Liberals are Economically Ignorant
By Jan Larson (05/22/06)
The third in a potentially never-ending "liberals are" generalization series focuses on how liberals are economically ignorant.
As usual, the term “liberal” is meant to included progressives, communists, socialists and all others on the political left that, if left to their own devices, would turn America into a place very much unlike traditional America and very much worse.
Liberals don’t understand economics, but that doesn’t stop them from following a “liberal economic theory.” This theory is fallacious in its assumptions that the “rich” (who, according to liberals, are evil) only got that way at the expense of the poor, that government can actually pay for things and that businesses are no different than rich people, that is they are evil and must be punished.
Liberals abhor the concept of profit, especially “excessive” profit. Just what is excessive profit? Any profit that is more than a liberal thinks it should be. Surprisingly, I’ve never heard of a case where a liberal sold his or her house for less than market value or took less than the maximum profit.
Liberals get the vapors just thinking about “tax cuts for the rich.” Liberal economics dictates that you take money from the rich and give it to the poor. Most wealthy people didn’t get rich by accident nor did many poor people get there by accident either. People largely achieve their economic status by the decisions they make. Wealthy people start companies and create jobs. Poor people don’t. Who would you rather work for, a poor person or a rich one?
The recent run up in gasoline prices has gotten liberals in a lather about oil company profits. Too much profit! Those fat, greedy, cigar-smoking oil company executives must be laughing it up as they just keep raising prices higher and higher.
If liberals were capable of more than three seconds of thought at a time (the same amount as a typical goldfish), they just might figure out that if the oil companies were manipulating prices, why did it take them until five years into the 21st century to do it? I bought gas for 79 cents a gallon in 1999. Where were those greedy executive back then?
Liberals hate big companies. I don’t exactly at how many employees a company must have before liberals consider it a “greedy, rich corporation” but once that title is earned, liberals want to punish (i.e. tax) that corporation for being big. What economically challenged liberals don’t understand is just as coffee beans and milk are expenses for Starbucks, so are taxes. The price of coffee beans goes up, so does the price of a latte. Taxes go up, so does the price of a latte. Corporations don’t pay taxes only people pay taxes.
If only everyone was equally rich (or poor) would liberals be happy.
To that end, there are a number of liberal-backed initiatives around the country, notably in Santa Fe, New Mexico to raise the minimum wage. Again, invoking the three-second rule, if a $9 or $10 per hour minimum wage is good, why not $100 per hour?
The vast majority of minimum wage workers (1) live with others that is are not supporting a family, and (2) do not continue to work at the minimum wage for long. Yet superficial intellectuals (liberals) insist that the minimum wage should constitute a “living wage” and conveniently ignore the fact that jobs are inevitably lost as prices are increased to cover costs. Increased prices mean that the higher minimum wage ultimately doesn’t buy anything more than it did before and minimum wage workers are no better off.
In the world of liberal economics, the government would pay for such things as universal healthcare and fund everyone’s retirement. But, alas, as is the case with coffee beans, the government doesn’t pay for anything – only people pay.
The prosperity of a society does not come from the benevolence of its people – it comes from greed. The baker doesn’t bake bread because he likes bread. He bakes bread to make money. Similarly the hair stylist, mechanic and coffee house don’t exist to style hair, fix cars or make coffee. They all exist to make money. The society benefits the most when all are allowed to be greedy – fulfilling the needs of the society by pursuing their own self-interest. The more that are successful, the more others will try to achieve similar success.
A society that embraces liberal economics will stagnate, become more dependent on government and, in general, become less prosperous, e.g. France. There is time for the United States to avoid such a fate, but not if the liberals have their way.
Copyright ©2006 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
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