# The Intellectual Poverty of the New Socialists  By Richard A. Epstein



## Bruddah IZ (Jul 17, 2019)

The New Socialists try of course to distance themselves from the glaring failures of the Old Socialists, who suffered from two incur- able vices. *First, they ran the economies of such places as Cuba,Venezuela, the Soviet Union, and virtually all of Eastern Europe into the ground. Second, they turned these states into one-party dictatorships governed by police brutality, forced imprisonment for political offenses, and other human rights abuses. *When viewing the proposals of the New Socialists, one looks for any kind of explanation for how their proposals for the radical expansion
of government control over the economy aimed at mitigating income inequality will protect both personal liberty and economic well-being.


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## Bruddah IZ (Jul 17, 2019)

“The socialist argument against capitalism isn’t that it makes us poor. It’s that it makes us unfree.”—R. Epstein


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## Bruddah IZ (Jul 21, 2019)

Competition leaves people with choices. But under the New Socialism, people will really discover what it means to be unfree when they only have this choice: work for the state and spend your falling wages on government supplied goods—or starve. *And to whom does the unhappy citizen turn when there is only one healthcare provider, one landlord, and one education system? The state monopolies under socialism offer a kind of subjugation and submission far greater than that in competitive markets. The faceless corporate decision makers that trouble professor Robin are far less sinister than government bureaucrats who can block all exit options.* Imagine how poorly the Post Office would function without competition from Federal Express and UPS.  The state monopolies under socialism offer a kind of subjugation and submission far greater than that in competitive markets.—Richard Epstein


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## Bruddah IZ (Aug 3, 2019)

*And to whom does the unhappy citizen turn when there is only one healthcare provider, one landlord, and one education system? The state monopolies under socialism offer a kind of subjugation and submission far greater than that in competitive markets. The faceless corporate decision makers that trouble professor Robin are far less sinister than government bureaucrats who can block all exit options.*


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## Bruddah IZ (Aug 7, 2019)

*Watch America's Middle-Class Disappear Over Decades—as Americans Get Richer*
America’s middle class did start largely disappearing in the 1970s, but it was because they were moving up to higher-income groups, not down into a lower-income category.
*Monday, August 5, 2019*

*Many prominent people like Paul Krugman and progressive politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren claim that American’s middle class has been declining, disappearing, collapsing, losing ground, vanished, stagnated, etc. But the Census Bureau data on household income over time displayed above demonstrate conclusively that those assertions are incredibly and verifiably wrong.*

Think about it for a moment and let it sink in—in 2017 nearly one out of three (almost 37 million) US households had annual incomes of $100,000 or more. And the share of American households with that level of income has increased by more than three times since 1967! Then compare that picture of a prosperous America with millions of middle-class households moving up into higher income groups to the narratives we hear all the time that the American middle class is: losing ground, falling behind, collapsing, stagnating, disappearing, fill in the blank ___________.

http://www.socalsoccer.com/threads/the-intellectual-poverty-of-the-new-socialists-by-richard-a-epstein.17696/#post-279119


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## Sheriff Joe (Aug 7, 2019)

Bruddah IZ said:


> *Watch America's Middle-Class Disappear Over Decades—as Americans Get Richer*
> America’s middle class did start largely disappearing in the 1970s, but it was because they were moving up to higher-income groups, not down into a lower-income category.
> *Monday, August 5, 2019*
> 
> ...


I know you are not surprised, these fries grads are something else.


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## Bruddah IZ (Aug 7, 2019)

Sheriff Joe said:


> I know you are not surprised, these fries grads are something else.


*“Free Everything” and the First Law of Politics*
Entrepreneurs do a much better job than politicians at alleviating scarcity through efficient, value-creating production.
*Tuesday, August 6, 2019*









The other night, a politician criticized Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for offering voters “free everything and impossible promises.” Remarkably, the critique came not from a Republican fiscal conservative but from a fellow Democrat during a primary debate. *John Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland, said such policies were based on “fairytale economics.”*
*
*


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## nononono (Aug 8, 2019)

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*Democratic Prosperity !*


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