Both parties have participated in the over-spending by the gov't. No doubt about that. The Republicans have done it usually slower, but Bill Clinton did a fine job on this, when he was in office. Bush II did not limit spending, but he did have the extra problem of the 9/11 attack and the wars, to deal with.
We went to #2 in the world wide survey of "countries with free business practices", during the Clinton years. (Below only Hong Kong). Now we are ranked out of the top 15.
The truth is, socialism only works well, when you have a large source of income to "feed" it. Norway for instance, has a large oil field in the North Sea, that they have been drilling into, for years. Germany has a very smart set of export laws for their businesses, and a gov't that is required by the constitution, to be pro-business (they must provide jobs).
We have a President who refuses most efforts to increase our jobs:
* No keystone pipeline. Obama doesn't want Canadian oil. Let it go to China, instead.
Good, high-paying jobs - who needs them?
* No frakking for oil, on federal lands. Thankfully, Obama can't stop it on private lands, but he's tried.
* Very limited drilling on federal lands, even after permits have been secured, environmental studies done and approved, etc.
* Coal (which we have a huge amount of), burning power plants are being run out of business - just as Obama promised he would before he was elected.
Clean burning coal is of no interest - here is where you run around your neighborhood flapping your arms like a kid - we'll use wind power, instead. Wind power. Solar power - because we know that the wind always blows more than 15 miles per hour, and the sun always shines. Yeah, right.
If you want to dream, go socialist. It's an unmotivating dream, but it can work, until the money runs out. Even a huge number of religious monasteries have found a way to bring some major aspect of capitalism into their lives: they sell cheeses, wine, fine brandy, even transcribe documents into computer records! Without that injection of capitalism, they would have to close.
When your governments power increases, your freedoms decrease, and your take-home pay, it decreases too. Because government lives off of the money it takes from it's citizens. EVERY penny they spend, comes from the tax payers - absolutely.
I always laugh when I hear people (usually young people), bad-mouthing capitalism.
Just what do they think has kept this country strong for the last 200+ years?
Capitalism == Opportunity == People willing to take risks == more jobs, more products, more inventions,
Who invented the iPhone, the Personal Computer, the Radio, even the car in your driveway, etc.? It was CAPITALISM, (private companies), not the government.