Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!ima!inmet!nrh From: nrh@inmet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: What is socialism? Message-ID: <1944@inmet.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Feb-85 01:25:26 EST Article-I.D.: inmet.1944 Posted: Thu Feb 7 01:25:26 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 06:23:35 EST Lines: 50 Nf-ID: #R:topaz:-42000:inmet:7800295:000:1939 Nf-From: inmet!nrh Feb 6 01:05:00 1985 >***** inmet:net.politics / dciem!mmt / 8:33 pm Feb 4, 1985 >In the absence of any possible demonstration, no-one can refute the >apparently fantastic claims of utopian life in Libertaria; neither >can one refute the claims of those who argue the merits of a true >socialist state. All the same, one can look at the performance of >different states that tend (slightly) in one direction or the other. Are you willing to be convinced by your own argument? About six months ago, I published a list of countries that had been partitioned and divided into more- and less- socialist countries, along with their per-capita income. The more-socialist nations, North Korea, East Germany, People's Republic of China, all had lower per-capita income than their "other halves". More-Socialist Less-Socialist Germany 7,180 11,130 China 347 2,143 Korea 786 1,880 In all cases, the figures are in US dollars. In some cases, the figures are from slightly different years (I believe the figure for South Korea is from 1982, whereas the figure from N. Korea is from 1981). Figures are all from the Information Please Almanac. By your own argument, and where the countries involved are comparable, in the sense of starting from a common origin, the socialist nations tend to have lower per-capita incomes than the non-socialist nations. >After accounting for the ENORMOUS natural wealth of N. America, it >is astonishing that it is NOT the country in the world with the >highest quality of life. Hmmm..... The Soviet Union could give us quite a run for our money there. The energy reserves under Siberia are said to be quite large, and as I recall, the Soviet Union was not a net importer of oil, at least during the oil crisis. >-- > >Martin Taylor >{allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt >{uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt >---------- > Nat Howard