The recent Rasmussen survey on opinions about socialism and capitalism also had interesting and surprising results.<\/p>\n

According to the survey:<\/p>\n

Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. adults nationwide say that capitalism is better than socialism, whereas 18% disagree, and 21% are not sure. So, according to Rasmussen, fully 39% are not completely with the American capitalist program. Young people under 30 are closely divided on the question. While Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly say that capitalism is better, just 43% of Democrats agree. Twenty-four percent (24%) or almost one in four Democrats say socialism is better.<\/p>\n

Additional Rasmussen findings suggest Americans are not happy with the behavior of capitalist institutions and the current corporate\/government relationship:<\/p>\n

\n
• Seventy-three percent (73%) of Americans believe that Goldman Sachs is likely to have committed fraud as charged by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
  \n
  • Seven-out-of-10 Americans believe that government and big business work together against the interests of consumers and investors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n
    • Just 24% believe the government is capable of adequately monitoring the dealings of Wall Street financial firms. Fifty-three percent (53%) say it is not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      What is remarkable about these two surveys is that, while capitalism is still the favored economic system of most Americans, a surprising number are open to socialism.\u00a0 And this at a time when Republicans and corporate owned media are churning out socialist scare stories and misinformation 24\/7. Perhaps it is a sign of widespread economic distress and a loss of trust in the capitalist institutions that is shifting the American opinion on both capitalism and socialism.<\/p>\n

      The weakness of these surveys is that there is widespread confusion over the meaning of the word\u00a0 \u201csocialism.\u201d For sure, confusion exists about socialist countries with state-run economies, such as Venezuela, vs. social welfare states with heavily regulated capitalist economies, such as Norway and Sweden. \u00a0Many respondents had positive feelings about both capitalism and<\/em> socialism suggesting a desire for a European social welfare state model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Tea Party demonstrators carry signs calling President Obama a \u201csocialist.\u201d Fox News warns of a “socialist takeover of the United States.” GOP talking points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,16],"tags":[642,178,643],"yoast_head":"\n