Howard Dean, in an address to a small group of sympathetic listeners meeting at “Cafe Rouge” in Paris, declared that the “sensible debate” of our times is to what extent we would blend together capitalism and socialism. See video. He is quite right to assert that this is the debate of our times (and maybe of our species), but its resolution over the near and immediate future may not be pretty. 

His statement, which enrages many on the right, merely tells us what we already know to be the case globally. China and Russia, formerly command economies, have integrated capitalism and prospered. But it does not follow that economic prosperity results from diluting capitalism with socialism. Post World War II Europe became heavily reliant upon entitlements, regulation of business, and high taxation. The result has been anemic growth and chronic underemployment. Prior to that war it had spawned early socialistic rebellions such as the “Springtime of the Peoples” that swept across the continent in 1848, so it was expected to have given birth to the ultimate revolution that would sweep communists into power in Russia instead in 1914. Japan responded to its financial bubble with massive flexing of governmental muscle, resulting in lost decades. The United States has been gradually embracing socialism since the end of World War II also. In my just released book, Endless Money: The Moral Hazards of Socialism ( John Wiley & Sons –see http://readendless.com/ ), I argue that the supposedly socialist-leaning Franklin Roosevelt levied taxation that was only one-third as punitive as felt today, even after having seen a massive cut implemented by 1988. In 2009, a married household earning approximately $370,000 would be in the top bracket and remit 35%, plus several more percentage points in state income tax, not to mention other taxes. On an inflation adjusted basis, this same couple would only have fallen into the 17% bracket in 1932, far below the top bracket of 60%.  Full Piece