My thoughts about the attraction of Bernie & his Socialismo is that we have little RECENT success to show for Capitalism. We have a younger generation raised by committed leftists in academia who have no measurement to see the failures of socialism. We have had compliant and, at times, scared Congresses who have imposed increased government regulations that Big Businesses could readily accommodate but are very onerous to their small to middling peers.
The grass is always greener across the road and without an attractant on this side, many are willing to make the crossing when they see their future so dim. Obama’s ‘recovery’ from 2008-9 is still the worst recovery in modern history. Given the depths that it sunk, we should have been seeing increases in GDP of 4-5%! The employment rate of 4.9% is good only till you look at the decrease in wages from the period before the 2008-9 period.
Venezuela prospered on what seemed to be an unlimited future with ever-rising oil prices. Without that prop, the ‘Caudillo’ government of Chavez/Maduro looks like the naked Emperor and is only protected by an army that has no other choice except revolution. We in the USofA, are not that weak, but we still need to keep our powder dry and available!
Indeed, we need to keep our powder dry.