AOC’s Dumb Economics and Dangerous Politics

College. Health Care. Guaranteed Income. These are the main freebies that most all the Democrats running for president think government should provide. The price tag for these programs is so large those who study these things pretty much agree the added cost each year will be more than the entire federal budget this year — estimated around $4.8 trillion.

Then there’s the Green New Deal which most of the candidates have endorsed “in principle.” The cost for that has been estimated at around $50 to $90 trillion over the first 10 years.

Add it all up and Democrats would come close to quadrupling federal spending.

Still, that’s not enough for Congress’ newest celebrity leftist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Here’s what AOC said, “our guarantee to having a home comes before someone else’s privilege to earn a profit.”

Now I admit I’m not exactly sure how that would work, but it sounds to me like she’s saying everyone’s paycheck should go to pay for everyone else’s mortgage before they’re allowed to keep any of the money they earn.

Of course, that’s crazy right? So maybe instead what she’s saying is that companies should not be allowed to earn a profit before every mortgage is paid off. If that’s the case, say goodbye to employee benefits like healthcare, retirement accounts, and stock options.

But that’s still crazy because it would mean every company turning over every penny of profit for years to pay off people’s mortgages. So maybe she’s suggesting that only those who build houses, condos, and apartment buildings should not be allowed to make a profit on their property. But if that’s what she’s saying, then you can bet big money on builders not building anything more since they have no hope of compensation.

On top of all this, how in the world does she expect to pay for all her other promised stuff — free healthcare, education, guaranteed income, and Green New Deal?

AOC’s statement is so crazy I hardly think it worth considering. But there’s another aspect that deserves our most intense consideration. AOC says that earning a profit is a privilege. A privilege?

That’s a big part of the problem with the left. They don’t believe people have the right to decide for themselves what they will pay or what they will charge. They believe profit is evil. They insist that people’s work, innovation, and investment don’t belong to them. They believe everything you have and everything you do belongs to the government.

It’s a belief that destroys economies and wrecks nations. If you remove the incentive for reward and the potential for a better life; then work itself loses its value.

If AOC ever took an economics class, It was taught by another socialist. Or, she failed miserably. Or, the class was graded on a curve and the rest of her class was as foolish as she is.

But to be honest, I’m less concerned with her dumb economics than I am with her dangerous politics.

The idea that people’s time, labor, and creativity is not their own is the heart of every despot. It’s a very short step from disrespecting the right of personal property to disrespecting personhood all together.

Socialism has been devastating throughout history no matter what brand name it goes by. In the last century alone it led to the slaughter of tens of millions … under Naziism, communism, Stalinism, and Maoism.

Capitalism, on the other hand, has never led to the same kind of wholesale destruction. Sure greed can be damaging, but greed is a common malady of the human heart no matter the economic system. In a zero sum game like socialism, one person’s gain always leads to another’s loss. The pie can only get cut up so many ways.

The difference with capitalism is that self interest is channeled to benefit society. People provide goods and services to their neighbors in hopes of gaining a reward. The pie is never a fixed size. It grows with productivity and opportunity. Economic decisions are left in the hands of each individual.

Socialism concentrates control in the hands of a few “decision makers,” and therefore creates immense power and immense corruption. That’s why socialism has always resulted in despotism, impoverishment, and despair. It betrays a startling arrogance that the new socialists believe their socialism would end up any different than the socialism of all the past generations and cultures. And yet they do. It displays not only arrogance but an amazing ignorance of history.

Capitalism, on the other hand, has generated more wealth, opportunity, and personal development than any other system in the history of the world.

Socialism or capitalism? Doesn’t seem like a tough decision to me. I’ll stick with the system that recognizes the dignity and value of being human. If you haven’t been paying attention, or you just skipped to the last paragraph, that’s the capitalist system.