bbauska
My question on the GI Bill: Does everyone get the GI Bill benefits? (No, they don't)
If it is given to some (via contract for services rendered) is it socialism? (No, it isn't)
Are you for recipients of welfare benefits getting benefits for "services rendered:? (I'm guessing not)
Why the dichotomy in your thinking?
When government provides benefits to citizens from general taxation thats generally consiodered redistributive and socialist . (Not pure socialism.)
Everyone who served was able to apply for benenfits. However the application of Jim Crow laws at the State level essentially kept almost all black servicemen from benefiting.
What they got. Unemployment benefits. Low interest housing. Business loans. Free college tuition to Any college they could gain acceptance to. And sometimes their other expenses at college were paid.
This was not a reward for service. That was not expected when they signed up and in wars dating back to the revolution, American vets got few benefits after the fighting stopped. But in World War II the scale of the problem was huge -- 16 million Americans.
The program was social engineering designed to move 16 million Americans back into a changing society quickly and to increase the productivity and abilities of the work force quickly.
It was government intervention on a huge scale. And it consisted of benefits paid for out of general taxation .... It was entirely redistributive.
The nature of the programs, providing benefits to citizens from general taxation, was no different from programs like free tuition for college in Sweden or France.... only in that it was aimed at one group of unemployed. 16 million GIs. (8 million took advantage of free tuition by the way.)Before World War II, most Americans didn't have a high school diploma, much less a college degree. After the war, college enrollment exploded.
You quibble and say it was a reward for service... Okay. So socialism only for 16 million GIs...
Its still a social program.
And it is generally conceded to have been the reason that the white middle class grew so quickly through the 50s and 60s.