Socialism (2) Necessary

A nation that does not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and is not based on Kingdom Communities will need some form of socialism to prevent it becoming harsh and cruel. In any free market system, some people will fail and suffer. Unless there is a compassionate Christian community to sustain them, they will drop through the cracks. A government-based safety net will be necessary.

Being Christians is not enough. Here is what is happening in the United States. The drastic increase in inequality of wealth in America is described by Deutsche Bank, in their January 2018 study “U.S. Income and Wealth Inequality”.

The U.S. is comparable to Chile, Israel, Mexico, Portugal, and Turkey, as being at the top of the nations studied, in “inequality in household disposable income.”

A record high 30% of households have no wealth in the United States (p6).

All-time high median net worth in constant dollars was 2007, at $119,000, declined to $67,000 in 2010, and rose to $78,000 by 2016 (p.7).

U.S.: The top 0.1% in the US owns as many assets as the bottom 90% (p.8).

U.S. has higher income-inequality than any other OECD nation (p.10).

Income-inequality is rising faster in U.S. than any other OECD nation (p.11).

The socialist option is always second best, and rarely truly effective, but it is better than this ugly alternative. The best option is always Kingdom Communities based on loving one another and serving Jesus as Lord.