Capitalism and Socialism
I don’t know if I’ve heard these terms bantered about with this velocity in a long time. And all about healthcare… Correct me if I’m wrong but the way I learned these terms was as follows:
Capitalism is the economic system in which private property ownership is the cornerstone for the production and distribution of goods and services. Socialism is the economic system which defers to the state, property ownership rights, production and distribution.
What we are seeing in the current debate seems to be a major mischaracterization of the terms on both sides. One side, complains that if we enact the proposed legislation we will get socialized medicine, blind to the fact that we are nearly there already. This is evidenced by programs such as Medicaid, insurance mandates and Medicare which is the largest insurer in the country and sets price standards upon which every other insurance company bases its rates.
The other side cries foul at the evil, profiteering “private” insurers. They fail to understand (or willfully ignore) the fact that these companies can hardly be considered private in the true sense of the word. Their practices are so governed by mandates, price controls and regulations that it would be a far stretch to call their practices “market based.”
If people are going to protest our current system they must know what they are currently protesting- a corporate-government chimera.
