Ah! Well, the USSR had communism, not socialism. Different animal.
They ended up Communist. But they were Socialist before that. Socialism seems to precede communism. China, North Korea, and Vietnam are examples of this.
"Let’s get off topic, how do you really like your health care system in 25 words or less?"
Better than the US system in many aspects, but a far cry from good. I’m from Denmark too.
For Dagosa: Chev. Spark is popular size and you can get one for only about 21,000 USD. I think it’s the cheapest vehicle available in DK at the moment.
Next step up will be the Chev. Cruze starting at around 38,000 USD. Other makes are a tad cheaper/more expensive.
With all the taxes here, we normally say: This weeks offer, Buy 3, get one.
Sorry Miracus, it appears as if your topic was highjacked and wasn’t even taxiing down the runway. ):
Well said dagosa…
This past few years has PROVEN how bad Capitalism can DESTROY a country…Thank you AIG, Citi-Bank, Chase Bank…
…but Ronald Reagan told us that private business “ALWAYS” does things better than government does.
No equivocation.
Not “frequently”, or “usually”, but ALWAYS.
It is just not conceiveable that he could have been wrong!
Those are very nice cars! I have never heard about the Chevy Spark before. I think I may have heard about the Chevy Cruze though. I would definitely buy one if it wasn’t so expensive!
Littlecarfan–
The quoted prices are what the cars sell for in Denmark, not in the US.
When the Cruze goes on sale in the US in a few months, the target price is ~$20,000.
Since the Spark is a smaller vehicle, it will sell for less than the Cruze.
“Socialism seems to precede communism. China, North Korea, and Vietnam are examples of this.”
And, repressive right-wing dictatorships frequently precede socialism, so I am not sure what your real point is.
In China, communism was preceded by an anarchistic “system” consisting of control by feudal warlords and by colonial powers.
In North Korea, their communist regime was preceded by an oppressive regime of Japanese occupation.
In Vietnam, Communism was preceded by an extremely repressive French colonial administration.
Historically, when a nation has democratic traditions, even if it may later lean toward Socialist practices, it is VERY unlikely to descend into actual Communism–unless it is conquered/occupied by a Communist state (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, for example).
The real key to the situation is whether the country in question ever had a democratic government. China, North Korea, and Vietnam have not had democratic traditions in any of their histories
In USA the Chevy Aveo starts at 11,965 according to Chevrolet.com and its bigger than the Spark. The Cobalt looks a lot like the Cruze sizewise and it starts at less than 15k
Mike, in the sixties someone wrote a book called “The Robber Barons”. It’s about 19th century US capitalism run on pure unhindered “priciples”, and ended up holding the country to ransom. The robber barons were the railroad, oil, stockmarket, banking, and other industrialsits who basically wanted to eliminate competion in the late 1800s. Thanks to Vanderbilt, it was cheaper to send something from New York to San Francisco by ship around Cape Horn than to put it on the train.
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was one of the first pieces of “socialist” legislation to curb their power. Breaking up Standard Oil infused the industry with new competitive vigor.
Unbridled Capitalism, like unbridled anything is bad for the general public, but benefits only a few greatly.
Russia went from dumping Communism to something resembling unbridled capitalism now and has many billionairs, but the industry is not efficient, and the general public is not sharing in that new wealth.
The richest man in the world is now a Mexican shyster who managed to buy the telecom system for a song when it was privatized. He did not gain access to these assets by way of a fair, international bidding process, and paying a realistic price.
Today most politicians realize that priavte enterprise needs rules and restrictions that keep it on the straight and narrow. Only Sara Palin seems to think these silly things are not necessary. America is a different country from the days of the Boston tea party,.
Lets hope noone finds out then… 
Right on.
Oh well, it happens sometimes.
I was kinda hoping for others to let us know where they are from and how they started listening to Cartalk.
OK, I’ll prime the pump by starting. First, I found CT in the auto section of the paper and stumbled across their radio show. I don’t listen much since it on early Saturday morning in my area. From Missouri, USA but currently STUCK in Illinois, USA.