hopefully this is sarcasm
We have gone from people dying from starvation to complaining that not everyone can buy a house. Nearly everyone has a universally connected borderline supercomputer in their pocket.
In my ex-Soviet country you were guaranteed to get a free apartment provided by the government. Everyone I know who lived in a city got one, right up to 1991. All you needed to do was to register in a queue and wait for a few years (2-5 depending on several factors like family status — single moms were prioritized, for example). Now we're complaining that "not everyone" can buy an apartment (forget a house), just like you. Not just "not everyone", it's out of reach for most people, and things keep getting worse. At least we have jeans and burgers instead, I guess.
Everyone is free to their own opinions, of course – and I’m not wholesale defending communism as it has been attempted – but I find it odd that something which is supposedly so awful can’t just be left alone to wither on the vine, and prove their point.
not exactly
the US and communist Russia were allies in WW2; the US did intervene in Korea and Vietnam but that was about maintaining a global edge over Russia -- Americans didn't give a fuck about whether it was good or bad for the people of Vietnam
Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan were communist.
Chile and Nicaragua are examples of when the US intervened to overthrough a democratically elected communist government.
Cuba actually outperforms its non-communist former slave colony neighbors (Jamaica, DR, Haiti), which is especially impressive considering the never-ending sanctions from the US.
Meanwhile in capitalist China[1], they're so great at building homes that there are entire cities with barely anyone living in them, "ghost cities". Insofar as a tight housing market contributes to homelessness, it's clear that it's caused by US/Canada specific factors (eg. NIMBYism, building codes, and environmental regulations) than capitalism.
[1] Even though ostensibly it's "socialist with chinese characteristics", for all intents and purposes the real estate sector is capitalist.
but you are right that the capitalist market does restrict the supply of housing because people buy them as investments
also, the ghost cities is way overblown -- they just took time to fill up
Fentanyl and meth imported from China and other countries
EDIT: For naive downvoters. It is an observable fact. Drugs are destroying people and causing homelessness. I have witnessed it first hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5AeGKSDVdE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwlIAjcYypA
Look up "Philadelphia zombies"
> w/o also numbers on what it cost to live per day.
This is what “PPP” is all about, that’s referring to a normalized purchasing power parity that is specifically designed to help you understand what $7/day actually means: it means what you think it does, and it is supposed to compare directly to the amount of money it costs you to feed yourself every day.
the main reason why the US became the uncontested power of the 20th century was WW1 and WW2
the socialist policies implemented by FDR saved the capitalism by making it less capitalist
On the surface this seems reasonable. Give $50k gift to your local wildlife sancturary for example, and get invited to the annual fundraising meal.
Looks like the big loopholes involve things like 501(c)(4)s
Without spending too long trying to workout the loopholes, it seems the larger problem is with the definition of a charity in the first place?
Any income the government doesn't collect is made up for by the middle and lower class and/or more debt which increases inflation, which is mainly a middle and lower class burden.
For a guy who claims everyone should pay their fair share, he sure takes advantage of a lot of loopholes which he probably helped pay to have written.
He's an OG corporate raider and should be thought of as such, rather than a benevolent capitalist.
I'm ok with them, but they should not use their money against the rest of us.
Because when we pay for their wealth, then there is an accounting step missing somewhere.