OPINION:
Sen. Bernie Sanders went on Fox News to talk about his presidential run and tell why his particular brand of socialism, the so-called democratic socialism, is best for America — but once again failed to explain how he’d pay for Medicare for All, free college tuition and so on and so forth in a way that brings long-term economic stability.
Somebody really ought to tell him that free is not really free. Under a socialist economy, as the saying goes, it’s always great until the other guy’s money runs out — right?
Sanders acknowledged his Medicare for All package would mean Americans would have to “pay more in taxes.” He also suggested a “speculation tax” on Wall Street, a levy on every stock, bond and derivative sold that would help pay for his free tuition idea.
But those ideas aren’t sustainable.
In socialist nirvana, tax dollars simply appear for the taking. Dollars and cents don’t represent labor and production; buying and selling don’t represent supply and demand — the tangibles of the free market.
In socialist nirvana, dollars and cents and taxes and levies are sort of play things of the government. They’re washy and floaty, based on manipulations and perceptions and creations of government.
Non-absolutes.
So when economists estimate his Medicare for All plan would cost $32 trillion or so over 10 years, Sanders, as well as the rest of the socialist thinkers of the world, go: eh. The rich will cough it up; the wealthy will soon enough pay their fair share, and that’ll fund the plan.
But socialism, no matter how you slice it, kills creativity. It destroys production. It devastates whole economies. And the reason it does this is that the system serves as an utter disincentive to the creator class — the makers, the designers, the producers. So after a while, after a certain amount of time, what’s being offered to buy? Where’s the newest tool of ingenuity to sell?
And if buying and selling aren’t occurring, then tax dollars aren’t being generated.
Oh, sure, the government can raise taxes on existing products and services. The government can slosh around in the bucket to drag out something that resembles a product or service that hasn’t been previously taxed, slap a levy on it and stick the citizens with yet more financial burdens. Maybe call it something creative, like a “speculation” levy, to make the pain of paying more, more, ever more go down a bit smoother.
But in the end, the money runs out.
That’s the natural course of socialism: the pots of money the government’s been busily distributing and redistributing run dry.
The system collapses, the economy falls.
Medicare for All becomes Medicare for a Few. And guess who picks the few who receive? Why, the government, but of course.
Fox News hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier tried, multiple times, to get Sanders to delve into the dollar-and-cents specifics of his economic plans.
But that’s a losing game. Because in a socialist world, there are no specifics — only emotion-driven desires.
The highlight of this town hall came when Sanders was asked to explain his disgust with capitalism in the face of his best-selling book and annual yield of $560,000 in income.
“In my and my wife’s case,” Sanders said, “I wrote a pretty good book. It was a bestseller, sold all over the world, and we made money. If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, I’m sorry. I’m not going to do it.”
Nobody wants Sanders to apologize for writing a best-seller, or for earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in a year. He benefited from the free market — he thought, he created, he conquered. All thanks to capitalism.
Sanders should not just recognize that. He should be pushing to allow each and every American citizen the same opportunity. Sanders, who’s running for president on a platform of socialism, is himself the perfect example of why capitalism works best.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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