Econ-Chapter 5 Flashcards
Socialism
an individual’s cost or value, we spread it to society, at large.
The market reflects individuals’s values of goods and services by
people paying private costs to receive things privately value.
socialism asserts
that the individual should act to promote the good of society, not to promote the individual’s wellbeing
Karl Marx
who is often pointed to as the founder of socialism, said, production should come “from each, according to his ability, to each, according to his need”
Authoritarian choice
wether the state’s decisions are made by a dictator, the peoples’ elected representatives, or by popular vote.
Original rationales of socialism
- firms have more power than individuals, so they exploit workers.
- fairness, different social classes
Marx’s prediction
Machines would replace people, which would equal unemployment .
Modern Rationale’s for socialism
we must socialize individual decisions by state force in order to counter nature’s socializing effects
external costs
some cost or value that naturally spill over to others
externalities
external costs and benefits
efficient assessment of external costs and benefits must be done by
those who have knowledge of all facets of the economy and nothing to to gain from the regulatory process
Authoritarian decision makers choose for others based on…
their own assessments of values and costs
The state can respond in two ways to maintain order:
- allow individual choice= not maintaining socialist order
- use force and the threat of force to maintain the socialist order
Concept of socialism
the individual should act to promote the good of society, not the individuals wellbeing
all socialist orders
serve the individuals who run the state
Fascism
a system under which the state does not take title to property, but orders the use of that property and the individual in any way it wishes
US socialism is generally
fascistic in nature
Eminent Domain
where property is taken for state public use, such as roads, and parks, but the owner is compensated.
Civil forfeiture
where a person is suspected of a crime and that person’s property is seized because it is automatically suspected as having contributed to the crime.
“state use”
taking eminent domain such as houses, because the state would rather sell the property to business interests.
latest socialist rationale-popular in US
the state provides any good that the individual might derive external benefits from, ex: roads, schools, courts
the percent of spending done by the state is a degree of
socialism in a nation
when government spending increases it becomes more
socialist
Bastiat said:
when gov. asks for money, they are really asking for physical co-operation with them, due to the labor they experience, which the end result changes nothing