We've already seen the results of unregulated capitalism in this country at the beginning of the 20th century - with workers earning just barely enough to survive, paid in company scrip that could only be redeemed on overpriced items at the company store.
I don't see how anyone could argue in good conscience that we should go back to that unless the only things they've ever read on the subject were highly-biased works by stuffy economists with a vested interest in ignoring or discounting the suffering of regular people. You owe it to yourself to read books from more diverse points of view. I'd recommend you check out The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It's old enough to be in the public domain, so you can read it for free:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140MAJOR FAIL!
Research what you are arguing against next time so you don't look like a fool with your nonsense strawman argument.
How was there "unregulated capitalism in this country at the beginning of the 20th century" when the govt ran schools, collected numerous taxes and tarrifs, monopolized justice, police, military all paid for by unwilling tax-victims.
I'm talking about corporate regulation. In fact, the conditions described in the book I mentioned horrified people so much that it inspired the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Because when profit was their only motive, corporations obviously couldn't be trusted to regulate themselves. And they still can't, if the actions of international corporations in less regulated modern countries are examined.
Arguing that corporations couldn't plainly see that they were working their people to death because "it was a different time!" is just silly. Seriously, read "The Jungle" and other books written around that time. People were being horribly exploited and they were angry as hell.
How do you explain that in the same period you are criticizing the wages of the workers went up more than in any ohter society, including Europe that was already implementing social-democracy?
And the system back then was not perfect, but comparing this period with the technological advances to that period is not honest. Compare that system with systems in the same period when they all had the same technology (or access to it) and you will see that the aproximation to a free market that was the USA increased the wages of the workers a lot more than the european socialdemocracies and any other system in the world. If you dont believe me please check the data and see by yourself.
There was no social democracy in Europe in 1900, and social democracy as we know it didn't really start to take hold over there until after WWII. Now, if we compare the situation of the lower classes in modern Europe with modern America, things start to look pretty bad for the U.S. The poor here have no health care, lower social mobility, lower life expectancy, fewer educational opportunities, far less paid vacation (most European countries require 4-6 weeks paid vacation, U.S. requires zero), etc, etc.
There was a great article in Inc. Magazine (of all places) earlier this year called "In Norway, Start-ups Say Ja to Socialism"
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.htmlIt's several pages long, but here's just one of the points it raises:
Bear strikes, darkness, and whale meat notwithstanding, Norway is also an exceedingly pleasant place to make a home. It ranked third in Gallup's latest global happiness survey. The unemployment rate, just 3.5 percent, is the lowest in Europe and one of the lowest in the world. Thanks to a generous social welfare system, poverty is almost nonexistent.
Norway is also full of entrepreneurs like Wiggo Dalmo. Rates of start-up creation here are among the highest in the developed world, and Norway has more entrepreneurs per capita than the United States, according to the latest report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a Boston-based research consortium. A 2010 study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a similar result: Although America remains near the top of the world in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations -- that is, the percentage of people who want to start new things—in terms of actual start-up activity, our country has fallen behind not just Norway but also Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland.
