Posted on 07/08/2015 12:19:16 PM PDT by Kaslin
Nearly 10,000 people turned out to hear Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin. Why? Apparently, many Democrats want socialism. Sanders is the Vermont senator who is running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Sanders calls himself a "democratic socialist," not to be confused with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio's preferred label, "social democrat," but both believe that more power and wealth in the hands of government (less in the hands of free people and the free market) is a good thing. They just don't want you to think they're dictators like Stalin. They may institute terrible economic policies, but they'll have the backing of voters.
More Democrats say they plan to vote for Hillary Clinton, but she's already sounding more socialist to ward off the Sanders challenge, slamming "corporations making record profits."
In crucial early-voting state New Hampshire, next door to Sanders' home state, Sanders polls at 35 percent to Clinton's 43.
A big reason for Sanders' appeal is his relentless criticism of America's wealth gap. His "solutions" include raising the federal minimum wage to $15, completing the government takeover of healthcare, mandating paid maternity leave, punishing bankers, expanding Social Security and spending more on job training.
We must do these things, he says, because "wealth is centered in the hands of a very few." He accuses Republicans of preferring it that way.
That's a common refrain on the left, and it appeals to many voters. Some poor people think they'll be helped by "redistribution," and rich people who don't understand the process that made them rich want more rules to "level the playing field."
I wish someone would educate them and ask Clinton, "What's wrong with 'record profits'? What do you think happens to that money? Greedy executives just sit on it? No! Profit is reinvested in ways that make all of us better off!"
Libertarians and real free-marketers agree that too few people are rich but understand that today it's largely because of government.
The minimum wage laws that Sanders likes decrease the odds that people on the bottom rung will get hired and learn the basics of being a good employee. Other laws make it harder for them to move up.
Today's thicket of regulations means entrepreneurs must hire lawyers and "fixers" to get anything done, and those middlemen cost money. Not a big problem if you're already rich, but a big obstacle if you're just starting out, or trying to expand a small business.
Requiring paid maternity leave makes companies even more wary of hiring young women. The law forbids such discrimination, of course, but bosses just give some other reason for not choosing female applicants.
That same unintended consequence happened with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the well-intended law supported by Democrats and Republicans meant to help more disabled people enter the workforce. But (SET ITAL) fewer (END ITAL) disabled people work now that the law is in effect. Fifty-one percent held jobs when the law passed; now only 32 percent do.
Greece "protects" workers by banning part-time work and banning working more than five days a week. You'd think American socialists would learn something watching Greece fail. But, no, they never learn.
Government interventions in health care -- such as Obamacare -- haven't made health care cheaper, but they sure helped rich insurance companies. By writing the companies' roles directly into the law, Obamacare makes it harder for others, such as the new fee-for-service health stores, to compete.
Complex financial regulations mean that rich investors who are already cozy with big law firms, big banks and the Fed are better at understanding and manipulating the rules than a small "angel investor" who wants to back a new invention or interesting start-up.
For 200 years, poor Americans pulled themselves out of poverty by finding new and better ways to do things, or just by working hard. Today, fewer lift themselves up. One big reason is that rules meant to help poor people end up favoring the well-connected rich while keeping poor people dependent.
Sen. Sanders and his fellow socialists should stop callously ignoring how government makes life harder for poor people.
Why The “1%” Hates The Gold Standard
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-20/why-1-hates-gold-standard
I sincerely hope this fool knocks her out of the race.
Ignoring? Hell, they don't ignore anything. They KNOW how government - especially their brand of Socialism - makes life harder for poor people.
For rich people too.
Bernie is a nut, but the one thing I give him credit for is that he is one of the few that have not made money on being a politician.....he is only worth about 300 thousand. There is really no reason for politicians to become millionaires being in government. All the presidential candidates will end up being multi-millionaires and the current group of Senators and Reps are already for the most part big time millionaires that were not when they walked into the office.
I hope Bernie wins the nomination as we are sure to win the Presidency for sure.
The Bolsheviks actually called themselves “social democrats”. It doesn’t matter if “democracy” shows up in the catch-title or not, whenever socialists get power they stop becoming “good” ones.
I sincerely hope this fool knocks her out of the race.
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Yeah, that’s what we said about the last Socialist SOB Hillary was up against.
Big ol’ “Ooops” on that one, huh?
And this is supposed to force me to do what? Vote for HER? Accept Bush? Go for the second worst evil candidate? Pray tell me what? This man is an old doddering white socialist fool. He isn’t black, half black or quadroon for that matter. White old socialist fool. To the extent he derails her, the better. You make no sense.
Good point. It shows just how far Left the Democratic party has swung. JFK wouldn’t be allowed in to the Democratic Party these days.
“Some poor people think they’ll be helped by “redistribution,”
Sorry, John, but that’s exactly what DOES happen. Poor people are helped by receiving other people’s money. That’s why they vote for anyone who promises redistribution.
All those things Stossel laid out are not hard to understand. People, esp. young ones, should be encouraged to use their heads, instead of stuffing them with garbage like = equality and white privilege .
Lets be honest, the super wealthy in this country have completed their realignment and they are now using the welfare state and foreigners to crush the middle class.
I no longer care one bit if the lower class pulls them out of their mansions and lights them on fire on their manicured lawns. I would yawn.
“Poor people are helped by receiving other people’s money.”
Short-term I suppose. Long-term it destroys them. I am of the opinion that the mess you see the blacks in the inner-cities are in is almost completely due to the welfare state.
They’ve moved twelve paces to the left just since Clinton was POTUS. Hillary is now too conservative for them.
have to admit.....I’d derive a certain amount of satisfaction from watching the Chamber of Commerce types trying to live under President Fake Indian.
LOL!
Thanks good link
Those are also long standing socialist policies and positions. What exactly are you implying here?
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