By Steve Levy
A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed that less than half of the American population surveyed believes that capitalism is working in today’s America.
Undoubtedly, these daunting poll results are an expression of many Americans’ frustrations with the financial difficulties they are facing, but the question remains whether this unaffordability crisis is the result of the failure of free markets, or rather, whether it’s the result of terrible leftist policies that have interfered with the market’s ability to create wealth for all.
Folks are seeing prices go through the roof while their wages don’t always keep up, and at the same time, get blitzed in the media about how we are now producing a trillionaire at the top of the economic totem pole.
As stated in an earlier column, the problem with America is not that we produced a trillionaire, but rather that the government’s insatiable appetite to spend more and more money unnecessarily has resulted in a devaluation of the dollar, making groceries more expensive and interest rates too high to buy a house.
At the same time, the nation’s open border immigration policy has flooded the country with tens of millions of newcomers who are vying for a limited housing stock, while filling our classrooms and hospital emergency rooms to the brink.
Now, add on to that the horrible policies enacted by leftist legislatures and executives that made our electricity costs soar by 50% over the last six years because they believe their policies will protect us from the changing climate (even though it is China and India that are the globe’s chief culprits in spewing carbon into the atmosphere).
Claiming capitalism doesn’t work apparently gives license to many on the left to segue into the preposterous statement that socialism will work. If only we had an example anywhere in the world at any time in history where this was so.
Free market Venezuela went from the richest nation in South America to one of its poorest after a socialist and communist took control in the last two decades.
South Korea’s capitalistic system flourishes with the poorest South Korean living better than any North Korean, other than those elites running the nation through the Communist Party.
The Iron Curtain collapsed, not because of any military ventures on the part of the West, but because its economic system imploded upon itself.
One can still enjoy the video of then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin visiting a supermarket in America with his jaw agape in amazement at the quantity and quality of goods available to any American. He was, of course, comparing it to the empty shelves in his own nation.
Bernie Sanders, AOC and the Democratic Socialists of America defensively claim that they’re not pining for Fidel Castro‘s communism, but rather Western European socialism — whatever that is. But the nations they emulate — see Norway and Sweden — did not have the socialist-type government our lefties envision with state control of the means of production.
Meanwhile, our elected officials have allowed our industrial base to be eviscerated. Well-paying middle-class jobs were shipped overseas and wages for hardworking Americans were sabotaged by our leaders, allowing those here illegally to take these jobs at far lower market rates than would be the case in a nation with a controlled border.
Those opposing this Marxist takeover should start pivoting from using the term capitalism and emphasize the term “free enterprise” — which polls much better. Capitalism provides the connotation of the dude with the monocle and top hat as you pass Go in the Monopoly game. Free enterprise, on the other hand, gives off a connotation of the sons and daughters of immigrants having the freedom to open up a restaurant or a clothing shop, to be one’s own boss, and to work hard with no limits placed upon them.
This system promotes investment, which is what allows the overall pie to continue to grow, rather than all of us taking the same size slice of a much smaller pie. This investment and growth is what helped reduce poverty in the Third World by over 1 billion people in the last few decades.
Even if you wanted to look at Western Europe as a socialist prototype, it’s really nothing to brag about. Few things of import come out of Europe. Its factories produce very little and they invent little to nothing at all that makes an imprint on the rest of the world.
Their healthcare system, which was lauded by the left for decades, is now under the microscope and not looking so good. We see Europeans waiting for up to six months for a doctor’s appointment and up to five months for an MRI.
Yes, we’re having our struggles today, but it’s not because of the free enterprise system. It’s because of politicians who have betrayed the long-term welfare of our nation to maximize short-term political power.
That power expands for those in the deep state every time they bring in more people and put them on the government dole. The problem is that, at some point, you have more people sitting on the cart than pushing the cart –- and that’s when you come to a total standstill.