‘Tax the Rich!’ and Other Socialist Foolishness

It is time to call out the overblown rhetoric and falsehoods of the left:

There is never a shortage of Western leftists and socialists who angrily denounce the wealthy, criticise capitalism, and persistently attack America and the West. But there are at least two main problems here: they are almost always wrong in their claims and assertions, and so often they are living the good live – indeed, they live a life of luxury compared to the rest of us peons. Let me address both issues.

Simply consider three of the more famous American socialists: Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani. They routinely rail against the rich while they live the good life. Their hypocrisy is something to behold. For example, Bernie and AOC have recently been touring the country warning about the “oligarchy” and hating on the billionaires. And all the while they did this by flying on private jets! See Bernie defend himself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jklKr7shO0M 

Bernie said it is ‘the only way you can get around to talk to people’. He said he was not going to wait in line at some United Airlines checkout – something us mere plebs have to do all the time! And his net worth is around $3 million! He and his wife used to own three homes. Now they only own two – poor souls.

The working-class hero AOC of course went to an expensive private school (Boston University) that costs more than $70,000 a year! And she was happy to attend the Met Gala, which costs $30,000 a ticket. Another sob story.

Mamdani, a Muslim, came from a privileged background, and his net worth is estimated at $200,000. He went to the prestigious Manhattan private school Bank Street, which now costs as much as $66,000 a year for elementary school students. And he lives in a $2,250 per month Astoria apartment.

And his list of demands for what he wants to achieve as Mayor of New York City is utterly astounding. Here are some of them:

-government-run grocery stores
-a $30 per hour minimum wage
-nationalizing all utility companies
-defunding the police
-rent freezes
-free bus rides
-tuition-free college
-free childcare

On and on it goes. Um, earth calling Mamdani: NOTHING is free. Who pays for all these freebies? Hard-working taxpayers of course. No wonder so many residents are now considering fleeing NYC if he wins the race for Mayor. And Mamdani even floated the idea of ‘abolishing private property’. Rightly did President Trump call him a “Communist Lunatic”!

Socialist myths

I get these guys coming all the time to my website pushing the usual lefties lies and furphies about wealth and poverty and the like. For example, one regular troll to my site recently came to offer the same old tired complaints: inequalities in society; the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer; we must demand safety nets; we must start helping people meet basic needs, etc.

So many things can be addressed here. Um, there already ARE massive safety nets and programs to help those who cannot help themselves. The welfare state is alive and well in America and keeps on expanding. So spare us the rhetoric mate.

And here is something socialists never want you to know. In America, according to some of the latest figures released by the Internal Revenue Service, the top 1 per cent of income earners (those with incomes over $663,164) pay more than 40 per cent of all federal income taxes. The top 10 per cent of income earners pay 72 per cent of all taxes. And the bottom 50 per cent pay just 3 per cent of all taxes. https://www.ntu.org/foundation/tax-page/who-pays-income-taxes

That’s an inconvenient truth the left does not want you to hear. And that huge amount of taxation on the wealthy is the very thing that IS funding all the social welfare programs and the like for the less well-off. So instead of demonising the wealthy, we should be praising them for wealth creation, and for how their taxes are helping the poor and needy in American society.

Fake Christian compassion

And you always gotta love it when these secular lefties try to pretend they are authorities on the Christian faith. This guy finished his comment by saying that this ‘is the essence of Christian compassion’. Yeah sure. Guys like this attack Christianity at every opportunity, and then they come along and try to ‘correct’ us on what the biblical faith is really all about.

Another person recently told me that America has a moral imperative to help other countries deal with poverty and the poor. Once again, plenty of falsehoods and half-truths are found in such remarks. First of all, America already does spend kazillions of dollars in helping out other nations. Last year for example it provided $63.3 billion in official development assistance.

But these leftists are the very same folks who would claim that America should butt out of international affairs and cease being some kind of global policeman. So if a massacre or even genocide of Christians or Jews is taking place in various parts of the world, these folks want America to do nothing. They claim America has no moral obligation to get involved. It is somebody else’s business.

Yet the US somehow DOES have a moral obligation to other nations when it comes to dealing with poverty and the like? Hmm, double standards much? And once again, facts must take priority over feelings here. Entire libraries exist looking at just how helpful – or unhelpful – overseas foreign aid really is.

I have written a number of pieces on this matter. Here is a quote from one of them:

These folks really should start informing themselves on these sorts of issues. Instead of regurgitating the usual PC claptrap which has little bearing with reality, they should actually study a bit of economics, and look to some experts in the field.

 

Their incessant regurgitation of socialist and leftist critiques, with little or no real understanding of what is actually working in this area, is a real concern. I would heartily recommend they get off their pontificating platform and start doing some basic homework here.

 

They could do no better than to master the works of the late English development economist, Lord Peter Bauer. If they actually took the time to properly digest his important volumes, they would be far better placed to discuss these matters. They need to get these three works for starters:

 

–Dissent on Development: Studies and Debates in Development Economics. Harvard University Press, 1972.
–Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion. Harvard University Press, 1981.
–Reality and Rhetoric: Studies in the Economics of Development. Harvard University Press, 1984.

 

I could easily spend the rest of this article – and then some – just highlighting some of the important truths found in his incisive corpus. But just one quote will give you a feel for what he is arguing for in these vital volumes. He famously and quite perceptively said that Western foreign aid is quite often “an excellent method for transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries”.

 

Yet far too many gullible believers simply assume that all Western aid money given to other nations actually helps poor people. Far too often that is simply not the case. But these folks do not seem interested in actually looking carefully at such aid. They simply have good feelings knowing that their government has given a certain percentage of taxpayers’ funds overseas. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2013/09/18/christians-and-foreign-aid/

In sum, fuzzy thinking and emotive rhetoric is not how we should deal with things like wealth and poverty, helping the poor, and maintaining prosperous and free nations. Hard thinking backed up by solid facts and research IS the way to proceed here.

But leftists – both secular and religious – are not usually known for running with the latter. Their sloppy thinking is only matched by their duplicity and hypocrisy on these matters.

Postscript: This terrific Babylon Bee satire piece – “College Freshman Explains Socialism to Cuban Who Escaped On a Raft” – very nicely and very humorously summarises Western leftist socialist ‘thinking’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv_0_Lu_Iyo

[1337 words]