Quote:
Originally Posted by abaya
Perhaps you missed the sentence after the one you quoted, where I said that there was plenty of capitalism to go around in Iceland. What I meant by it being "socialist" was the emphasis on a welfare state, as I put in parentheses--we all pay a goodly part of our taxes into a nationalized system of education and health care. Also, I don't know if this applies to your question or not, but all workers in Iceland are required to be members of their respective unions. This applies even to higher-skilled workers. They are not "in control," but the unions have more power and representation here than I have ever seen in the US.
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I didn't miss your sentence. I object to the linkage of welfare systems with socialism, something the American right does every minute of every day. It's inaccurate as far as socialism goes, and it also obscures the history and workings of actually existing capitalism.
I do agree with the idea in your post that one must effectively believe in capitalism whether one wants to or not. It's here. One recognises the situation and develops an appropriate response or starves. At the very least, capitalism has to be worked around.