Is communism as bad as people say

I am by no means a political expert, but I have been round a while and have given this a fair bit of thought over the years, so here's is my two cents

There's no way America could be described as a social democracy, where you can inherit millions tax free and where you must have health insurance to basically avoid being left to die!

I am not sure this is the case any longer. It certainly may have been in the days of Karl Marx, but not owning a means of production is no longer a barrier to getting rich. Many have done it with just a laptop. There is much more now than in those days. You can get yourself educated in something niche and in high demand and command a very high salary while coming from a working class background and never owning the means of production.

This brings me on to another point:

I think the main issue here is that humans are not equal. We say we are, but we are not. Some are simply better than others. This may be because they are smarter, or because they are better educated, or maybe because they simply make better decisions.

If you took €1000 and gave it to 100 random people, some of them would invest it, some of them would buy something which they could then use to make more money, some people would stick it in the bank, some people would stick it on a horse, some people would drink it the same day and go back to being poor.

Even giving everyone the same starting point, hierarchies would immediately emerge. Some people are really hard workers and some people are not. Some have a great instinct how to be entrepreneurial - those are the ones that succeed in business in capitalist societies.

If you want equity in a society of unequal people you must do it with force - you would have to crush the entrepreneurial spirit of would-be businesspeople and the work ethic of those who work hard. The hard workers would become disillusioned, the lazy would thrive.

I think myself the best system is one which gives people a good chance at improving their lot, regardless of their background, and one which ensures there's a floor of existence which might be meagre but it tolerable and has a clear route out - Scandinavian democracy is probably as close as we'll get to it.

The problem here is that Swedish people like rules, obedience and they feel a strong social obligation. Just try brining that system in in Italy and see what happens.

But that top 1% did not get there through being idle either.

Most of the people that own the means of production own them through their own hard work, that's what separates them from the people who do not work as hard.

Sure there is nepotism, and companies are handed down through generations, but those that inherit from the previous generation are well aware of the work required to keep that company strong and grow it.

They learn and understand the work ethic required.

And those that are not will to work at it usually lose control or the companies eventually fail.

Nah. Not at all. Theres a few centre left American politicians who are very definitely not communists.

Sigh... Communism "stanning" by Americans is very popular at the minute, communism is the new fashion trend. Americans Stanning Communism. I never said America is communist or the politicians are communist.

*Guy pictured is a millionaire.

Thats not communism 🤣

Of course it's corruptible

It easy to see why

Because the system mandates that we are all the same and in reality we are not, we become corrupt to eek that extra bit out of life.

From the top party official to the mechanic they take bribes.

A Polish colleague of mine was telling me about the communist era.

He said with ever transaction a bribe was involved, if you went to the mechanic (if you were lucky to have a car) you brought a bottle of whiskey, you brought flower or chocolates to the doctors office etc etc

Listen to the Eastern Border podcast, he has a litany of great examples of how corruption and bribery were all common place in the old USSR

The greatest example of working communism in the world is the National Football League.

It's were the players (millionaires) and the owners (billionaires) share the spoils of their wealth.

Every few years they agree the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which agrees what salary caps should be, how much of the revenue the players get and how things like health and wellbeing are catered for.

There are things like minimum salaries for players given the amount of years they are in the league etc etc

Then at the owners level there is the way the revenue is shared.

The revenue generated by tickets, merchandise, etc etc from each team is pooled and distributed.

The low profile Jacksonville Jaguars get a cut of the revenue from the high profile LA Rams.

Plus the TV deals are collective also.

But it's easy for them to do all that, because they are millionaires and billionaires, just like your "one equal in the factor office" example.

That's the sticking point.

Everyone being equal is a wonderful notion, but human nature doesn't allow for that in practice.

Every communist system has ended up with a hierarchy who just end up acting as the de facto elites within said system.

Human beings can't operate in a system where everyone is supposedly equal.

The Cuban exodus is the mass emigration of Cubans from the island of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Throughout the exodus millions of Cubans from diverse social positions within Cuban society became disillusioned with life in Cuba and decided to emigrate in various emigration waves.[1][2][3]

The emigrants in the exodus known as "Cuban exiles" have come from various backgrounds in Cuban society, often reflected in the wave of emigration they participated in. Exiles have constructed Cuban communities that continue to preserve Cuban culture abroad, as well as garnering political influence outside Cuba.[5]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_exodus

Since 2014, nearly a fifth of Venezuela’s population has left. Many of these migrants are passing through, or opting to stay in, Bolivia.

People vote with their feet.

Yeah the anti gay stuff is a black mark I agree.

Batista supporters getting killed? Not sure how much of this went on tbh, but he was running a corrupt US puppet state so I've no sympathy for anyone who kept supporting him to the bitter end.

People are innately selfish.

I'd be thrilled to see you prove otherwise.