rebuild those countries after WWII, a rebuilding exercise that took about four decades. Have those countries ever repaid that debt?
And oh yes, what are the unfunded future obligations of those countries for pensions, health care, and other government spending?
And just one other thing. How many millions of people are risking their lives annually to get into, say, Switzerland. It must be a huge number no? since they are such superior societies to the US, and since the US is so xenophobic and racist.
Well at least we know one thing for sure. The days of the USA creating the businesses and technologies that have transformaed the world in the last 30 years, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, Walmart, software, telecommunications and netwoks, lasers, heart transplants, pharmaceuticals and fracking are long gone. The future innovation that will transform the world will be coming from countries like Denmark and Finland. It just hasn’t happened yet. They’ve been busy building the nirvana-like bureaucratic regulatory mass that will make the handover of human innovation a certainty.
The Marshall plan was one of the best examples of how Keynesian economics could help everybody, including the benefactor. Let’s see how the US economy does with a reduction in military spending and procurement. I suspect unemployment will start to look more like it does in those tax dodging quasi-socialist countries like Italy. Nobody would ever fault the US on what was once a great post secondary school system, and the consequent capacity for innovation. You forget, though, that the right in the US is essentially anti-university, anti-intellectual and ignorant of the connection between education and innovation. And by the way, check out Finland. A variety of indeces of innovation suggest Finland is way ahead of the US.
“You forget, though, that the right in the US is essentially anti-university, anti-intellectual and ignorant of the connection between education and innovation.”
Can you back that up or is your disgusting slur your whole arguement? Please demonstrate the correlation between educaction and innovation for that matter. How much “education” did Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have? From what I learned, innovation requires freedom and investment.
I suspect that the left in our country suffer from a superiority complex and can’t conceive of a viable alternative to their neanderthal political philosophy. Get off your high horse, Bozo, and do some actual thinking.
“The Marshall plan was one of the best examples of how Keynesian economics could help everybody, including the benefactor.”
That is quite an amazing comment. I couldn’t be further from the truth. Without getting into the details of why this is absurd, the Marshall Plan spend about 5% of the US GDP over a period of 3 years, which would be the equivalent of about $750 billion today, over 3 years (or about $250 billion per year). That’s about as much as Greece alone has secured in bailouts. The governments of the US and EU have spend probably 3 times that sum, in the same period of time, and are likely to spend as much in the upcoming years, only to get negative returns.
The reasons for this are obvious (perhaps not to you); Europe’s post-war recovery had nothing to do with the Marshall Plan, and everything to do with economic recoveries which follow every single war in history. When stability returns, markets are once more open, and the war economy transitions into a market-economy, the boom is inevitable. The Marshall Plan was a drop in the bucket and was aimed at keeping communists away from Western Europe, more than anything else. Evidence of why the Marshall Plan has nothing to do with it, is that England, the biggest recipient by far of the plan (about 3 times more than Germany), experienced an economic stagnation post WW 2.
The problem with Leftists is that they pick one data point in time, preferably one which supports their cause, and pretend as if it is the very first time in human history that such a thing has happened. Of course, why bother talking about the aftermath of WW1? There was no Marshall Plan then.
Albert, nice figures. Can you also give me comparable figures for how many Swiss, Norwegian, Danish, Canadian or German students or recent grads come to the US to pursue their education or careers, vs how many Americans go to each of those countries to do the same.
Now I don’t have those numbers myself, I can only speak of my experience in college. I have known lots of Canadians and Germans especially, but some Belgians, French, Italians and the like, studying in the US. I have never heard of an American going to study in a Norwegian institution. ( I am struggling very hard to think of any American I know who went to study in Canada, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t)
But, let’s say that the reason for the discrepancy is financial; American students would love to go study in Canada or Germany, but they just can’t afford to! Ok. Then let’s compare Chinese and Indian students and their preferences for which country they go to; US or somewhere else. Control for finances, and compare the final results by academic merit. What do you think you will see? Are the best and brightest trying to go study in Norway and Denmark, or in America?
Clearly, there must be more to this story.
The Biblical Case Against Voting For A Mormon Why Christians Who Support Romney Actually Violate Scripture.
http://pastors4huckabeeblog.com/the-biblical-case-against-voting-for-a-mormon-for-president-why-christians-who-support-romney-actualy-violate-scripture/
??? We aren’t voting for a pastor or spiritual leader, we are voting for a president.
Just informing all Christians, I guess you are excluded!
Does this mean you will vote for a Communist instead of a Mormon? I would consider which of these two men is the bigger threat to your religious freedom. The nominating process is over. Who did you want to see elected with this diatribe? Your religious convictions don’t concern me, but who you help to elect as my President does. ABO2012
Oh yes, that is one list that the US tops; inequality and a dramatically skewed disposable income distribution. If sharing a bit is so bad take a look at how Canada is now doing compared to the US on household income (a statistic that somewhat reduces the skewing of incomes). It’s not all that different from other responsible (by that I mean they pay their taxes, often high taxes) social democratic countries, particularly Finland which is acclaimed as having the most balanced economy in the world.
On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.
According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household’s net worth was $319,970.
A few days later, Canada and the U.S. both released the latest job figures. Canada’s unemployment rate fell, again, to 7.2 percent, and America’s was a stagnant 8.2 percent. Canada continues to thrive while the U.S. struggles to find its way out of an intractable economic crisis and a political sine curve of hope and despair.
You want to compare Canada (pop. 30 million) vs the US (+300 million)? I’m laughing on the other side of the Atlantic.
Your quote: “For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.”
For the first time. Congrats. It’ll be short lived. Come back in a year and lets compare numbers. The Obama regime is about over.
“..particularly Finland which is acclaimed as having the most balanced economy in the world.”
I’ve been to Finland on several occassions. It’s the only country where socialism works (barely). A small monoethnic country of 5 million, of mostly white Lutherans, who pay heavy taxes and have little disposable income, but receive a descent pension when they retire. Their biggest employer just laid off 10,000 workers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57452963-94/nokia-plans-10000-layoffs-cuts-second-quarter-outlook/
I like Finns, and Canadians for that matter, but they, as well as all adherents to socialism, are in for a very nasty let down in the near future.
“The Swedish model also reveals one of the closest-held secrets of the Obama administration: Taxing the 1% will not pay for the welfare state. Swedish workers were saddled with marginal tax rates in the fifty percent range. They responded by working less, having more subsidized spells of unemployment, taking subsidized parental , permanent disability, or early retirement, or otherwise gaming the system. Swedish employees averaged a month of fully-paid sick days per year in addition to a month or more of paid vacation.” Taken from this link from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/05/13/look-to-sweden-obamas-high-tax-gurus/
Every time I see my Swedish friend, he forever rants that over 1/2 of his income is “given” to the state, and some of that tax goes towards the church of Sweden of which he states, “I don’t go to or believe in.”
Less government coersion and intrusion is where I make my American stand!
“Every time I see my Swedish friend, he forever rants that over 1/2 of his income is “given” to the state, and some of that tax goes towards the church of Sweden..”
I’m an American expat in Germany and once I found my catholic faith required me to pay a “church” tax I abstained. I was told that the catholic church in Germnay will hence forth never “marry me or bury me” made me smile when I replied, “I never planned on them to do either.”
*BTW- IIRC, that little income tax was first established in Germany in 1933– cough, cough.
“Less government coersion and intrusion is where I make my American stand!”
Western civilization’s “Alamo.” Hope we all make it through.
You say there will be a let down for Canada (code for Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, etc) in the near future but you fail to acknowledge that the US is in desperate straits RIGHT NOW, and even if the government changes, the greed fueled financial services and parasite companies like Bain that almost destroyed your country are alive and well, and have learned nothing. The social democratic governments referred to did not take a hit like the US and there is no serious economist who is betting against them. I know of no such optimism about the US economy, except from people who blog at places like this. As many are now saying, the American Dream is alive and well in Denmark!
Safe to say you are economically illiterate and cling to you ideological “faith” devoutly.
Good luck with that.
Mitt Romney isn’t a capitalist, he is a SOCIALIST! RINO Romney is the architect of Socialized healthcare in America! Romneycare another word for it Obamacare is nothing but big government Socialism! America your choice for President two Socialists, Barack Hussein Obama or Mitt Romney,_____I WANT TO PUKE!
I don’t vote for big government Socialists!
Big Government Mitt Romney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od48N1T9_00&feature=player_embedded
“I strongly believe that the first black American president should have a place of honor in our country’s history, ”
For what conceivable reason? Because his election has proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that even the ostensibly most qualified blacks are nothing but incompetent jokes and puppets of the White Man Whose Greed Runs a World in Need? Because his election has set race relations back 50 years? Again, why, exactly????
President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him [Vladimir Putin] to give me space.
President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…
President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility!
President Medvedev: I will transmit this to Vladimir.
KREMLIN MEMO:
From: Vlad
To: Dimmie
Message: Too bad this useful idiot was not around during Cold War!
I do doubt the patriotism of many in the democratic party. However I have no doubt about where Obama’s loyalties lie. And it ain’t with you or me brothers and sisters.
Well said, good reminder to all.
However, one problem: Mr Pacepa, why the gloves?! Obama IS a marxist-socialist-communist-red, whatever you want to call him, his despicable ideology fits all shades of the Left, and then some.
Having shared the same plot of the Worker’s Paradise with you, You know how we have been indoctrinated in anti-capitalist, pro-socialist, and plain Marxist propaganda. Day-in, day-out, in formal classes in every day of school and brain washing sessions afterwards. We are both, as well as others, qualified to name a socialist when we see one, and this catastrophe that befell America under the name of Obama is one, absolutely.
So, please, no false political correctness: call the man for what he is, and no hiding behind misplaced sensitivities. He’s got enough kissing up from his own side, no need to do it from this position as well.
How sad it is that one of the best explanations I’ve read about what the Obama administration’s “AGENDA” will lead to comes from an expatriot fron a communist country who knows what is coming first hand if we do not defeat this President’s effort to be reelected in November.
The “fundamental changes” his agenda calls for have only been advanced a little. His executive orders have been setting the stage for his radical advance should he be able to get a 2nd term. Anti capitalist, and clearly a socialist, Obama has a vision of the future that is far removed from what has made American history so unique and is closely aligned with the failed history of all government controlled societies in history. Our “Constitutional Republic” is under attack and if we allow it to be further “fundamentally changed” by Obama we will deserve what we get untill we rise up again.
Remember the 2008 Obama critique of Hillary Clinton: “…working the system, not changing it.” It is shamefully apparent that the scarce accomplishments or successes that Obama has wrought came through foreign policy choices that largely circumvented Congress. Holy cow, even President Clinton has a glowing resume of accomplishments, well, and a majority Repuplican House and Senate. And speaking of resumes, isn’t the US President the public servant of the people? Our “employee” has fibbed on his resume and has a below average job performance. We, the employers, better issue a termination *letter* before more havoc is reeked on our nation. But PJM readers know this, so I am just ranting.
Having had several businesses in the US and preparing to start another manufacturing factory here and NOT China I am sick of BHO’s comment about “not doing it alone”. Of course businesses don’t “do it” alone or on their own when it comes to commerce (inter or intra). However they too participate funding the infrastructure. I believe they also create jobs for people that fund those items too. So to insinuate that business people do not pay their fair share is totally trying to misrepresent business. W/O business we’d all be depending on the government to provide jobs? No! Provide for us? I hope not. Please STOP business & entrepreneurial initiatives.
And thank you Mr. Pacepa!
Something is quite wrong my fellow country men and women when we do not become
concerned for the future generations in that President Obama with his ideologies,
and ego. Take your health care system in that it is OBAMACARE and not The
National Health Service of America. He does not want to take responsibility
for the debt problem even though in his short in office he spent 11 trillion
more George W which everyone was quite upset with George over four trillion
but we can the children in the future we do not care if you carry the burden
because we love Obama as he loves himself. Choose the lesser of the two
evils and from what Mr Obama has in last few year should tell you that you
should be voting for Romney. When it takes a man three years to find his
birth certificate that should tell you something is quite and says it is
a silly matter, when your president bows down to Saudi Sheikhs that should
tell you something is wrong because no president would have done that, and
when your children are carrying the debt of OBAMACARE THEY WILL HAVE YOU
TO THANK.
I think you are far too kind to President Obama and the ideology of the Democratic Party, Mr. Pacepa. Of course, I understand that you do this out of politeness. Since I am not bound by any such politeness, my opinion is that Mr. Obama is indeed what we would describe, and recognize, as a communist. I didn’t believe it back in 2008 when some conservative commentators made such accusations. I believe it now. He is different from the Khrushchevs of the past only in having been born in a different time and place, and thus uses different rhetoric for a different context. The general ideology, however, is the same.
I have experienced communism in my native Albania too (our communism was perhaps the most vicious in Eastern Europe), even though I was young when communism collapsed. But the remnants of that system have shaped the ideologies and personalities of people in both our countries, to this day. It is no coincidence that today you can walk into the offices of the Socialist Party in Tirana, or the Social Democratic Party in Bucharest, where the remnants of the old Communist Parties still survive, where an almost surreal scene can be viewed of old retired communist butchers co-mingling with bright-eyed 20-somethings fighting for social justice…and find the most warm admiration and inspiration for President Obama (this same scene, back in 2007, would have produced a bitter dislike for President Bush). The two can recognize each other, and draw inspiration from each other; the 20-something bright-eyed Romanian or Albanian “activists” of the Socialist Parties wear Obama shirts, and Mr. Obama draws his inspiration from the Euro-Socialists. Communists are a species which can recognize each other even through different contexts and rhetoric. And I have no reason to doubt their natural instincts; if “our” communists back in the old country can recognize Obama as one of their own, who am I to disagree?
On the other hand, I find Mitt to be the quintessential American story. He is, I think, the most pro-capitalism candidate the Republican Party has fielded since Reagan.
Dear Mr. Pacepa,
I am glad that I can address you few words of my sympathy and appreciation for your strong believes and your sacrificed life against socialism/communism. It is true that the communist utopia did grow monsters that take out the freedom and life of many people, but also I can consider that the capitalism is not anymore the perfect society, that looking as declining now.
I am not an annalist, but just an observer, with an experience of leaving in few countries with different systems in different stages of their evolution and transitions.
My remark is that the humanity, starting with Americans as the global leaders at this moment must reconsider and create a new society type, that can be the merger of the two existing ones. As far China, the biggest communist country implemented the capitalism as a new direction that actually put them in the challenger position, maybe USA can do the same on the opposite way, as a fact of mankind and society evolution.
At the end I hope that will come something that will give freedom and happiness to more people.
Waiting with interest your new Disinformation book.
Let me give you another yardstick. In capitalist nations you have to build walls to control the floe of people coming in. In communist countries you have to build walls to keep people from flowing out.
Capitalist Pig Sounds like a great name for a really nice boat.
Mr. Pacepa,
Thanks you for revealing the roots of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to be the Soviet Union. I found the invention of the “Palestinian Arab People” in the preamble of the 1964 PLO Charter, one of the two important fictions in it; the other was the alleged quest of that fictional people for political self determination. The term “Palestinian Arab People” appears three times, as if to meet Lewis Caroll’s “Humpty Dumpty standard” of “What I tell you three times is true”. It was also good to know that the only corroboration of the allegations in the preamble was the affirmation by the first 422 members of the Palestinian National Council, created at the same time with its members hand picked by the KGB.
I have concluded that these fictions serve two purposes. 1. Only a “people” can lay claim to sovereignty over a territory. So this fiction permits the Arabs local to Palestine to lay claim to sovereignty over it. 2. Arab murder of Jews because of a religious obligation to kill non-believers has been going on for long before the assertion of independence of the state of Israel. This fiction permits the Arabs to claim that in their murders the motivation is secular nationalism of an oppressed people rather than religiously motivated jihad, a motivation more likely to win favor with the West.
Along with every little thing which seems to be building within this specific area, all your points of view tend to be somewhat radical. In any event I did appreciate reading it. Scottsdale Dental Design Studio, 5425 East Bell Road #101 Scottsdale, AZ 85254?
I adore this weblog, wonderful content material and I am going to bookmark this website for future updates. Scottsdale Dental Design Studio, 5425 East Bell Road #101 Scottsdale, AZ 85254?
You can go to 2016themovie.com and see if there’s a theater near you. They have been adding many new ones and so far they have more than 500, and still adding. I agree though! This movie should be on television 24/7.