can someone explain the difference between communism and socialism?

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: Genesys
in the perfect form of communism there is no government. all recourses are controlled by the people and distributed equally.

in socialism, there is a government and it controlls the means to manufacture everything and distributes the goods according the ammount of work you do.

Wow the amount of misconception on governments is ridiculous!

You got it backwards. Communism has the biggest government. The government is the one that controls everything. There is a central planning agency that is made up of a small group of people that decides what is produced and how much is produced. In communism, everyone is paid EQUALLLY regardless of the amount of work you do. That's why communists never gets anything done well. They do a bad job, they get paid the same as someone that did a good job.

Also in order for communism to work, there must be unity. In order to get this unity, there must be mass government propoganda, such as in north korea where everyone is basically the same, because they do not have the freedom to think for themselves. Government must also be very close into the people's lives to know how much and what to produce.

In capitalism, there is a small government, businesses decide how much and what is being produced, and distributes the good according to the amount of work you do, which is exactly what you described as communism..

In socialism, government controls and owns the biggest industries, such as education, healthcare, and workers are given huge huge benefits. Rich are being heavily taxed, poor are given huge welfare checks. Most means of production are still privately owned.

Many Americans think that Sweden is extremely socialistic or even communistic even though it is one of the countries in Europe that is most capitalistic.

If Sweden is socialistic or communistic i would like to know what it takes to qualify as a socialist or communist country.

Sweden used to be very socialistic. They used to have an 80% tax rate! This is until everyone started doing everything illegally and under the table to avoid the government taxing them, that they decided that 80% was too much and lowered it. So now Sweden shifted towards capitalism, but before the socialism was near communism.

So the measurment of socialism is the tax rate? You really think so?

The way i see it it has to do with ownership who owns what and how is it regulated.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: nCred

Many Americans think that Sweden is extremely socialistic or even communistic even though it is one of the countries in Europe that is most capitalistic.

If Sweden is socialistic or communistic i would like to know what it takes to qualify as a socialist or communist country.

Sweden used to be very socialistic. They used to have an 80% tax rate! This is until everyone started doing everything illegally and under the table to avoid the government taxing them, that they decided that 80% was too much and lowered it. So now Sweden shifted towards capitalism, but before the socialism was near communism.

ehh.. I´m from Sweden and we have never had a 80% tax rate, that´s just BS, and Sweden is a capitalistic country, those who say we´re communistic are idiots who knows nothing about this country or knows nothing about communism.[/quote]

Actually Sweden isn't capitalistic, neither is the US, both are mixed economies.

 

[nCred]

Originally posted by: Klixxer

Originally posted by: nCred

Many Americans think that Sweden is extremely socialistic or even communistic even though it is one of the countries in Europe that is most capitalistic.

If Sweden is socialistic or communistic i would like to know what it takes to qualify as a socialist or communist country.

Sweden used to be very socialistic. They used to have an 80% tax rate! This is until everyone started doing everything illegally and under the table to avoid the government taxing them, that they decided that 80% was too much and lowered it. So now Sweden shifted towards capitalism, but before the socialism was near communism.

ehh.. I´m from Sweden and we have never had a 80% tax rate, that´s just BS, and Sweden is a capitalistic country, those who say we´re communistic are idiots who knows nothing about this country or knows nothing about communism.

Actually Sweden isn't capitalistic, neither is the US, both are mixed economies.[/quote]
Of course it´s not pure capitalistic, that would suck, but we have market economy and all that you know.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: nCred

Many Americans think that Sweden is extremely socialistic or even communistic even though it is one of the countries in Europe that is most capitalistic.

If Sweden is socialistic or communistic i would like to know what it takes to qualify as a socialist or communist country.

Sweden used to be very socialistic. They used to have an 80% tax rate! This is until everyone started doing everything illegally and under the table to avoid the government taxing them, that they decided that 80% was too much and lowered it. So now Sweden shifted towards capitalism, but before the socialism was near communism.

ehh.. I´m from Sweden and we have never had a 80% tax rate, that´s just BS, and Sweden is a capitalistic country, those who say we´re communistic are idiots who knows nothing about this country or knows nothing about communism.[/quote]

That's what my econ book said, dunno.

 

[welst10]

Originally posted by: DeeKnow
here's a simple explanation ... about more than just those two


FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts
them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of
all the cows. The government gives you a glass of milk.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: Your cows are cared for by former chicken
farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took
from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and
eggs the rules say you should need.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to
take care of them, and sells you the milk.

PURE COMMUNISM: You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your
neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the
most "need." Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the
cows drop dead of starvation.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You take care of them but the
government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can
and sell it on the black market.

CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and
shoots you.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbor decides who gets the
milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick
someone to tell you who gets the milk.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates
what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you
not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and
pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms
accounting for the missing cows.

CAPITALISM: You don't have any cows. The bank will not lend you money
to buy cows because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral.

LOL. you missed Chinese communism.

 

[f95toli]

Sweden never had an 80% tax rate, I guess you might be able to dig up some really old examples where the tax>50-60% (being very wealthy and selling stocks with a huge profit in 1970 or somehting like that) but not more than that. The "normal" tax-rate for the average citizen is 30-35% which is roughly the same as many other countries in Europe. And the taxes for companies have always been very low (lower than in the rest of Europe)

Sweden also happens to be one of the most de-regulated countries in Europe. There are very few goverment-owned companies (the railroad, postal services and a few others), most of the others (power-plants, telephone companies) were sold about 10-15 years ago.

And I think some people are confusing "socialism" with social-liberalism (John Stuart Mill).
I would say most democratic countries have political and economical systems which have more in common with social-liberal ideas than with what you find in "Das Kapital" (Marx).
That is if you want to trace these ideas back to the 19th century,

 

[vanln]

2 German workers work on the top of two big building at the border. The West German shout : Hey comrad, Who is the owner of that building? The East German proudly shout back : Me , and your buiding?. The West man sadly response: It is belong to My boss .
The East German asked: Hey, the red BMW over there, Who is the lucky owner. The West reply: That is mine and the cars down there must be your? The east dude reply, No the car is belong to my gorverment. I don't have money