practicing socialism

Anyone that watches Fox News knows that opinion show host Sean Hannity does not hide the fact that he considers President Obama to be a committed Socialist. Any liberal guest that appears on his show is asked if they follow the Karl Marx axiom of “To each according to his needs; from each according to his abilities”. Hannity makes it crystal clear he believes our President is a devout believer of this. In fact Hannity has asked the question so often it made me wonder if this country is indeed on the path to Socialism.

One of the basic concepts of socialism is everyone will contribute to a pool of finite resources that are then doled out to each individual equally. Much like Socialist societies, businesses also have a finite amount of resources that are designated to pay employee wages. Just as citizens living in a Socialist society contribute to the collective by paying extraordinarily high income taxes, workers in our society contribute to the corporation through their labor.

Generally speaking, labor unions demand their members be treated equally with regards to pay and benefits. In this manner unions depress the wages of very productive workers and increase the wages of less productive or incompetent workers. This is detrimental to the business in that overall productivity is not as great as it would be if the less productive workers were replaced. For sure an atmosphere of mediocrity is fostered in such an environment.

Another basic premise of Socialist societies is that the elderly will have their needs provided to them by the younger workers. The United Auto Workers Union practices this belief with the provisions in their contracts that provide for life time wages and health care to be paid for by the Detroit automobile manufacturers.

It is widely acknowledged that these “legacy” cost were a major contributor to the fiscal problems the American auto manufacturers have experienced in the last several years. It is unrealistic to believe these corporations can provide for every need of these former employees while they are no longer providing a benefit to the corporation.

The UAW claims they have made major concessions to the auto companies that will result in less benefits for retirees but these concessions apply only to newly hired people. Anyone employed before these negotiations took place will still receive the benefits agreed to in previous contracts regardless of the effect these agreements have on the company‘s bottom line.

Without a doubt some blame must be placed on the executive officers of these companies that agreed to these contracts but we should understand the executives were held hostage by a labor force that considered only one interest; that of it’s members. Management could not endure work stoppages that would produce a reduction in the number of cars produced and thereby cost these companies a vital share of the auto market.

In the past 16 months we have seen the government take control of two car companies and several lending and investment institutions. Most recently we have witnessed the government take the first steps toward a single payer health care industry. Many Americans consider these government involvements in private business to be acts of a Socialist society.

Conservatives like Sean Hannity will always argue with Liberals about whether President Obama is a Socialist or not but one thing is certain, it didn’t take me very long to realize one of the oldest and most prominent groups that practices socialism is labor unions.