Thursday, April 09, 2009
Who likes capitalism?
According to Rasmussen, just 53% of the American population believes that "capitalism is better than socialism." The tone of the headline and linked article suggests that this is surprising, but I am not sure why it would be. The current president, who is pursuing manifestly socialist policies along a number of fronts, has a 66% approval rating, so even some putative supporters of capitalism endorse his increasingly statist policies.
More to the point, the percentage who approve of capitalism in this poll (53%) is very close to the percentage of the population that pays (or belongs to a family that pays) any federal income tax (as of 2006, 59%). Indeed, since the top 50% paid more than 97% of all federal income collected in 2006, it is safe to say that the proportion who support capitalism, as opposed to socialism, is almost identical in size to the percentage of Americans who earn enough actual income to pay material income taxes. While the correlation between the two groups is not perfect -- no doubt there are Hollywood types, professors, and United States Representatives who both pay income taxes and profess to be socialists -- it is almost certainly high. Again, it should not surprise us that the beneficiaries of socialism would support it, and the people who pay for it would prefer a system that allows them to keep more of what they produce.
12 Comments:
By 
Elijah, at
Thu Apr 09, 01:22:00 PM:
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
‘A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.’
‘A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.’
‘From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.’
"You cannot legislate the poor into riches by legislating the wealthy into poverty. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 to 2005
By jayne_cobb, at
Thu Apr 09, 01:27:00 PM:
The polls are kind of misleading:
-Regarding the CBS poll they had a 19 point difference in party identification between Dems. and Reps. I think last fall's election had only a 7 point difference (or there about). That's not to say that he's not popular, just that this poll is heavily weighted toward his party.
-And in regard to the Rasmussen poll, while only 53% said that capitalism is better those saying socialism is better only made up 20%. The remaining 27% said they weren't sure. While that's not as high as I'd like it that's hardly a ringing endorsement.
But your point about the correlation between those supporting capitalism and those paying taxes is a very good point.
By 
, at
Thu Apr 09, 01:31:00 PM:
It would be interesting to see a state by state breakdown of this kind of poll. I suspect the blue states have a much higher percentage of socialists than the red states. Perhaps secession is indeed where we are ultimately headed?
By , at
Thu Apr 09, 03:25:00 PM:
"It should not surprise us that the beneficiaries of socialism would support it, and the people who pay for it would prefer a system that allows them to keep more of what they produce."
We done.
Or to put it another way,"When you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, you can usually expect the support of Paul".
By clint, at
Thu Apr 09, 04:01:00 PM:
This seems to be a semantics thing --- the support is apparently *much* higher when you ask about free markets.
By The Warpiper, at
Thu Apr 09, 08:13:00 PM:
Would it be trite to suggest that public education (or a lack thereof) contributes to this?
By , at
Sat Apr 11, 01:50:00 AM:
Your reasoning is absurd. What a leap!!
Paying taxes has little to do with one's political affinity, and in theory, those in favor of socialism would WANT to pay taxes and those in favor of free-market Capitalism would want taxes abolished.
But I can tell by the books for sale on this site that there's no changing your mind.
By , at
Sat Apr 11, 02:44:00 AM:
I think the assertion that the beneficiaries of socialistic policy are the ones in the poll with a positive view of socialism is likely false.
If you look at the distribution of federal tax dollars, it is the southern, redder states that receive the highest ratio of federal funds per tax dollar collected.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Apr 11, 08:23:00 AM:
Paying taxes has little to do with one's political affinity, and in theory, those in favor of socialism would WANT to pay taxes and those in favor of free-market Capitalism would want taxes abolished.
Interesting. That would imply that the socialists in the 41% of the population that pay no federal income tax would simply give money to the government, as a charitable contribution, in furtherance of their preferred policy. Why don't they? Probably because they do not "WANT" to pay taxes.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Apr 11, 08:27:00 AM:
If you look at the distribution of federal tax dollars, it is the southern, redder states that receive the highest ratio of federal funds per tax dollar collected.
True, although I think that has more to do with the allocation of power in the Senate than anything else. Rural states are mostly conservative (except in New England, and the progressive upper Midwest), and they get the same two senators that big urban states get. Those senators have the same leverage to bring home pork as senators from New York, New Jersey, or California, so the pork per capita is definitely higher in the states that are more likely to think of themselves as conservative.
By , at
Sat Apr 11, 11:01:00 PM:
Why do you only count people who pay federal income taxes? What about payroll and sales taxes, which are paid by pretty much everyone?
By , at
Sat Apr 11, 11:52:00 PM:
It would be interesting to know how many that were polled actually know the difference between capitalism and socialism.
