Now, I will preface my most important remarks with this concession.
The leftist strain in politics has done some very good things over the past 50 years. Civil rights. Tolerance of homosexuality. Some (though very very few) tenets of feminism. (For example, I think it is productive for the economy to have competent women working -- they add to the economic pie).
But when it comes to economics, the left has at root incredibly flawed and incredibly destructive ideas. The main rotten notion the left has is what I would call the "Zero-Sum Static Pizza Pie Concept." Namely, that the economy is one static pie that doesn't grow, and that rich people take bigger slices than less rich people. The left would have the government get out the knife, and re-slice the pie according to their idea of "fairness."
Of course, to sustain "fairness" -- always a moving target --government HAS to grow, and it can only do so by borrowing more and more money -- either directly by issuing debt or indirectly through disruptive balance of payments deficits.
This particular notion is so wrong-headed, and so hideous, that it has destroyed certain European societies, and it will inexorably rot the United States from within.
The leftist strain in politics has done some very good things over the past 50 years. Civil rights. Tolerance of homosexuality. Some (though very very few) tenets of feminism. (For example, I think it is productive for the economy to have competent women working -- they add to the economic pie).
But when it comes to economics, the left has at root incredibly flawed and incredibly destructive ideas. The main rotten notion the left has is what I would call the "Zero-Sum Static Pizza Pie Concept." Namely, that the economy is one static pie that doesn't grow, and that rich people take bigger slices than less rich people. The left would have the government get out the knife, and re-slice the pie according to their idea of "fairness."
Of course, to sustain "fairness" -- always a moving target --government HAS to grow, and it can only do so by borrowing more and more money -- either directly by issuing debt or indirectly through disruptive balance of payments deficits.
This particular notion is so wrong-headed, and so hideous, that it has destroyed certain European societies, and it will inexorably rot the United States from within.