Tag: Socialism

MLLG

Socialism, Toilet Paper, Taxes and More

George Noga

Socialism resulted in chronic shortages of meat, fish, bread, milk and yes – toilet paper.

Socialism, Toilet Paper, Taxes and More

By: George Noga – February 27, 2022

Democratic Socialist or Social Democrat: It is critically important which word is the noun and which is the adjective. Socialists like Bernie Sanders and AOC like to cloak themselves in the mantle of Scandinavian social democrats, who promote robust social benefits – but all within the ambit of a capitalist democracy. Don’t be fooled by this maskirovka. When the words are reversed, socialist becomes the operative word and democratic merely a modifier. Social democrats give you countries like Sweden and Denmark; democratic socialists give you hell holes like Venezuela and Cuba.

Socialist Humor: A journalist enters a store in Venezuela and asks if there is any meat. The clerk replies, “This is the store with no fish; the store with no meat is across the street.” The journalist dutifully writes in his notebook “no fish, no meat“. Next, the journalist goes into a bakery; finding no bread, he jots down “no bread“. Then he goes into a dairy store and once again finding the shelves bare, he enters “no milk“. A secret police agent following the journalist then goes up to him and says, “You could be shot for writing that“. Whereupon, the journalist writes in his notebook “no bullets“.

“Workers were issued their own personal roll of toilet paper.”

Toilet Paper and Socialism: Commies are not only incapable of producing meat, fish, bread and milk, they could not produce toilet paper. In workplaces throughout the Soviet Union, there never was any toilet paper in the stalls because it instantly would be stolen. Instead, each worker periodically was issued his personal roll of toilet paper for use while at work. This is not a joke; welcome to the socialist workers’ paradise.

Note: We do not publish these vignettes to heap ridicule, however well deserved, on the commies of yore and their present day look-alikes. Our purpose is to remind people that this will happen here if we continue down the path of progressivism.

“The IRS answers only 3% of all calls to taxpayer services.”

Democrat Tax Increases: House Dems voted for 87,000 more IRS auditors to conduct 1.2 million more audits annually. Incredulously, this equals only 13.8 audits per year for each new agent. There is something terribly wrong with this metric; why can’t each agent perform five or ten times that number? I am reminded of Will Rogers’ quip, “Thank God we don’t get all the government we pay for“. To make matters worse, the burden of the new audits would fall predominantly on small business and the middle class; the wealthy use high-octane tax professionals and are effectively audit proof. The Democrats want to fund IRS enforcement by 2,300% more than taxpayer services. Last year 97% of all calls to IRS taxpayer services (help line) went unanswered.

The law passed by the Dems raises the effective personal income tax rate to 57.4%, the highest in the developed world. Many blue states will have a combined marginal rate above 60%. They voted to increases the top marginal capital gains rate to 37% – the highest in 50 years. They also voted to increase the tax on home heating fuel.

Identity Politics: The EPA recently issued a press release heralding new appointments to its Science Advisory Board; it began as follows: “Today the EPA announced the selection for membership of the Science Advisory Board, which will be comprised of 22 women and 25 men, including 16 people of color, making it the most diverse ever.” How comforting it is to know that our science is in the hands of a group balanced by race and gender. This is a disservice to any appointees selected on the basis of merit.

Biden announced his Supreme Court appointment would be a black woman. This not only would be illegal in the private sector, it is a colossal disservice to his nominee. Biden is announcing his nominee will be selected based on identity and not on merit.

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Next on March 6th – The progressive assault on our democracy.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us
MLLG

Socialism’s Promises Versus Its Realities

George Noga

They promise Elysium, Xanadu and Zion; you get Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.

Socialism’s Promises Versus Its Realities

By: George Noga – October 31, 2021

Happy Halloween! Imagine an entire nation going trick or treating hoping to get a treat of Utopia, but instead gets a trick of dystopia. Today there are only three truly socialist states: Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea; former socialist states include the USSR, China Vietnam, Yemen, Cambodia, Eastern Europe and several in Africa. China (today), Sweden and the Nordic nations have market economies and are not socialist.

Why do so many people desire socialism despite its dismal record? Socialists make high falutin, seductive promises such as: “from each according to his ability; to each according to his need”. They appeal to a basic human egalitarian ideal that the world somehow would be better if everyone held hands, sang Kumbaya and shared equally. Many intellectuals believe their ideas are superior but they must have control over others to achieve their goals. Another path to socialism is incrementalism and this is the great danger now facing America; we are slouching toward socialism.

Almost everyone understands that socialism fails to deliver the goods, while capitalism delivers a veritable cornucopia. Yet America is moving closer and closer to socialism. It’s like taking increasing doses of a potent drug we know eventually will kill us but that delivers a momentary high. Americans – especially the young – are beguiled by the Siren song of collectivism and its flirtatious promises. Therefore, it is altogether fitting that we examine socialism’s myriad promises and compare them to the results.

The Promises Versus the Realities of Socialism

They (socialists) promise you liberty; they give you the Berlin Wall and closed borders with watchtowers, mine fields, razor wire, and vicious dogs. They promise equality; they give you equal squalor and poverty. They promise a clean environment; they give you a toxic wasteland. They promise modernity; they give you Chernobyl and Aeroflot. They promise a classless society; they give you elites with dachas living in decadent luxury. They promise freedom; they give you Gulags, Stasi and the KGB.

They promise Apple, Google and Disney; they give you lines, shortages and shoddy goods. They promise peace; they give you war. They promise hope; they give you nihilism. They promise a Volkswagen; they give you a Trabant. They promise Eden, they give you hell on earth. They promise plentitude; they give you rationing. They promise Utopia; they give you dystopia. They promise truth; they give you Pravda.

They promise Elysium, Xanadu, Valhalla and Zion; they give you North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and the USSR. They promise comradeship; they give you the secret police. They promise freedom; they give you totalitarianism. They promise progress; they give you stagnation. They promise fulfillment of eternal dreams; they give you nightmares. They promise hope; they give you lives of quiet desperation. They promise a new social order; instead, they give you a smorgasbord of virulent social pathologies.

They promise Sweden; they give you Angola. They promise pristine intentions; they give you devastating results. They promise education; they give you propaganda, reeducation camps and little red books. They promise Singapore; they give you Yemen. They promise technology; they give you antiquated products. They promise the arts; they give you censored and banned books, movies, radio, TV and internet. They promise justice; they give you show trials, preordained verdicts and persecution.

They promise butter; they give you guns. They promise a treat; they give you a trick. They promise a workers’ paradise; they give you nations held captive to keep workers from escaping paradise. They promise morality but are the embodiment of evil in the world. They promise good government; they give you kleptocracy, oligarchy and cronyism. They promise elections but they murder or imprison opponents and journalists. They promise abundance; they give you starvation amidst plenty. They promise a better life; they give you death, killing 100+ million of their own people.

Socialists promise the moon; instead, they give you a phantasmagoria of lies, terror, slaughter, misery, poverty, injustice, death, desperation and social pathology.

Our next post about elections in America is titled: Run Forest Run

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More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

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MLLG Special: The Camouflaged Nexus Of . . . Climate Change, Critical Race Theory and the Spending Crisis

George Noga

There is a hidden connection among climate change, race and the spending crisis.

MLLG Special: The Camouflaged Nexus Of . . .

Climate Change, Critical Race Theory and the Spending Crisis

By: George Noga – July 18, 2021

Three mega-issues changing America are linked in ways not well understood. Climate change is regarded, including by President Biden, as an existential issue in the literal sense and not the philosophical sense of mankind’s search for meaning. The spending crisis will change America forever and Critical Race Theory has become an accepted part of pedagogy in schools, universities and workplaces throughout America.

The common denominator of these three issues is socialism along with its misanthropic stepchildren: communism, progressivism, and liberalism. In each case, unreconstructed socialists are the driving force behind the cause. They are working in tandem toward the same goal – whether or not they coordinate their efforts. They receive financing and succor from a coterie of camp followers and useful idiots including progressive groups, academia, public sector labor unions, teachers, media, government bureaucrats, NGOs, entertainment, organized religion, social media – and even sports and business.

Climate Change and Socialism

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, die-hard Marxists were homeless. They decided to pursue their goals via a back door by taking over the environmental (and later, climate change) movement. They simply cloaked their anti-capitalist agenda in green language and became watermelon environmentalists, i.e. green on the outside but red on the inside. Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace, said, “Following the collapse of communism, Marxists hijacked the (climate change) movement. Their far left agenda is about socialism, not ecology or (climate).”

Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and Socialism

Marxism is based on class conflict and the belief that workers would seize the means of production and create a utopian socialist society. However, socialist-style regimes proved dismal failures, murdering over 100 million of their own people. The human carnage and economic toll were so great even die-hard Marxists couldn’t hide from it. Moreover, Marxists came to understand workers in the USA, Western Europe, Japan and many other places never would buy into the notion of class struggle.

Just as Marxists knew they needed a back door (environmentalism and climate change) to achieve their goal, they also recognized they needed an alternative to class struggle. They decided to substitute race (and ethnic) struggle for class struggle and BINGO, Critical Race Theory was created. Masters of maskirovka, commies decided on the euphemism “equity” as their mantra. By equity they mean an end to private property and redistribution of everything according to race. There would be no individual rights, only group rights. At its core, Critical Race Theory is virulent socialism.

Spending Crisis, Modern Monetary Theory (“MMT”) and Socialism

Most groups pushing for MMT and massive spending, debt and deficits are socialist. Once again, they are seeking a back door to socialism. Progressives understand Americans will not accept socialism under normal circumstances; therefore, they must create an emergency serious enough to beguile Americans into accepting the hitherto unacceptable. Thus, we have a spending crisis that will result in horrors so frightening people will accept anything – especially if they are promised it is only temporary. The spending crisis is yet another back door to a socialist United States of America.

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There you have it – the nexus of climate change, CRT and spending; they all represent back doors to socialism. The leaders of these movements know full well what they are doing but are few in number. They must rely on camp followers and useful idiots, i.e. clueless liberals besotted with feel-good progressive bromides and good intentions.

We must stand up to these assaults on our liberty and way of life. That requires the courage to speak the truth and to withstand the slings and arrows directed at you by elitist mobs. But courage begets courage and a majority is one person with courage.

Next on July 25th – The school choice movement in America.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

A Chinese Thanksgiving: The Story of Xiaogang

George Noga
Plymouth and Jamestown have much in common with the village of Xiaogang.
A Chinese Thanksgiving: The Story of Xiaogang
By: George Noga – November 24, 2019

          This year marks the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China; it was celebrated with great pomp throughout China. Something far more transcendent and ineffable took place on November 24, 1978 – exactly 41 years ago today – in the tiny Chinese village of Xiaogang; that story is suppressed even today by the Chicoms. Following is the amazing true story of the quiet revolution that saved China.

         After taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (Chicoms) abolished private land ownership and forced peasants into communes. The result was predictable; by 1978, 40 million had starved to death with survivors near death. In the village of Xiaogang there was no food. Farmers dug up roots, boiled leaves with salt and ground roasted tree bark into flour. Then something truly remarkable happened.

           On November 24, 1978 a farmer, Yan Hongchang, invited heads of Xiaogang’s families to attend a clandestine meeting. The farmers signed a 79-word pledge to divide the commune’s land into individual family plots; each agreed to submit his share of the decreed quota to the state but got to keep the rest for his family. What happened next was predictable – and also inspirational. The farmers produced a grain harvest of 100 metric tons – equal to 20 years of quotas. There is no official record of the village having a thanksgiving celebration following the harvest, but I’ll bet it had one.

        The Chicoms tried to suppress news of the Xiaogang miracle, but word quickly spread throughout China. Within just two years, Deng Xiaoping decided to abandon collective farming. He allowed peasants to farm their own plot of land and to sell most of the harvest in unregulated markets. The rest is history. A tiny group of farmers, who understood human nature, stood up to the immense power of the state. Today there is a small museum in Xiaogang commemorating the farmers with a copy of their pledge. There also is a banner proclaiming: “The origin of our nation’s economic rise“.

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        Events in both Jamestown and Plymouth parallel what transpired in Xiaogang. The earliest Americans starved to death en mass under socialism but prospered when given property rights. Socialism was such an affront to their humanity that they died rather than pervert their human nature. If they would have worked as hard under socialism as they later did under capitalism, they would have prospered. Yet, they chose death over socialism. Whether it is in Xiaogang, Plymouth, Jamestown, Caracas or Pyongyang socialism always ends the same way, i.e. starvation amidst plenty.

         This Thanksgiving share with your children and grandchildren the authentic story of Thanksgiving in Jamestown, Plymouth – and Xiaogang. Without private property rights there is no abundance and there is no Thanksgiving – ever. When we sever the link between work and benefit, the inevitable result is privation and misery. If you want a veritable cornucopia to share with others, only capitalism can produce it.

        Pilgrims celebrating their harvest with Native Americans is a warm, fuzzy, feel-good, multi-cultural, politically correct myth that ignores authentic, enduring lessons, i.e. socialism fails and capitalism succeeds. Americans 400 years ago understood these lessons better than progressive politicians today who advocate a return to the principles that created mass starvation in Jamestown, Plymouth and Xiaogang.

Next on December 1st – the oxymoron of government accountability.
More Liberty Less Government  –  mllg@mllg.us  –  www.mllg.us

Socialism vs. Capitalism: Results – Theory – Morality

George Noga
“Tyranny is the political corollary of socialism, as representative government is the political  corollary of a market economy. To suggest otherwise ignores history.”  (Ludwig von Mises)
Socialism vs. Capitalism: Results – Theory – Morality
By: George Noga – March 24, 2019

        Apologists for socialism disingenuously compare ideal socialism to the actual practice of capitalism. What if we compared ideal capitalism to real-world socialism? In this post, we compare results to results, theory to theory and morality to morality.

The Results of Socialism Compared to the Results of Capitalism

       No serious economist argues socialism produces better results than capitalism. Socialism never has created sustained prosperity. It can only achieve a brief illusion of prosperity by plundering a nation’s wealth, confiscating assets, inflating, borrowing, nationalizing, and printing worthless currency. But it always ends the same way, i.e. starvation amidst plenty. Socialism’s failures are legion: the USSR, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and the Chicoms. It never has worked for more than 25-50 people, such as a family, clan or tribe, where familial bonds supercede economic considerations.

In just the past 25 years (per the World Bank) capitalism has cut extreme poverty by 75% – equal to 1.2 billion human beings, with an additional 50 million being lifted out of poverty each year. Every day, another 135,000 people escape poverty. Today less than 10% of the world’s population live in extreme poverty and it could end within our lifetime. This is by far the greatest economic accomplishment of all time, thanks to capitalism. Capitalism’s successes also are legion: the USA, Western Europe, Japan, the Nordics, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Botswana, New Zealand and South Korea.

The Theory of Socialism Compared to the Theory of Capitalism

        Under ideal socialism, the governing values of the citizens are community and equality; they view their economic well being as a common enterprise. They share the work according to their abilities and no one demands extra benefits due to greater talent or work effort. All inequalities due to undeserved advantages or disadvantages are eliminated. In this socialist utopia, all the people are economically equal.

        Ideal capitalism means self interest and markets. Some citizens are more talented,  exert more effort or take greater risks; hence, some are wealthier than others. But this arouses no envy because all the citizens are unselfish. When someone is in need, neighbors help. Just as in the socialist utopia, the citizens care about each other and value community. All of the good aspects of the socialist utopia are present but so are additional benefits such as innovation and the production of more and better goods.

          If one assumes people under ideal socialism are entirely altruistic, then it is only fair to make the same assumption under ideal capitalism. Moreover, the free market isn’t dependent on altruism and it functions even when comity is in short supply. Socialism always fails, in theory and practice, because it is fundamentally opposed to human nature; people are hard wired to respond to self interest and to incentives.

The Morality of Socialism Compared to the Morality of Capitalism

        Comparing results to results is no contest; capitalism wins hands down. But when comparing ideal to ideal, capitalism also wins because, if people act altruistically, the incentives of capitalism produce greater prosperity. Socialists distort by comparing an idealized version of socialism to non-idealized capitalism and by assuming people act selflessly under socialism but selfishly under capitalism. What if we compared ideal capitalism to socialism as actually practiced – with its mass murders, brutal dictators, starvation, grinding poverty and human desperation as in say, Venezuela?

        Capitalism, non-coercive cooperation in markets, is also superior morally. People succeed only by providing goods valued by their fellow man. The most potent force on earth is a consumer armed with a free choice; even a large corporation can’t force anyone to buy its products. The political corollary of socialism is tyranny and it inevitably results in starvation amidst plenty; there is nothing moral about that.

Next: Hotel Europe – you can check out any time, but you can never leave.

Texting – Sears – Tyler – Hauser – Laffer

George Noga
A 70% top income tax rate loses the government $65 billion over 10 years.
Texting – Sears – Tyler – Hauser – Laffer
By: George Noga – January 24, 2019

       This is a special mid-week posting of micro topics, many of which are timely, especially the segments about the progressive plan to raise marginal tax rates.

Micro Topics: CO2 emissions of electric vehicles often exceed those of gas vehicles, depending on the fuel used to generate the electricity and how long a charge lasts. The $7,500 tax credit is a wealth transfer from the middle class to the wealthy; nonetheless, it remains a darling of the left. . . . . . . Canada increased fines for texting while driving to $1,000 and loss of license. MLLG opposes distracted driving, but there are always unintended consequences of government actions. Where texting is illegal, drivers often relocate texting to their laps – out of sight of police but infinitely more dangerous.

Socialism & Sears: In the USSR, a man goes into a store and asks, “You don’t have any meat?” The clerk responds, “No, we don’t have any fish; it’s the store next door that doesn’t have any meat.” I have a stable of commie jokes; a favorite is where the USSR conquered the entire world but spared New Zealand just to know prices in the real world. These stories are so funny because they are true; commies had no way to know what things cost. We just learned Soviet economists (oxymoron) resorted to Sears catalogs to set prices for consumer goods – as did the Chicoms. Progressives are ignorant of the lessons of the USSR and the truth behind all the commie jokes.

John Tyler: Our national history spans but a few lifetimes and there are some amazing stories. My favorite is John Tyler (Tippecanoe and Tyler too), our 10th president (1841-45) born in 1790 during George Washington’s first term. Two of Tyler’s grandchildren are alive today.  The entirety of US history took place in the lifetimes of Tyler, his children and grandchildren, spanning 229 years and still going. Therefore, you should not be overly shocked to learn that the United States government in 2019 still is paying pensions to widows and children of Civil War veterans.

Hauser’s Law: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and progressive know-nothings (oxymoron) proposed a top income tax rate of 70%. They obviously know nothing about Hauser’s Law, which states that, regardless of tax rates, the individual income tax collects 18% of GDP – 20% in a strong economy, 16% in a weak one. In the 75 years since WWII, the top rate has varied from a low of 28% to a high of 92%, but the revenue it produced was constant at 18%. The Tax Foundation, when adjusting for the effects of behavioral changes, found that a 70% rate lost $65 billion in tax revenue over 10 years.

The Laffer Curve: Progressives also know nothing about the Laffer Curve. Economists know that as rates rise (starting from zero) tax revenues increase, but at a decreasing rate. Eventually a point is reached at which tax revenue is maximized. Beyond that point, tax revenues decrease at an increasing rate, i.e. the Laffer Curve. Higher marginal income tax rates actually result in less tax revenue. Economists have determined that tax revenue is maximized at a rate of 35% to 40%; once rates rise above 40%, total tax collections begin to fall and at an ever increasing rate.

The reason Hauser’s Law and the Laffer Curve work should be apparent; people (especially the wealthy) modify their behavior based on tax rates. If progressives want more tax revenue (within the existing tax code) they must do a Willy Sutton and go to where the money is, i.e. the middle class; there never are enough rich people. MLLG has written extensively about Hauser and Laffer and may soon need to devote a full posting to them amidst all the progressive jibber-jabber about hiking tax rates.

Our next post January 27 is a climate change update; don’t miss it.

Slaves, Socialism, Supreme Court and ICE

George Noga
Did the US Constitution consider slaves 3/5 of a person? Can socialism ever appear to work? Can the world run out of money? These questions and more.
Slaves, Socialism, Supreme Court and ICE
By: George Noga – October 28, 2018

Micro Topics: “Medicare for all” is the new cry of lefties. Single-payer health care has been tried and it failed miserably – with Native Americans and veterans. It adds trillions to the deficit, but the real cost is in lives. . . . . “The left destroys everything it touches, sports, comedy, schools, fun, everything”. (Charlie Kirk) . . . . . In the latest PC craze, schools abolish homecoming kings and queens, substituting “royals“. But aren’t royals a privileged hereditary aristocracy? . . . . . For 2015-16, uber-liberal NPR can confirm only 11 school shootings; with 96,300 schools, that is one shooting per 8,755 schools. . . . . Not long ago, liberals and media applauded when jack-booted ICE agents conducted a pre-dawn raid to seize a 6 year old boy; his name: Elian Gonzalez.

Only 3/5 of slaves were counted per the Constitution but it was not due to southern racists, but northern abolitionists. Nor did the 3/5 have anything to do with the putative human worth of a slave. In 1789, there were 1.8 million freemen in the north but only 1.1 million in the south. The south wanted to count all 650,000 slaves to achieve equal representation in the House of Representatives; the north didn’t want to count any, hence, the 3/5 compromise. The Constitution refers to slaves as “persons“, nowhere as 3/5 of a person. This issue is misunderstood and often demagogued by liberals.

Socialism can appear to work  briefly because socialists plunder a nation’s wealth to create the illusion of progress. They confiscate assets, loot industries, banish managers and pad payrolls with hacks. They strip natural resources and despoil the environment. They run giant budget deficits and borrow all they can before defaulting. They tax the upper and middle classes into oblivion. They hyperinflate and print worthless currency. They pillage banks and make phoney loans to acolytes. They impose price and rent controls and prohibit evictions. They freeze prices and impose currency exchange controls. Wealth creators flee along with their capital and knowhow. After socialists ransack a nation’s patrimony, it always ends the same, i.e. starvation amidst plenty. Never has socialism created sustained prosperity, only short-term pillage and plunder.

The world is running out of money. The supply of money is finite and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Seriously! We can’t just keep printing money because that only inflates, i.e. more money chasing the same supply of goods and services. Space aliens, pandemics or climate change won’t do us in; in the end, the planet simply runs out of money. World government debt is $64 trillion while GWP is $76 trillion for a ratio of 84% and spiraling upward. Total global debt (public and private) is $230 trillion, over 300% of GWP. Who will be the one to borrow the last dollar in the universe?

SCOTUS confirmations are circuses as Congress quit legislating, leaving lawmaking to courts. Uncertainties about vacancies create angst, as justices now can serve 40+ years. To fix this, MLLG resurrects an old, but simple and elegant, idea which may be new to readers. Justices (limited to one term) would serve staggered 18-year terms with one term expiring every 2 years. Every president would have 2 appointments each term. This removes all the angst and uncertainty and no president could ever appoint a majority. Eighteen years is enough to serve; moreover, this change would enable more experienced justices to be appointed because longevity would no longer matter.

Our next post November 4th offers perspective about the midterm election.

Nordic Nations and Socialism

George Noga
Liberal politicians and media celebrities conflate Nordic nations and socialism. 
Nordic Nations and Socialism
By: George Noga – October 7, 2018

         The stunning victory of democratic-socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez squarely inserted socialism as an issue for 2018 and 2020. Polls show more Democrats have a favorable view of socialism than of capitalism. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton praised Nordic countries as veritable socialist utopias. Joy Behar on The View cited Nordic countries as proof socialism works. The media, millennials, progressives and many regular Americans believe Nordic nations owe their success to socialism.

          This post addresses that issue head on. Please visit our website www.mllg.us and read our posts of April 24, 2016, Is Scandinavian Success Due to Socialism? and October 15, 2017, Socialism, Sweden and Scandinavia for background information. For brevity, this post focuses on Sweden; however, the same narrative, to varying degrees, applies to the other Nordic nations: Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

The Progressive Nordic Narrative

         Circa 1970, Sweden (and other Nordics) morphed into a big government, social welfare state; Swedes sharply increased taxes and public spending and discouraged private enterprise. Over the next two decades, public spending soared from 30% of GDP to 60%. Sweden instituted a cradle to grave welfare state with uber-generous benefits including heavily subsidized child care, preschool, university, maternity, family and sick leave, unemployment benefits, pensions and health care.

       During this same timeframe (1970-1990), Sweden was rich; in 1970 it was the fourth wealthiest country. Therefore, the liberal perspective is that Sweden was both wealthy and socialist at the same time. This narrative of the Nordics as successful socialist states is beguiling because, taken without context, it has the color of truth.

 
The Truth About Nordic Nations and Socialism

            During the 19th century, Sweden was so dirt poor it sent waves of immigrants to America. Circa 1870 Sweden turned to classic laissez-faire liberalism and began a century of rapid economic growth culminating in becoming the fourth richest country. During the 100 years it took Sweden to get wealthy, public spending was 10% of GDP and it was a capitalist economy. Also, Sweden was neutral during both world wars, profited from trade with all sides and preserved its industry and male population intact.

             From 1970 to 1990 Sweden was a social welfare state as described supra. By 1990 it all unraveled. There was Kafkaesque bureaucracy, drug addiction, welfare dependency and crime; the educated and affluent fled Sweden. The economy ground to a halt; inflation skyrocketed and no new private sector jobs were created for 20 years. Sweden dropped from 4th to 14th in wealth. By 1990 Swedes viewed their socialistic experiment as a colossal failure and reversed course; they cut taxes, deregulated, privatized, restored free markets, cut pensions, and voted out leftist governments.

Takeaways from Nordic Nations and Socialism

1. No Nordic ever was truly socialist, i.e. with government ownership or control over the means of production, distribution and finance. They were big-government, social welfare states, which liberals conflate with socialism when it suits their purpose. True socialist states are Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba. Sweden was a capitalist success and a socialistic failure; today, all Nordics have capitalist market economies.

 

2. Nordic people saw their socialistic experiment as an abject failure and rejected it. Moreover, their big-government social welfare model also is vastly underperforming. Nordic GDP growth is about half that of the US and other more laissez-faire states.

 

3. Sweden was rich prior to its socialistic flirtation; it became much poorer during it. Socialism turned Sweden’s big fortune into a small one, just as Venezuela, once the richest nation in South America, has been rendered a basket case under socialism.

 

4. No socialist economy ever has generated enough wealth to fund social benefits on a Nordic scale. No socialist economy ever has produced sustained prosperity; they only plunder wealth that already has been created. They create hunger amidst plenty.

 

5. Nordics are not as wealthy as Americans believe. The GDP of Houston, Texas is bigger than Sweden’s; if Sweden were a state, its per capita GDP would be similar to our poorest state. But Sweden is 30% more expensive than Mississippi, which means, that in terms of purchasing power, Sweden would be the poorest US state by 30%.

Next: Protecting your assets and your family during the coming spending crisis. 

Kavanaugh – SunRail – Election Meddling

George Noga
Robots don’t create unemployment – politicians do. 
Kavanaugh – SunRail – Election Meddling
By: George Noga – August 26, 2018

Micro Topics: If liberals were in charge in 1776, America’s founding document would  be the Declaration of Coexistence and New Hampshire’s motto would be Live Free or Coexist. . . . . The Second Amendment exists to protect citizens against tyrannical government and recently it was used twice successfully (Nevada and Oregon) for that very purpose. . . . . Progressive comedy is meant to be serious, but when they are serious, it is comedy. . . . . Robots don’t cause unemployment, politicians do. . . . Under capitalism, both buyers and sellers customarily say “thank you” after transactions because both benefited – unlike under socialism or when dealing with government.

SunRail & Greece: We once wrote that the Greek national railway, Hellenic Railways, could save money by paying every passenger to take a taxi. We yucked it up at this example of socialism run amok and why Greece was bankrupt, never believing such lunacy could happen in America, much less in Central Florida and within just a few years. Silly us! SunRail could pay every rider $35 to take Uber and save money.

The math is straightforward: SunRail costs $34 million to operate; tickets bring in only $1.9 million, creating a loss of $32.1 million. Average ridership is 3,500 for the 254 days each year SunRail operates, resulting in 890,000 riders. Dividing SunRail’s loss by the passenger count, equals over $36; hence, SunRail could pay each passenger $35 for Uber and taxpayers would be better off. Incredulously, government considers SunRail a success and is rapidly expanding it. Even the Greeks weren’t that crazy!

Kavanaugh Causes Progressive Paroxysm: Progressives contort into pretzels to avoid uttering “abortion” in which they believe passionately but refuse to say aloud; they substitute euphemisms like women’s health, reproductive rights and choice but they all mean only one thing: abortion. They demand abortion anywhere, at any stage of pregnancy, at any age and for any reason including gender selection, which is equivalent to femicide. Preposterously, they argue that females must be aborted to protect their rights; i.e. that it is necessary to kill women in order to save them.

Progressives also twist into pretzels to oppose Judge Kavanaugh even though their real argument is not with him but with the Constitution. Kavanaugh clearly is eminently qualified and has an impeccable personal narrative, but liberals demand judges who will enact their agenda from the bench. They have given up on the legislative branch and the thought of losing the judicial branch reduces them to paroxysms. However, just as they refuse to utter the word abortion, they refuse to articulate that their real bete noire is not Brett Kavanaugh but the Constitution of the United States of America!

Election Meddling: America is awash in progressive crocodile tears over meddling although the USSR/Russia interfered in every US election since the 1950s. Perhaps Obama ignored the 2016 meddling because he was busy with his own interventions. Following are the top six of meddler-in-chief Obama’s most egregious meddles.

(1) In Kenya he supported Raila Odinga, an Obama relative, whose son is named after Fidel Castro; (2) Israel, where he diverted US government funds to Netanyahu’s opponent; (3) He favored the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; (4) In Honduras he supported leftist Zelaya who defied the Honduran constitution and supreme court; (5) Macedonia, where he destabilized a center-right government at George Soros’ behest; and (6) He publicly opposed Brexit while visiting England just before the vote.

Next on September 2nd, we will post something apropos for Labor Day. 

Destroying the Link between Capitalism and Wealth

George Noga
If  capitalism and liberty lose the culture war, it will be because Americans have lost the link that brought us our unprecedented cornucopia of  wealth.
Destroying the Link between Capitalism and Wealth
By: George Noga – March 11, 2018

      This is the second and final post seeking to answer the question: Does capitalism sow the seeds of its own destruction? The first part is on our website: www.mllg.us. This question first was posed 100 years ago by economist Joseph Schumpeter. We will conclude by comparing Schumpeter’s predictions with where America stands today.

       We are engaged in a great culture war for the preservation of capitalism along with wealth and liberty, which are symbiotically linked to capitalism. If we have capitalism, we ipso facto have liberty and wealth. Without capitalism we become poorer and less free, while under socialism we are impoverished and tyrannized; think Venezuela.

     How bad is the anti-capitalist mentality? One poll showed 4 out of 10 US adults preferred socialism to capitalism. A YouGov poll asked if respondents had a favorable view of capitalism or socialism. With Democrats, it was tied at 42%; millennials chose socialism 43% to 32%. In a Gallup poll, 47% of respondents reported they would vote for a qualified socialist for president; 69% of those ages 18-29 said they would. Of  millennials, 58% would rather live under socialism than capitalism. In a Politico poll, Democrat voters in every age group, gender and race said they liked socialism.

     Unsurprisingly, few people, especially millennials, understand what capitalism, socialism or communism really is. Large majorities conflate European social welfare states with socialism. They particularly believe Sweden is the model of a successful socialist country. Read our October 15, 2017 post “Socialism and Sweden” on our website; it shows Sweden as a free-market capitalist country. Liberals and millennials it seems are not only brainwashed but ignorant. Perhaps they can spend their next vacation in Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea to see real socialism at work.

Let’s revisit Schumpeter’s prediction, which contained five sequential points.

  1.  Capitalism will create great wealth. This has come true to an extent few dreamed.
  2.  More people will be educated. Again true, in America education is universal.
  3.  Professors and teachers will promote anti-capitalist ideas. BINGO!
  4.  People will vote for social welfare states. Already true  as shown by polling.
  5.  Capitalism’s success brings about its own destruction. This hangs in the balance.
     Schumpeter feared the demise of capitalism, along with wealth and liberty, would usher in a new dark age and we may have to wait centuries for the reemergence of capitalism and liberty. If Schumpeter’s final prediction comes true, we will drag the entire planet into a lengthy and unspeakable Orwellian torpor where men lead lives of quiet desperation, where war is peace, bad is good, immoral is moral and big brother always is watching. Nowhere is it written that liberty will survive.
My March 18th post is mega special; hint: it is my 75th birthday!