Pharyngula: We lucky duckies

Pharyngula: We lucky duckies:

"First, Hayek's definition of a 'socialist' economy is one that is planned. Redistribution of wealth, even of tax wealth, is not such planning. The key point is that our economy is planned in almost no regard -- while both Congress and the White House make income projections, and while the Federal Reserve Board pays careful attention to actual economic activity, there is almost no direct intervention into any facet of our economy. The government does not control coal or oil prices, nor electrical prices. The government does almost nothing about steel. All of what Lenin called the 'commanding heights' of the economy in the U.S. are in private hands, with only a semi-public, grossly underfunded corporation running AmTrak as an almost exception -- and that's nothing in a nation that shuns rails for passenger traffic.* Use of tax monies does not make the U.S. a socialist nation.

Second, Indian Cowboy assumes without evidence nor even a reasonable claim that a rich guy gets only $14,000 benefit from the federal government. That's absurd. The federal share of locally-governed fire and police protection would probably come close to $14,000 annually, especially for the rich guy with a big home, a business place, who uses roads, rails, ports and airports. There is really a wealth of benefits that the rich guy gets that the poor guy can only read about -- from special regulations that govern communication devices, broadband cable and internet, mail, shipping, etc., etc. Plus, really big business are represented by the State Department in foreign negotiations, and major industries have entire bureaucracies in the Commerce and Agriculture departments that do nothing but shill for big money guys ('Got Milk?'; 'Beef -- it's what's for dinner'; 'Buy American tobacco products'; steel quotas, garment regulations, etc.).

Indian Cowboy is simply confused, as his handle indicates."