From: Concervative HQ
As Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain famously pointed out, "socialism works great until you run out of other people's money."
One
has to look no further than the resonating presidential campaign of
Bernie Sanders, particularly with the youth of America, to validate the
widely held belief that the state of education in the United States is
abysmal--not only in the inner cities but at the esteemed ivy laden
institutions as well. At least as it seemingly pertains to history, math
and economics.
Last
time I checked the history books, the largest, and while it lasted most
successful(key word: lasted) experiment in the history of the world with
socialist politics flamed out in utter and abject failure. I get that
twenty somethings might not know of the American hockey win at the Lake
Placid Olympics in 1980, but are things so placid in America's
classrooms that the Soviet Union, the loser in that famous game as well
as the game of ideas, doesn't ring a bell.
Kids
born after 1990, please know that just because something didn't happen
in your lifetime doesn't mean it didn't happen. Once upon a time there
were just three TV channels to watch, starting at age eight the only
rule in summer was to be home for dinner, you didn't get trophies for
participating (you had to win and you were disappointed when you didn't
which made you try harder), there was a Cold War instead of Coldplay,
flights to the moon were calculated on a slide rule (something that
looked like a ruler and moon walks were real too) and the Soviet Union
wasn't in a galaxy far, far away.
I hate
being the bearer of bad news but regardless of what Bernie tells you,
and I know he is very lovable (heck, I'd love to have lunch with him and
I'll even pay), there is no free lunch. Yes, it is true, there is no
free lunch. The math is the math. Fortunately, it is simple addition and
multiplication (just with lots of zeros), which I believe is still
taught in America schools, in spite of the citizenry's desire to ignore
the consequences of ignoring the math.
Believe
it or not, things have to be paid for, regardless of whether you
believe something is a privilege or a right. Furthermore, no matter how
much you tax the rich, not even they have enough money to pay for all of
Bernie's promises. Kids, I know you haven't been trained to deal with
disappointment (see participation trophy) so I'll let you deal with this
horror for a moment before I move on.
I know
you might still be shaking but here is a thought experiment to
consider. You could confiscate the entire wealth of America's richest
400 hundred people and it amounts to roughly $1.5 trillion. A lot of
money until you want to redistribute it to millions of people.
For
instance, if all that wealth was invested in 30-year U.S treasury bonds
the annual income (income is the way you pay for stuff) amounts to
roughly $40 billion per year. This is roughly enough money to cover
about half the current cost of paying for America's prisons or 2% of the
total national healthcare bill or about 1% of the annual federal
budget. This is really, really important so please absorb what this
means. 1% of something, of anything, is on the margins and the cost of
Bernie's promises are not on the margins.
Net,
net, contrary to what Bernie promises, taking from the rich as he so
proudly and enthusiastically advocates, it barely moves the needle when
it comes for paying for stuff for the other 99%. While Bernie wants to
demonize just about anyone with two nickels to rub together and mostly
those who work on Wall Street, truth is what just about everyone could
agree to--democrats, republicans and socialists alike--it is ok and
achievable for the top 99% to pay for the bottom 1%.
Unfortunately,
regardless of what may or may not to be fair (a very subjective
concept), any objective and honest evaluation of the math will instruct
you that it is absolutely impossible for even the richest 10% to pay for
all of Bernie's promises and still afford to pay for their own lunch.
Side note, taxing people to the point where they can't pay for their own
lunch is not a good thing, period.
What
may sound great in a speech and get people excited, particularly young
people that don't apparently have the benefit of a lesson that explores
the historical outcomes for countries organized around the principles
of socialism, what Bernie advocates simply doesn't work. As Margaret
Thatcher, an important historical figure from the 20th century (you can
look her up on Wikipedia), famously pointed out, "socialism works great
until you run out of other people's money."
In
thinking about the rise of Bernie, the word ignorance comes to mind
which none other than the venerable Merriam Webster dictionary provides
the following example for use in a sentence: "with such vast sums spent
on education, the level of ignorance among graduating seniors is a
national disgrace." Seems the dictionary was rather prescient in how the
abysmal state of education in this country has given way to making
proven failure fashionable. Time to get enlightened America.
God bless,
JohnnyD
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