How the 'New' Socialism Falls Apart

American Thinker ^ | 9 Jun, 2026 | Raushan Gross

[MtnClimber]

There is certainly a new flavor of socialism emerging amongst the younger generation. The updated addition to the socialist dogma is tinged with what is called the Me-First perspective, the current rallying cry for a new batch of socialists attempting to upset the economic apple cart. This latest flavor is not too far from the traditional utopian idea that socialism could work somehow if all that is tweaked are price controls, the elimination of private ownership, slowing down market forces, and stifling entrepreneurial incentive and motivation. In other words, the new age socialists' prevailing cry for a socialist fix to the economy is to upset the apple cart for their own subsidization and effectively taxing everyone else. Put another way, it is about satisfying their wants using your means. Why do they use capitalist means of production to establish a socialist economy? Why doesn’t the new age socialist have a socialist means of production?

The problem with the Gen Z new age socialist frame of thought is that they have no means of production of their own. Put plainly, there are no such things as socialist means of production or economic market tools; if so, what are they? To Gen Z, putting private property in someone else's hands and tweaking the economy to their benefit sounds workable, but the basic reality is very scary: they are under the impression that a socialist economy will solve their problems, and everyone else's for that matter, because in their minds all you have to do is control prices, increase minimums, put a cap on this, overtax the other, overregulate this and that, confiscate wealth, and so on. Yet here is the red pill: the previously listed points are capitalist means of production for a market economy

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

[MtnClimber]

Socialism always fails because meritocracy is not compatible with socialist views.

[brownsfan]

As a casual, concerned observer, it seems to me that we are seeing the result of entitlement, (everyone gets a trophy), colliding with the real world that demands serious effort to survive. Sprinkle in the miseducation of those kids, teaching them that socialism is the only “fair” system, and there you go! A couple of generations that will accept almost anything in the name of fairness.

[TexasFreeper2009]

a flat tax where everyone pays the exact same percentage of their income regards of how much or how little they make is the only fair system.

It is a shame it has never passed anywhere to my knowledge

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

:: meritocracy is not compatible with socialist views ::

But, it will if societal merit is equal among all.
Yet, who will decide what is to be done with those that don’t qualify?

I know ... let’s acks Leon.

[oldtech]

You would think after all these years that socialists could see that their way has never worked, so how likely will it ever work? Not at all, I’d say & the sooner they quit trying to force it, the better off everyone will be. Socialists need to wake up, but the very fact that they are what they are says it won’t happen any time soon.

[Libloather]

...price controls, the elimination of private ownership, slowing down market forces, and stifling entrepreneurial incentive and motivation.

Perfect reasons to lay on mom's basement couch in front of a PS5. Sure there are a few opportunities to attend a commie brick-throwing rally once in awhile. But until mom's money runs out, it's pretty much endless Cheetos.

[joshua c]

see tagline

collectivism takes a larger share of an increasingly shrinking pie

[RoosterRedux]

The socialist message to free market participants: "Work hard to make money so we can take it, and do so within these crippling regulations."

If the socialist model were genuinely superior at producing human flourishing, you'd see people voluntarily organizing their own lives around it. Instead, the argument is always that it has to be compelled–which is itself an admission that it doesn't work.

A system that only functions at gunpoint isn't really a system; in the case of socialism, it's just theft hidden behind a warped philosophy of envy, greed, and laziness.

[Vaduz]

With socialism emerging among the younger generation they better take a few panhandling classes first because it’s how it ends up working and get some good shoes because you’ll be standing in line a lot.

[ByteMercenary]

‘Tis ironic that those promoting socialism are using the capitalistic model to support themselves. it’s a bit like sitting on a tree limb and sawing the same limb between the sitter and the tree trunk.

Effin idiots ...

[TheThirdRuffian]

The hatred of capitalism and the successful is very real and persuasive.

They’re also not deep thinkers.

Basically, it’s “look at what a disaster California is. This is capitalism!”

Never mind the cause is literally leftism.

[fruser1]

Socialism is a scam.

[rktman]

Because they have ZERO real world experience with it. And, ZERO historical education on it. 😵. They won’t like the reality of it.

[sauropod]

.

[Nateman]

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Let’s cut the BS and stop calling it “Socialism.” Stop dressing it up with respectability as if its a theory of economics. Socialism, like the Welfare State, as practiced in the US at least, is the majority taking money that they did not earn from the productive (or in some cases, the rich who inherited it). Socialism is just the Welfare State on steroids; a bigger cash grab. Like Margaret Thatcher said, eventually you run out of other people’s money and it falls apart. But while you have OPM, its a lot of fun.

[Salman]

The new socialism is a cargo cult.

The old socialism, though wrong, at least had some moral seriousness about it.
What with being about workers and the means of production.

It was never pitched as unlimited free sh*t.

Furthermore the new socialist gripe against capitalism appears to be that
the means of production exist at all.

[FrankRizzo890]

I saw one of them talk about this exact thing. “To the person making minimum wage that 10% tax is the difference between having food or not. But to the Billionaire, that 10% is NOTHING”.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It is once again the same old "bright new" ideas that lazy humans have been trying to sell to the industrious humans since we started controlling fire and figured out pointy stick.