Socialism depends on capitalism. Without capitalism, there will be no socialist programs. Socialist programs do not pay for themselves. Consider American socialist programs such as public schools, Medicare and Social Security. These programs are paid for by income and payroll taxes. Unless there were jobs to generate these taxes, there would be no programs. What generates the jobs? Capitalism–and capitalists.
Capitalism can generate tons and tons of money. But it cannot generate an infinite amount of money. Yet the Social Security, Medicare and public school programs in place will, at some point in the foreseeable future, cost so much that an infinite amount of money will be required. And this is before massive new entitlements are passed by a President Obama, Hillary or McCain.
Some of this may be rather obvious to most people. But most people support politicians who want more taxes and restrictions on capitalism and capitalists with no regard to the rights, needs or welfare of the capitalists themselves. The unspoken assumption of these politicians–and the majority who support them–is that capitalism will always deliver. “Don’t worry. We can double or triple taxes and regulations on capitalists and capitalism. What we’ll get are richer government programs and benefits. And capitalism will still be there.”
Oh, really? I love Ayn Rand’s classic book, “Atlas Shrugged.” In this book, the capitalists and the producers went on strike, bringing society (and particularly the politicians) to their knees–thereby illustrating how socialism cannot survive without capitalism. I know that in real life there will be no such strike. However, the fact remains: The more socialists seize capitalist wealth from the private sector, the less wealth will exist. This is because socialism and politicians produce absolutely nothing. They take and redistribute; but they do not produce. They “create” new government programs, but they have no role whatsoever in generating the billions (or in Obama’s case, trillions) that will be required to create and sustain those programs.
So I leave you with this question: Who or what will generate the money for present and future government programs when capitalism is taxed and regulated out of existence? If the politicians keep their promises this year, we’re going to find out sooner than you think.