>It is NOT communism to say we have some responsibility to one another. It is NOT socialism to say we need ENFORCEMENT of some regulation because the market is NOT free if there is no property and contract law. It is NOT capitalism if the government bails out those that fail and stick the rest of us with the bill for their failures!! <
Communism is forced "responsibility" via the elimination of personal property, that denies society's achievers while rewarding society's unachievers. Socialism does not mean regulation via property and contract law, it means that industry is removed from the hands of private owners and transferred to the workers equally. Marx himself saw socialism as a step toward communism. History has shown that socialism ultimately leads to totalitarian governments, and the means of production do not stay in the hands of the workers in the long run.
Capitalism is not without its faults. Regulation, in moderation, can be positive on business. Child labor laws transformed countless lives for the better, as do laws concerning safety. Laws prohibiting pollution of water and the air have done much to clean up our environment, but taken to extreme, can and will do far more to lower our standard of living. I'm speaking specifically of Cap & Trade, and of laws that penalize our present, cost-effective energy sources in favor of so called "green" energy that must be subsidized with confiscatory taxes. Moderation and balance are the key in keeping our economy stable.
