Welcome to another installment of Swamponomics: Liberty Nation’s dive into the week’s morass of top news stories and the stream of economic fallacies that have been accepted as conventional wisdom by swamp creatures for years.
Corporations, 1%, Yada Yada Yada
Several 2020 presidential candidates conceded that the Democrats have become the party of the coastal elite and that the donkeys have turned their backs on the working class. This was an honest assessment from the likes of Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NY) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), but it was surprising to hear this concession. It did not change much, though, because they still pledge to take your money and give it to their friends.
The good times came to an end, however, when Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) nauseously used the leftist tropes of bashing corporations, the 1%, and the rich. Although it is fun and easy to take jabs at the affluent, there are two problems with this strategy. The first is that the rich and powerful are leaning more Democrat these days. Recently, as just one example, 19 billionaires co-signed a letter demanding Washington introduce a wealth tax to pay for progressive goodies, from redistribution schemes to climate change. With one glance at Silicon Valley, it is obvious how far left Big Tech really is: They censor conservatives, manipulate search results, and even try to prevent the re-election of President Donald Trump.
The second is that, despite its political leanings, Corporate America has helped make the U.S. the wealthiest country on the planet. Apple, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and Exxon have all contributed to our impressive national wealth. So, why would these elements get castrated? Envy. The Democrats repeatedly tap into our worst characteristics to enrage us and blame others’ successes for our failures. The debates showed this. Why else mention the 1% if your aim is not to incite class warfare?
Are corporations perfect? The market will dictate that. It would be preferable for Amazon or Walmart to have their capital than to allow the government to tax it and waste the revenue on bombing foreign lands, politicians and bureaucrats flying first class, and re-sanding beaches.
Why You No Talk About the Budget?
Sure, the candidates could not talk about every issue in the debates. But if Chuck Todd can ask Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) about her prior stance on gay rights, or if former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) can evade a question by speaking Spanish, or if Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) can confidently deliver her rehearsed lines, then why not even a mention of the catastrophic $22 trillion national debt?
It is apparent that the Democrats do not have a fiscally conservative bone in their bodies and their campaign promises are in the trillions. But do they think that these proposals will be paid for by magic beans and fairy dust? It takes more than just a new tax to pay for a $90 trillion Green New Deal.
The Democrats might believe that they will be able to pay for $10 trillion on climate change stuff and eliminate $1.5 trillion in student loan debt through taxation, but tax revenue is never enough to pay for it all. Tax collection is not even enough to cover Medicare for Some, never mind Medicare for All. It doesn’t matter if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – is he a Democrat or an Independent these days? – acts like a human crescendo; his policies will not be paid for.
One potential reason the Democrats probably do not want to talk about the growing debt is that they contributed to the financial mess. Former President George W. Bush doubled the national debt, but former President Barack Obama tripled it. Who knows how much President Donald Trump will add to the pile?
If a debate moderator went off script and pointed out the Democrats’ horrendous record on the budget, how would the candidates respond? They could not risk it.
Like a Wildfire
There is a new propaganda push by the Democrats and the media, referring to climate change as a climate crisis. It is working. Sen. Harris embraced the term and cited it as a key issue of her potential administration. She even invoked the deadly wildfires that ravaged California.
As expected, she blamed the fires on global warming, not the government – the real culprits. It might sound nice to hear about conservation and a lecture on science, but it is evident that Harris does not know what really caused the devastating event.
In forests, dead trees accumulate. When saplings are crushed together, they will consume water and lead to old-growth trees to die and ignite an infestation of bugs. In these forests, the fuels are thick and dead, making it more receptive to fire. What is needed is a good old-fashioned thinning, performed by private logging companies
The federal government owns half the land in wildfire-prone states, including California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The federal land management policy has ostensibly been to limit logging; the practice has crashed 75% in these states. Ultimately, it was federal mismanagement of land that created the wildfires.
Kamala Harris Channels AOC
While Sen. Harris took an ax to former Vice President Joe Biden’s head, she still made statements that were incorrect or contradicted past positions (police body cams, for instance). One particular area that made her sound more like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was unemployment.
When discussing the economy, Harris said:
“You ask him how are you measuring the greatness of this economy of yours, and they point to the jobless numbers and the unemployment numbers. Well, you have people in America who are working. They’re working two and three jobs, so when we talk about jobs, let’s be really clear. In our America, no one should have to work more than one job to have a roof over their head and food on their table.”
So, are Americans working two or three jobs? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of workers with more than one gig at the same time is under 5%, which is below the 6% recorded in the 1990s. Among the demographics, 5.3% of blacks are working multiple occupations, while just 3.2% of Hispanics have two positions.
Sure, there are some Americans working an extra job or two, but Harris makes it seem like half the country is working around the clock to pay the rent, put groceries on the table, and keep up with the hydro bill.
We’ll Always Have Paris
One of the central policies endorsed by nearly everyone was the Paris Agreement, the multinational climate change pact that President Donald Trump dropped like a hot potato in 2017. The way the Democrats describe it, the accord was going to save the world and reverse climate change. So far, the pact has been a disaster.
In fact, the U.S. is doing better by the environment without the agreement. Don’t believe it? Liberty Nation has reported on multiple occasions that the U.S. is slashing CO2 emissions to their lowest levels in nearly 30 years. This is because of the shale-oil revolution and allowing natural gas, the cheapest and cleanest alternative energy fuel, to prosper and take over the entire world. Many countries are adopting natural gas.
Like Neville Chamberlain before the Second World War, waving a piece of paper in the air will not change the climate. Do you know what will? Action. And as the rest of the world integrates it into energy policies, natural gas is that action.
Socialism Doesn’t Work
Even if you are not a political junkie, it was already clear where the Democrats stood on the issues. In addition to being anti-Trump on everything, most of the candidates also want free health care, open borders, big government, and a Green New Deal. It was a sad state of affairs when Marianne Williamson made more sense talking about “harnessing the power of love” than anything else uttered by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) or Mayor Pete Buttigieg. By the end of the two-night debates, former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) said something that should be the motto of the Democratic Party: “Socialism doesn’t work.”
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