Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Points

I know that. At least, it hasn't worked well so far. But, much of what these new "Democratic Socialists," propose is not socialism. It is not the "state taking control of all means of production. An increased minimum wage, is not socialism, any more than the existing one that was proposed and signed into law by a rich man, FDR, who was by all measures a capitalist. Manipulative politicians have labled many laws and institutions that support working people, like unions, as socialist. Some politicians on the left use the label to suggest it is something special and "new." But, it does not make sense to try to use this failed 19th century social and political theory to address real problems of the 21st century. It all boils down to taxes. One side wants us to believe that cutting taxes increases money available for needed services. Extremists on the other side don't accept that not every social need should be directly controlled and/or supplied by the government. Somewhere in the middle, people like me accept that all the roads that led to Rome were built with tax money. Taxing those who make the most money for services and amenities that benefit all, dates back to the construction of the Iter.

The problem is that how do you expect these things to get paid? If you tax the rich even more and tax the poor at the same time nobody would be equal, but if you only tax the rich and lower taxes on the poor little difference will be made. Now what makes government subsidized services all that good with all the failures we've seen before with them? Common core is a disaster, in most nations with free health care a it's still the employers providing most of the health care, etc.

It wasn't a problem before Ronald Reagan convinced people that we could fund the military, VA, USDA and other needed services with less money. The very rich can afford the best propagandists money can buy. They have convinced a significant number of people who use government services that they are bad, so that the richest among us can keep more money. If you want that, stop using Federal government services. Make a list of the ones that serve you and cut them out of your life. May I suggest that you tell Air Traffic Controllers to ignore planes you ride in?

By letting the government handle everything you destroy and incentive to have competition, so everybody in things like healthcare, education, etc. Will be held back by the government's own self interest. Federal government services are paid for with your own tax dollars and that raises the question why should I not use something if I paid for it? And things like the police actually work hard to correct their mistakes opposed to some thing like a non-private healthcare system.

I am 70-years old and I have heard these arguments all my life. Look at the all of the economic growth and business upstarts during the Clinton administration, versus the Reagan-Bush years. Then look at the George W. Bush versus Barrack Obama years. New businesses grew by 20% during the Clinton years, over the Reagan Bush years. Reagan cut taxes, Clinton increased them. New businesses shrunk by 20% over the George W. Bush years and grew by the same amount over the Obama years. George W. Bush cut regulations, Obama increased regulation of business, especially the financial sector. Business grows due to demand and the availability of capital to provide supply. Everything else is a sideshow.

I could also point out that America has ran on the ideas of Laissez-faire Capitalism for the longest time and it can be shown that by that system rates of poverty have gone down. You could point to the economy and homelessness as a counterclaim, but most of that can be chalked up to government welfare systems and a lack of productivity in the workforce encouraged by a worker over company attitude.