He makes a claim in the title, but never argues about it.<p>Here is a summary:<p>-I like the bailouts<p>-Socialism is bad<p>-Capitalism is good<p>No where does he say anything about why anything is not socialism, let alone 'us'.
"Only with law, and courts, and government power to enforce property rights and contracts, can private enterprise work. Without that, capitalism cannot amount to much--a system of economic organization controlled only by trust and private forces will not thrive."<p>totally unjustified. the writer is counting on the reader agreeing with this without close examination.
An interesting claim I haven't seen before: nationalization of failing banks does not constitute socialism. Rather, it's the legal--and responsible--outcome under normal bankruptcy law.
<a href="http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/02/nationalization-or-pre-privatization.html" rel="nofollow">http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/02/nationalization-or-pr...</a>
"Nationalization, or Pre-privatization?"<p>More discussion on the same theme.<p>'Bankruptcy could become, in effect, a massive bank recapitalization. Essentially, the equity holders are told, "Go away, you have been zeroed out." The debt holders are told, "Congratulations, you are the new equity holders." Suddenly, these financial organizations have a lot more equity capital and not a shred of debt! And all done without a penny of taxpayer money!'<p>That last sentence is a bit over-optimistic...
Not all socialism entails government ownership there is also direct collective ownership. To answer OA's question there are many successful countries with socialist aspects to their economies (esp compared to US's extreme capitalism) Europe, esp Scandinavia, China, India. The countries that mix ideologies seem to have it the best.<p>This whole article sounds like a shell game just to avoid associating the bail-out with the word "socialist" which has a ridiculously despised reputation amongst Old White Rich Guys in USA.<p>And re "Why we're Not Socialists". Um, don't know what we you're talking about. I am a socialist.