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Home » News » Commentary » The inevitable socialist conundrum: Running out of other people’s money
Commentary

The inevitable socialist conundrum: Running out of other people’s money

John MacGregorBy John MacGregorSeptember 22, 2019Updated:September 22, 2019No Comments3 Mins Read
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“In the 1950’s [America was] the richest nation, the richest city on earth was Detroit. They voted for change and so now it is the poorest city in America. At the same time, the nation of South Korea, of all the nations on earth, was third from the bottom. Virtually the poorest nation on earth. It is now tenth from the top. If you understand the principle, the greater freedom, the greater the wealth, you can then put any nation [on this chart]…all you need to know is what percentage of the Gross Domestic Product is controlled by government, and the greater the government, the greater the poverty, and that’s all politics is about. Every day politicians say, ‘I can make a better decision for you than you can for yourself, and let me take your money away from you and make it on your behalf,’ and thus make the nation poorer.” (Bob McEwen, US Congressman – emphasis mine)

Progressives cannot help themselves – they want your money so that they can give you back “free stuff.” They will buy your rights using your money. Look at Venezuela, where they used the people’s money to buy the people’s rights in exchange for “free stuff,” until they ran out of the people’s money. 

After looking at America’s stunning economic recovery in recent years, the chief socialist/progressive presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said the worst thing that can happen to Venezuela is for Juan Guaido, a Trump acolyte, to become the country’s president. If you believe that socialism’s universal poverty is better than the almost universal elimination of poverty under free-market capitalism, you are indulging in utopian fantasy and delusional logic.

Many countries around the world have dabbled with socialism and all have become acquainted with the inevitable socialist conundrum: running out of other people’s money. 

Smarter countries, like Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Chile, Argentina, Canada, England and more have returned to various forms of capitalism and turned their economies around, with reductions in poverty directly proportional to the extent that they freed their markets, instituted private ownership of property and established a stable rule of law.

Utopian fantasy and delusional logic still exist in countries like Venezuela and Cuba, which have run out of other people’s money and reduced their citizenry to egalitarian misery (except for the ruling elites, of course).

In our own country, we are witnessing the socialist end game with the progressive’s embrace of the radical green revolution. Cost estimates to implement these progressive visions of socialist utopia show that government budgets will triple in size and the taxes required will gut our economy.

There are a myriad of progressives running for the presidential nomination and they have all shown their abysmal ignorance of what truly creates life, liberty, and property. Progressives always double down when faced with social and economic failures. Their credo is power to the politician; poverty to the people.

capitalism Commentary progressive socialism
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John MacGregor

John "Jock" MacGregor is a student of history and politics, a pursuit he has enjoyed for most of his 79 years. Jock attended Villanova University’s School of Education; served in the U.S. Marine Corps; and is an entrepreneur with enterprises in restaurants, construction and boatbuilding. Mr. MacGregor was managing editor of an online news site in Hot Springs Arkansas. Currently, Jock comments on the role of government in society. Jock believes in a constitutionally limited government, instituted by the people, to protect their rights to life, liberty and property.

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