WASHINGTON — An estimated 27,000 people turned out to cheer leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders’ crusade to transform America into a socialist state.
The huge crowd that gathered in New York City’s sprawling Washington Square Park on Wednesday was typical of the huge number of voters across the country who have supported his cause.
The self-identified socialist has defeated former (*10*) of State Hillary Clinton in a growing series of Democratic presidential primaries by promising free national health care, free pre-school, free college tuition, free childcare, subsidized parental leave, whatever. And Bernie is for it.
But his real target is American capitalism, the system that has made our country the largest and most prosperous economy in the world.
He would like to break up the country’s largest banks, seize control of Wall Street with a repressive system of government regulation that only Vladimir Putin would like, and impose on the American investment community the highest taxes ever imposed on our economy in the past half-century.
His supporters are largely working class, trade union members, and to a huge extent also students brainwashed by socialist professors.
In his campaign speeches, Sanders regularly refers to Europe’s socialist economy, describing all the wonderful “free” services it offers its citizens.
It fails to mention that Europe has long struggled with one of the highest unemployment rates among industrialized countries.
It’s a region that has long been held back by anti-growth labor laws, high corporate tax rates, massive state regulation and a huge, high-priced government bureaucracy. The eurozone’s unemployment rate stood at 10.3 percent in February, after an upwardly revised 10.4 percent in January, according to Eurostat, which tracks the continent’s economic statistics.
“The eurozone unemployment rate averaged 9.78 percent from 1995 to 2016, reaching an all-time high of 12.10 percent in April 2013,” according to tradingeconomics.com.
Work has long been strenuous to come by in Europe, which has lost much of its best talent to better jobs and higher incomes elsewhere, especially the US. That’s exactly what Sanders’s damaging economic plans, welfare state proposals and toxic class warfare would do to our economy.
It is unlikely that Sanders has any chance of defeating Hillary Clinton for her party’s nomination, but his growing popularity among a huge part of the US electorate is deeply troubling.
Our political dialogue lacks leaders who can explain why America’s struggling economy is in earnest trouble. Why good-paying, full-time jobs are in brief supply. Why higher tax rates on businesses and investors—which Bernie Sanders is promoting—would only kill job creation, reduce incomes, stifle capital investment, and further weaken our economy.
Unfortunately, this election year there is a virtual shortage of forceful and silver-tongued leaders who can make the case for a healthier economy.
Indeed, with few exceptions, I do not hear this year’s candidates making such arguments.
Hillary is offering us Bernie Sanders’ Lite. Donald Trump rarely explains his economic and tax cut agenda beyond saying he’ll be a “great jobs president” and deporting 12 million undocumented Latinos. What? How does that create modern businesses and more employers creating jobs?
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has a flat tax plan that wouldn’t get a first-place vote in Congress, but he, too, hasn’t given much attention to the economy, which is the number-one issue in all election polls.
To his credit, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has talked about the economy and his overall plan for tax cuts to get our economy moving again. But he is not yet a candidate in the delegate race for the nomination.
Reading online responses to my column recently, it is clear that many voters, especially those dissatisfied with the Obama administration, blame the Republican Congress for most or all of our problems.
Why isn’t Congress cutting the budget and reducing our growing debt? Why isn’t it introducing incentives to grow our economy, create more jobs and raise incomes?
The brief answer is that President Obama has made it clear that he would veto any such legislation. He has no interest in cutting spending or lowering tax rates to stimulate economic growth.
It’s not that Republicans are ignoring the issue. They’ve spent the last few years putting together a comprehensive tax reform, revenue-neutral plan that’s ready and waiting for the president to sign it into law.
But most Democrats in Congress oppose across-the-board tax cuts, as does Obama. So the bill is on the shelf, waiting for the country’s political direction to change.
It will be a long wait, as all major polls show that Trump’s controversial, nativist campaign will not defeat Hillary, who will attract a majority of the Latino vote, virtually all of the black vote and Democratic stalwarts in key swing states.
Since 1960, we have had three significant tax cuts that contributed to significant economic growth: John Kennedy’s across-the-board tax cuts, Ronald Reagan’s similar plan in 1981, and President Clinton’s major capital gains tax cut.
Each of these tax cuts has been a huge success. But is anyone talking to voters and educating them on this? Unfortunately, no one.
