Socialism (new challenger)

In this round I will be providing my rebuttals to Pros arguments in the previous round. “Every developed country has some form of socialism.” While this may be true to a degree, it is fallacious to equate this with the success of these countries. For example, according to the As I mentioned in my opening arguments, many of these so-called ‘socialist’ governments have very economically capitalist policies. This is even more so than America’s economic system. Let’s dig deeper into this. According to both the Heritage Foundation’s index of economic freedom and the Fraser Institute’s index of economic freedom, here is a *rough* average of the world’s 20 most economically free countries in order(1)(2).1. Hong Kong2. Singapore3. New Zealand4. Switzerland5. Australia6. Canada7. Mauritius8. Chile9. Bahrain10. Denmark11. United Kingdom12. Finland13. Estonia14. Ireland15. United States16. Taiwan17. United Arab Emirates18. Germany19. Sweden20. Jordan As you can see, the United States is far below many of the other countries that have Universal Healthcare. While these countries have very socialistic policies, they are obviously more economically free than the United States. As I pointed out in the previous round, this is because many of these countries follow the Nordic Model of socialism. This means that countries still have strong property rights, investing freedom, free trade, minimal regulation, etc. Also, as I pointed out in the previous rounds, much of this economic growth can be related to the high social trust in these countries, and not necessarily the socialistic policies (3). “Capitalism causes greed.” When my opponent addressed this point, he made many unfounded assertions. Such as most of the wealth being given to the 1%, and how the 1% doesn’t want anyone else up there unless they work hard. There is no evidence provided by pro to prove these points. Also, as I pointed out in the previous round, there is a huge relation between economic freedom and economic growth, and how more government spending and tax burdens are related to higher unemployment, and slower economic growth (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). “Socialism is for the greater good in society.” With this point, pro made the assertion that the United States’ healthcare system is private. This is far from the truth. In a private healthcare system, there would be: -No occupational licensing in the medical field (12) -No FDA to regulate medicine (13) -No regulations toward health insurance agencies (14) -No Medicare or Medicaid (and now the ACA) (15) All of the above things are simply just different types of regulation on the healthcare industry, which makes this system far from a private system. It is a highly regulated private system. “The boom or bust” Pro made the assertion that capitalism causes boom and bust cycles, but the opposite is true. Boom and bust cycles are a result of government monetary policies. When the Federal Reserve basically creates money out of thin air and artificially lowers interest rates, there is overinvestment (aka malinvestment). This increased economic activity is what creates this ‘boom’. Once all of these bad investments and grand entrepreneurial projects fail, and none of these projects are actually backed by real savings, it becomes a bust. These are projects that would normally not be pursued, had the interest rates been set at their market equilibrium. More on this: (16)(17)(18)(19). “The main problem with capitalism is that only the one percent can get anywhere while the rest struggle to make ends meet” This is another unbacked assertion made by pro, and it is purely based on opinion currently. “they need to pay for free market things such as health care, a human right.” This is an opinion of pro as to what a human right is. When you look at a lot of political philosophy and ethics, you will find that the three basic human rights are life, liberty, and property. If something must be taken from one person to be given to another, it is not a right. Therefore, if one must be forced to pay into a system that provides free universal healthcare, it is not a right, because you must deprive one person from their right to their property. More on rights here: (20)(21)(22) (23). 1. http://www.fraserinstitute.org...2. http://www.heritage.org...3. http://journalistsresource.org...4. https://ideas.repec.org...5. http://siteresources.worldbank.org...6. https://ideas.repec.org...7. http://papers.ssrn.com...8. http://econpapers.repec.org...9. http://link.springer.com...10. http://econpapers.repec.org...11. http://journalistsresource.org...12. http://education-portal.com...13. http://www.fda.gov...14. http://www.ncsl.org... reports 201315. http://en.wikipedia.org...16. http://fee.org...17. http://fee.org...18. http://fee.org...19. http://www.gmu.edu...20. http://www.freedomworks.org...21. http://bastiat.org...22. http://fee.org...23. http://en.wikipedia.org...;