Socialism
Lately I’ve heard the word “socialist” thrown around a lot. It’s spoken mostly like a dirty word. There’s lots of name calling, and the person being called it is mostly quick to deny it. It led me to wonder…what exactly is socialism? I know the broad term, something about letting government control and run everything. Maybe it’s about more equal income, one that’s based more on just showing up than actual merit.
I decided I should probably do some actual real research. Turns out, my initial thought wasn’t too far off. People are talking about all kinds of different things when they talk about socialism, but most people agree it’s about making things more equal for everyone. I’ve always been supportive of the idea that you should earn what you make based on hard work, talent…and that your income should match the contribution you’re actually making in society. I think these things because, well, I’m an American. Also it seems apparent that if everyone gets paid the same, there would be a lack of creativity, innovation. There’s no real incentive to succeed, because you’ll just get paid the same anyways.
I think most of us are in agreement that this method usually doesn’t work. So why would anyone even talk about wanting a socialist nation? Turns out, most countries that chose socialism did so in reaction to a previous government that was out of proportion. When income inequality becomes too severe, when the rich get rich and the poor get poorer, and that’s just the way it is, it sounds really tempting to give everyone more of a fair share. When you work 12 hour days of back breaking work and still can’t make ends meet, while 1% of your nation holds 22% of it’s wealth, and the gap between the rich and the poor doubles in half a century…getting paid more equally starts to sound really good.
I started to think…what if instead of turning socialism and communism into four letter words, we addressed the actual issue? Instead of blindly responding with “it’s a free country!” and telling people to pull up their bootstraps, we take a closer look at what’s really happening. Do we really have a free economy? Does everyone really have a fair chance?
I’m not even going to address the very obvious race and gender related conversations here…let’s just talk about two nameless, faceless people. One comes from a wealthy family, one does not. We don’t even have to dig into why one family is wealthy and the other is not today….let’s just start in the present.
Both kids go to college. One takes out student loans, the other student’s parents are able to pay his tuition for him. Right off, that’s a $200/month pay cut for the one whose parents did not pay for college. Let’s say during college, they both have some fun. They both go to Colorado for spring break, maybe they buy football season tickets, a new TV. Possibly their big expenses are more practical like books and groceries. College kids don’t usually land high paying part time jobs, so some of this goes onto a credit card. Maybe they had to charge it, or maybe they are 18 and couldn’t avoid the temptation. Their credit tanks a little, but the kid whose parents have money bail him out and pays off his $5000, just this once. The other kid is stuck with his mistakes. It takes him almost three years, at $200/month, and he ends up paying over $1000 in interest.
Let’s pretend they get the same job out of college, making $50,000/year. Already, the one with the debt has $400/month less income than the other kid. But let’s not make excuses; he should have been smarter with his credit cards, or gotten a scholarship, so he’s paying for his own mistakes. When they go to buy a house, one kid has great credit, so his payment for the same house is much cheaper than his buddy who made the exact same decisions as he did, but didn’t have a safety net. By the time we count up student loans, credit card debt, and a mortgage payment (or maybe even a rental, if he can’t get a loan), one of these adults could be pocketing $1000 more than the other every single month. They made the same life choices, had the same amount of talent, landed the same job, and are identical in almost every way.
This is a really simple example of how the “poor tax” works in America. It shows up when you don’t have enough money to pay your water bill on time. Your water gets shut off, and costs $200 to reconnect. An already precarious situation can send you into a tailspin for months. Late fees, overdraft fees, ATM fees, high interest rates for poor credit or no credit…once the cycle begins, it drags you further and further down until it takes massive amounts of sacrifice and living below your means to dig yourself out. One mistake can take years to correct. But…that’s just how it is, right? Pay your bills on time, and it’s not a problem.
These are even very privileged examples. Both went to college and got good paying jobs, above the national median income at very young ages. It still shows that working your butt off doesn’t guarantee a livable income anymore. Even if you do things perfectly, life happens. While all this is happening, you’re surrounded by advertisements and social media where people are spending gobs of money on everything under the sun. Who can afford a house like that? You paid how much on your eyebrows? Do you even know what a full Disney vacation costs nowadays? It’s disheartening. The only solution is to live massively below your means from the very get-go, which let’s face it, very few people have the willpower to do, and it still doesn’t protect you against unforeseen emergencies.
I’m just a normal person. I am not an expert on the economy in any way. I just wonder sometimes if we could stop lying to ourselves about how “free” our market is, if we could give people actual hope in being able to own their own home and have disposable income (hell, I’d take being able to afford to go to the doctor without being on my death bed), would this talk of socialism just…disappear? Idyllic, perhaps. But it doesn’t seem to me that name calling (You’re all a bunch of socialists!) and bragging about all of the taxes you’ve circumvented is going to help the nation feel good about capitalism.
If you’d like to dig deeper: