Let's wait and see if it is true - false flag operations, terrorist attacks

[villain2]

You seem to have the principle that everything should be "user pays", whereas I see an underlying facet of a well functioning society is the principle of "shared burden", that the delivery of a basic level of service across essential services (excuse the double use of "services", I'm tired and busy) to everyone in the community is the responsibility of all of us - via taxes - even if it means that those of us in better off, built up areas where more opportunities are available are contributing towards those in less well off, more sparsely populated areas with less opportunities. I see that as a basic underlying principle of a well functioning, democratic society.

And hence why perhaps we'll never agree.

Shared Burden ... sounds like socialism to me. Last I looked, America was a capitalist society.

The beauty of the world is that since you have dozens upon dozens of "shared burden" societies, you don't have to change the U.S. into the same society. You can go to Sweden, the UK, France, parts of Canada etc.

America and a few other nations on the other hand, are more about allowing the individual to achieve. The idea is that if the individual can achieve without limits, the society in general will be stronger.

If you want socialism, there are plenty of countries that have it. We don't really need to change America into a pseduo-socialist nation. I've always wondered where the urge to do that came from? Americans donate billions each year (in 2006, it was $296 billion) to charities and yet we have 30 million at or below the poverty line ... where is the money going? We could cut a check for each of those people and still have tons left over. That my only problem with the capitalist system in America.

Question: Do you think the pseduo-socialists nations could maintain their standard of living WITHOUT the heavy-lifting nations that don't have pseudo-socialism (ie. United States, Japan) or had them and have opened up more capitalist opportunities (ie. China, India)?