Those things you are describing are government services. They are things that taxes pay for. Taxes raised in a capitalist economy. They are not “socialist”. Police is not a socialist institution. A kibbutz is a socialist institution.
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Replying to @deadprogrammer @Pinboard
I know I grew up under capitalism & am very stupid about this stuff. It was my understanding that “socialism” simply meant social ownership and control of the means of production, and that it can include systems that pay for public services with taxes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_socialism …
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Replying to @joeld @deadprogrammer
Do you notice that none of the examples you gave were about social ownership of the means of production? You can have a highly-taxed capitalist economy with a broad range of public services (like Denmark or Singapore). It's a great setup, in my opinion! But it's not socialism.
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Replying to @Pinboard @deadprogrammer
No…the libraries, the public schools, the NHS hospitals, the businesses and real properties in the ANF portfolio, they are all socially owned. You can sensibly look at countries and institutions as existing on a scale of socialism. It doesn't have to be so binary.
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Replying to @joeld @deadprogrammer
I think you are honestly confused here. The key point is who owns the means of economic production—private capital or the government? Schools, hospitals, libraries, roads, the fire department—these are not the means of production.
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Replying to @Pinboard @deadprogrammer
So take all the public schools for example and privatize them…what are the buildings, equipment and supplies in that case? Not the means of producing anything? Maybe I am confused!
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What do libraries produce?
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Replying to @deadprogrammer @Pinboard
Can services that people want not be produced? Do things only count as produced if you pay for them at the point of use?
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Yes. It has to do with commodity - money - commodity cycle. The term “means of production” normally is applied to for-profit businesses.
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Replying to @deadprogrammer @Pinboard
I have nowhere encountered such a restrictive definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Means_of_production …
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Thread's over, comrade.
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