For many of us who were raised in liberal, Democratic families, the infusion of socialist, anti-free-speech, and anti-Semitic elements into the party has been alarming. The party was always in favor of social welfare programs but remained ardently committed to free markets and free speech. Now, we have CNN anchors openly questioning whether candidates are too Jewish-looking for the Democratic base as socialists sweep away establishment candidates. A recent poll reaffirmed that trend with a vast majority of Democrats saying that they are prepared to support the socialists.
A recent Economist/YouGov survey asked respondents, “Would you ever vote for a candidate who identified as a “Democratic Socialist?”
While 85 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents said that they would not vote for socialists, 62 percent of Democrats said that they would. Among self-described liberals, the percent of support for socialism soars to 73 percent.
For Kamala Harris supporters, 64 percent would support socialists.
Even more alarming is the preference of Democrats for socialism over capitalism. Some 34 percent choose socialism while only 22 percent choose capitalism. Overall, 58 percent of Democrats view socialism in general “favorably.”
It is not surprising that socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders went on YouTube this week to proclaim that “we are on the verge of the political revolution” that they have long sought to fundamentally change our system.
In Rage and the Republic, I discuss this shift toward socialism:
“Much of the anti-capitalist movement is composed of young people who have never lived under a socialist or communist government. Popular politicians like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have made socialism chic, alongside wealthy celebrity adherents such as Lawrence O’Donnell, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, and Sarah Silverman. There is a superficiality to many in this movement of wealthy celebrities wearing socialism on their designer sleeves. In one of the most glaring disconnects, Ocasio-Cortez attended the ritzy Met Gala (where tickets cost tens of thousands of dollars) wearing a designer dress with ‘Tax the Rich’ in large letters. It perfectly captured America’s armchair socialists, a commitment that often seems more performative than philosophical.”
Democratic establishment figures are maneuvering to stay ahead of the mob, many offering the far left the Supreme Court as bona fide. Others are staying silent as anti-Semitic figures fill their ranks.
Some politicians are struggling to curry support with the growing socialist movement. Rep. Dan Goldman, who inherited a massive fortune as a trust baby, unwisely promised to help subsidize his campaign from his family fortune. With the addition of three homes, Goldman looked like the Richie Rich of the Democratic Party and lost by over 30 points.
Others are trying to downplay their wealth, from Rep. Ro Khanna, who reportedly has half a billion dollars from his wife’s inheritance, to Gov. Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker, who also inherited his fortune. Pritzker assured the mob that he is a different kind of billionaire, pointing at Trump billionaires as the rightful targets (not him with $4.3 billion).
Notably, votes for socialists are not coming from blue-collar workers but from young, college-educated voters. These younger voters never experienced or watched the collapse of socialist systems in the last century. For them, the promise of the Mamdani’s “warmth of collectivism.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Turley is counting on his audience’s ignorance to conflate “socialism” with “democratic socialism.” It’s pure scaremongering designed to hide a simple truth: progressive policies work.
NYC Mayor Mamdani is proof. Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget, fixed basic infrastructure, funded universal K-2 childcare, and initiated city-owned grocery stores. He is winning over notoriously cynical New Yorkers by simply keeping his promises.
Trump proved years ago that voters want a break from the status quo. Now that people are burning out on Trump’s rhetoric and conservative overreach, they are looking at democratic socialists and realizing their ideas make practical sense. Republicans are terrified because their boogeyman tactics are failing, leaving them looking like the old, corrupt status quo.
“. . . conflate “socialism” with “democratic socialism.”
So what is the fundamental difference?
Sam, good question. My guess, it has become a consumer term of persuasion, relying on the gullibility factor of modern America. Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. The wording is meant to create confidence before people take the time to understand the reality behind it.
Olly, or… rather than make assumptions. Do some research and find out for yourself. You’re a big proponent of the self governance thing. Do what you preach and self educate about the various iterations of socialism and its nuances. It’s a fair suggestion. No?
Xbot, too bad you didn’t see the conversation back and forth yesterday going on about manipulated meanings of words and semantic changes. MY guess is that you did see it but were too ignorant to join in without giving yourself away. The conversation is directly related to what you try to sell. BTW, ROFL when I saw your “Do what you preach and self educate about….It’s a fair suggestion. No?” A comeback response wholly learned by you on this blog.
“Olly, or . . .”
Nice evasion and deflection.
You claim that others misuse the terms “socialism” and “democratic socialism.” To make that claim, you must know what they mean and what their differences are.
So prove it.
Sam, I know what they mean and why they aren’t the same. That’s how I know Turley is being either dishonest or ignorant. You wanted to know the difference. It’s up to you to research it using sources you trust. You’re the one evading and deflecting. You could easily prove me wrong by pointing out if those two terms are not different and you haven’t. Meaning you don’t want to learn.
Gonorrhea and Syphilis are not the same.
They are both Venereal diseases.
They are both bad
“You could easily prove me wrong . . .”
Pretty sure you first need to present an *argument*. All you’ve done (and are able to do) is assert an arbitrary conclusion.
X is a dirty commie? say it ain’t so!
X you can not explain it because there is little or no difference – not that it matters – Failure all arround.
various iterations of failure – are still failure.
There is no socialist system anywhere – democrat or otherwise that has not significantly underperformed free markets. most have not merely underperformed – they have failed.
As has been noted many many times here before – Germany, France, the UK – all have standards of living the same as the WORST state in the US – Missippi.
So how well has that “democratic socialism worked for you ?
Regardless the govenrments of France, Germany and the UK are certain to fall the next time they allow elections.
“the people” – specifically “the working class” – the people all forms of socialism are supposed to benefit most – Want their democratic socialists GONE
John Say, I’ve explained it various times. What IS evident is you haven’t learned.
To say there is “failure all around” ignores the baseline systems that most of the modern world relies on daily. Some of the most successful, efficient systems in human history are explicitly socialist in design:
Countries like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are not purely socialist, but they utilize deeply democratic socialist policies. They combine market economies with state-owned enterprises (like Norway owning its massive oil reserves to fund public pensions) and massive social safety nets. These countries consistently rank as the happiest, healthiest, and most stable nations on earth.
While free markets have created catastrophic housing crises across US cities, Vienna, Austria utilized a democratic socialist approach. The city government owns and manages over 60% of the housing stock, ensuring beautifully designed, high-quality apartments are permanently affordable for the working class.
Even within the US, the most successful systems are socialist.
While it is true that a statistical quirk gives Mississippi a slightly higher nominal GDP per capita than the UK or France, GDP only measures the total value of goods produced—it does not measure how well the average person lives. When you look at actual quality of life, health, and economic security, the “free market” model frequently falls behind democratic socialist policies.
If you look at the Human Development Index (HDI)—which measures actual living standards via life expectancy, education, and purchasing power—every major Western European nation outranks Mississippi by a landslide.
A child born in Germany, France, or the UK can expect to live to roughly 80 to 82 years old. In Mississippi, life expectancy is just 71.9 years—worse than in many developing nations.
Mississippi has the highest poverty rate in the United States, hovering around 19%. By contrast, Germany’s targeted social safety net keeps its strict poverty rate significantly lower while ensuring every citizen has access to high-quality healthcare and housing.
In a pure free-market system like Mississippi, a medical emergency can cause instant bankruptcy. In the UK, France, and Germany, universal healthcare means no one goes into debt just to stay alive.
Voters in Europe do occasionally vote out incumbent parties due to inflation or immigration concerns, but no mainstream political party in the UK, France, or Germany is running on a platform to abolish universal healthcare, privatize the roads, or eliminate free university. The working class in those countries fiercely protects their social safety nets.
When a system focuses on voters instead of corporate profit, it works. Labeling public infrastructure, universal childcare, and accessible healthcare as “failures” ignores the reality that these policies are precisely what keep the working class stable, healthy, and moving forward.
Democratic Socialists have had very successful programs. That’s what republicans fear. A successful program that voters recognize as a benefit to them.
I wrote a long response – but decided instead to let the Swedes tell you about Sweden themselves.
Sweden Denmark, Norway, … are not socialist, Nor are they the same as Mamdani or Sanders – in fact they tried that nonsense – it did not work and they have tossed it.
While I do not especially wish to Pick on the HDI – poarticularly since – if you wish to privatize social security, eliminate gender affirming care, provide all students with vouchers for eduycation, privatize medicare and medicaid, and start deporting immigrants who you have granted citizenship too – and all the other things that US conservatives only dream about doing – I am all in.
But the FACT is there is only one correct measure of standard of living – and that is GDP per person.
GDP is a measure of PRODUCTION – and a Free market produces what people WANT – what they value – and in direct proportion to how much they value it.
The US not only has a space program – but half a dozen Meaningful PRIVATE space programs – WHY ? because we are a wealthy affluent nation and we WANT that and we can afford that. The EU has a tiny public program that is not as capable as Bezos or Boeing or even Allen’s program. Bezos – not Much just blew up a rocket and launch pad that the Eurpopeans can not afford to build – it will be rebuiilt and ready again in 18 months – or 6 if Bezos has his way.
aIn EVERY WAY that is not touched by the US govenrment and left wing nuts – the US is superior to the EU.
But beyond even that – the EU Tried your socialist nonsense – it did not work, they are now Trying to escape it – that is proving costly and a huge drag on their economy.
But back to my point – For all its problems GDP per person is the only meaningful measure of standard of living – Frankly it is a single number that measures the entirety of humans living the lefe they want. It measures happieness – ACCURATELY, it measure Wealth ACCURATELY.
Again we PRODUCE what we want – the beauty of a free market is that WE the people make all the choices.
As Adam Smith saaid – the SOLE purpose of production is consumption – and what is it we consume – WHATEVER WE WANT.
You want entertainment – we produce it. You want the internet – we produce it, you want rockets to mars – we produce it.
You want a “Double decaf non-fat latte, medium foam, dusted with just the faintest whisper of cinnamon.” – we produce it.
GDP measures everything we produce and it values it – based on OUR personal value of the things we produce,
If you wish to claim that Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg. Bermuda, Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Singapore, Norway, Cayman Islands
Are doing better than the US – that would be correct – not one of those is socialist – or social democrat.
Of course this begs a different question – Why is Bermuda one of the richest nations in the world – While Haiti is a $hithole
Both are black Caribbean nations that were former European colonies and whose people are former slaves.
BTW -But maybe we should compare those countries to US states like North Dakota – which has a similar GDP/person
Again the Great nations of Europe can barely compete with Mississippi.
Your vaunted nordic sociam democracies – AREN’T Social democracy’s and have not been for decades.
Reduce Diabetes to the levels of Europe and life expectance in the US would exceed all of Europe.
You left wing nuts constantly play games with statistics.
You keep jumping from Sweden to Norway to Denmark to Germany, to France.
Absolutely – every consequential country has some way in which they are doing better than the US – The best optics in the world – including xray optics and UV optics and whatever comes after that – are made in Europe. But one of the reasons you keep jumping from country to country is that NONE of them are on net superior or even close.
Wow Germany has a 79.2 year life expectance – not 82. The US life expectance is 79.00 – that .2 years is a huge difference.
Regardless we are not comparing Germany or …. to the US – ALL of Europe would FAIL – we are comparing it to the crappiest state in the US – and That Germany and much of the EU TIES.
Mississippi does have a high poverty rate – being in Poverty in Mississippi is like being a blue colar worker in Germany – the same standard of living.
You do not understand how well the US poor live in comparison to the rest of the world. The people who live in poverty in the US are the top 2% of the world.
BTW Germany has a significant non-citizen immigrant population – those are the blue colar workers of Germany – and they live worse than the Poor in Missippi – and worse still they are not citizens and never will be.
“In a pure free-market system like Mississippi, a medical emergency can cause instant bankruptcy.”
People go bankrupt all over – I would actually suggest that you READ Elizabeth Warren’s study on Bankruptcy and healthycare – not what is said about it – but the actual study. Medical expenses are the primary factor in few bankruptcy’s and the average medical expenses discharged in a medical bankruptcy is about $2500.
Regardless you fixate on bankruptcy as if it is the end of the world – Bankruptcy simply means starting over after failure – that is all.
There are no debtors prisons. If you have failed financially – ALL YOUR DEBT IS FORGIVEN Your luxuries are sold off to pay creditors, and you get to keep the critical things necescary to survive and start over. The Bankruptcy system IS the Free Markets social safetynet – YOU DO NOT LOSE EVERYTHING.
I”n the UK, France, and Germany, universal healthcare means no one goes into debt just to stay alive.”
ROFL – in your vsaunted UK – absolutely people have to go into debt to stay alive – if you have a serious health issue in the UK and have to depend on NHS – you are dead.
Increasingly Britons have additional private health insurance and get good care at private hospitals and doctors – or they become medical tourists – flying to India or the US to get Treatment that they will die waiting for tin the UK.
In MOST of the rest of Europe what you call “Universal Health Care” is nothing more than govenrment mandated private health insurance.
It is NOT the the NHS, it is not even the same as Medicare or medicaid. Very very few nations have an actually publicly run healthcare system anymore – in fact in MOST of Europe – healthcare is more private than the US.
“Voters in Europe do occasionally vote out incumbent parties due to inflation or immigration concerns, but no mainstream political party in the UK, France, or Germany is running on a platform to abolish universal healthcare, privatize the roads, or eliminate free university.”
Correct – they do not HAVE the universal public healthcare that you claim they do – it is alreadyt private and in most cases privately paid for – they are just required by law to have health insurance. As to free universities – so called public universities in the UK are much like those in the US and charge similar tuition for citizens – they charge much higher rates for non-citizens. All of the “free universities” have tanked in quality and Are not considered near as good as US universities – there are still some good universities in Europe – they are NOT FREE.
“A private highway is a highway owned and operated for profit by private industry. Private highways are common in Asia and Europe;”
From wikipedia – OOPS.
” The working class in those countries fiercely protects their social safety nets.”
ROFL – this is why these are all privately provided in your purported Nordic utopia – Sweden.
X you are trapped in the 80s – Europe – especially the SUCCESSFUL countries have moved on.
The popularity of socialism is a direct and deliberate result of the ruination of our institutions.
While many knew how bad socialism was before – the opening of the USSR that allowed the works of people like Solzhenitsyn to reach the west drove communists and socialist to the deep dark fringes in the late 60’s and 70’s
For the Children here who think Socialism is wonderful – Read Solzhenitsyn oir myriads of similar works from Russia or China – The Gulag Archepelgo, or Wild Swans or pretty much anything about the USSR or China. Or read about the Killing Fields in Cambodia – or the actual behavior of Che and Castro – in Cuba and other countries.
The left likes to rant about the evils of POinochett in Chile or the Junta in Argentina – but Ortega murdered about 100 times more Nicaraguans than all supposedly right wing govenrments in all of south and central america combined – Chavez and Maduro likely have more deaths than all purportedly right leaning governments in south america ever.
X is ranting about Mamdani’s “successes” in NYC – Mamdani is the gift that keeps on giving for republicans – Contra X – Mamdani has made near zero progress on any of his promises. And still even more businesses are fleeing NYC – anyone who thinks NYC is not going to H311 and relatively quickly is blind.
The popularity of socialism is a direct and deliberate result of the ruination of our institutions.
Spot on John. I agree that weakened institutions have made socialism more appealing. When people lose confidence in the basic structures of civil society, they become easier to persuade with slogans about fairness and security.
But socialism always sells the promise, not the outcome. And that is why education alone is not enough. If a culture has been formed for dependency and centralized authority, facts by themselves will not re-form it.
The real test is not how exciting the rhetoric sounds, but whether the results actually strengthen freedom, responsibility, and self-government.
Sorry for the all italics. I only meant to italicize John’s sentence at the top.
John Say, no one in American politics is advocating for a Soviet-style command economy or the atrocities of the Gulag. Pointing to totalitarian dictators from fifty years ago to criticize a local mayor who wants to fix public transit is the definition of a strawman argument.
There is a gigantic, fundamental difference between authoritarian state communism and democratic socialism. Of course the ignorant love to conflate everything into one label. It’s easier to demonize.
The regimes of the USSR, Khmer Rouge, and Castro’s Cuba were anti-democratic, single-party dictatorships that relied on violent suppression and state control of all human life.
Democratic socialists—like those elected in Western Europe and the US—work strictly within the framework of multi-party representative democracy. They advocate for worker cooperatives, robust social safety nets, and public accountability.
By the way using Alexander Solzhenitsyn to argue against municipal universal childcare or a rent freeze is idiotic. By this same flawed logic, one could argue that capitalism is a failed system because capitalist nations historically relied on chattel slavery and brutal colonial empires.
Claiming that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made “near zero progress” is completely disconnected from reality. Just this week, Mamdani and the City Council finalized a historic $125.8 billion balanced city budget ahead of the July 1st deadline.
Far from doing nothing, his administration successfully utilized democratic socialist principles to deliver tangible results for working-class New Yorkers:
Mamdani balanced the city budget while injecting $300 million into the city’s rainy day fund, all without slashing essential community services or raising property taxes.
His first budget delivered the largest-ever expansion of the Fair Fares transit program, created a brand new rental assistance voucher program, and fully funded the upcoming launch of universal full-time childcare.
He did this while maintaining standard municipal governance—keeping the streets plowed and filling potholes. It turns out you can believe in systemic economic reform and still get the basic “pothole politics” right.
According to the latest data from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), New York City is experiencing its strongest two quarters of citywide office leasing since 2019. Furthermore, venture capital funding for New York City-based companies surged to $11.1 billion in the first quarter of 2026—marking the largest single quarter of tech and business investment the city has seen since 2021.
If businesses were panicking over a democratic socialist in City Hall, billions of dollars in private capital wouldn’t be flooding into Manhattan and Brooklyn. New Yorkers are famously cynical, but they are responding positively to Mamdani because he is focusing on voters instead of corporate donors.
That’s not a “city going to h-ll”.
” no one in American politics is advocating for a Soviet-style command economy or the atrocities of the Gulag.”
Of course you aren;t – Lenin, Mao, Castro Chavez did not advocate for that – but it is what they produced.
Socialism ALWAYS fails – it fails in direct proportion to the extent it is implemented – socialism lite fails less badly than socialism heavy.
When that failure occurs – one of 3 things happens – everything collapses and The country gets an entirely new governnent and institutions – mostly starting from scratch – that is relativelyh rare – but it is what is likely in Cuba, and it is what happened in Eastern Europe,
OR the country tries to back out of socialism trying to preserve its social safety net – usually by mandating it and privatizing it – that is what has happened in most of your vaunted nordic social democracies – and much of europe – this is messy – because the portions that the govenrment is subsidizing still must be paid for in taxes – so you frequently end up with nations like sweden – with very high taxes on the middle and working classes, that are subsidizing private systems like the US Education medicare and Social Security system SOME of those are equal or rarely superior to the US – but they are also more expensive, provided privately and paid for by govenrment. Or the final approach is to go totalitarian. They blame free markets or the rich or some scapegoat for the failure and they go all french revolution or stalin or Mao.
I would note that UNLIKE your cocalled social democrats in Europe – the US social democrats ALREADY show signs of totalitarianism.
The social democrats in the European Countries you fawn over – did NOT go all stalin in the 80’s when things stated to fail – they CHANGED – they moved away from socialism. More in some countries than others. But inexhorably away. LEft wing nuts in the US already blame everyone buit themselves for their failures and they have not even started. They have already adopted the violence of Maoists and Stalinists.
I am not especially afroad of the US far left – they are too small, have too little power and in fact are diminishing as we speak.
I expect they WILL become more totalitarian as they fail – they WILL murder people or take draconian steps – and they will FAIL.
The lunatic left in the US is Fading.
YOU note that young people look favorably on socialism – but as I pointed out – almost 1/3 of Bernie Bros voted for Trump in 2016 – these are NOT committed socialists – these are people who are poorly educated who do not know better. The portion of people in the US part of the lunatic left is miniscule. They are not even a majority in the Democratic party. But they have disproportionate power – because increasingly elections are close and Democrats can not win elections without their far left fringe – but increasingly the far left fringe is alienating the rest of the democratic party.
“Pointing to totalitarian dictators from fifty years ago to criticize a local mayor who wants to fix public transit is the definition of a strawman argument.”
Whether it is the french revolution – or the Killing fierlds of Cambodia the burden is on YOU to prove that something has changed.
BTW Cuba, is failing NOW and has been for 75 years. Venezeula failed under Chavez and Maduro – Trump has not tossed the socialists – but he does Own them – we will have to see how Venezuela goes.
As to Europe – Even if Europe actually was this social democratcy that you claim – IT HAS FAILED – You really think the majority of Americans want to be as poor as Mississippi – but with Universal Healthcare – oh wait – You already forced that on us with PPACA .
US healthcare is a disaster – MADE BY THE LEFT. Conservatives fought tooth and nail against all the mess you made – YOU OWN IT.
But lets presume we were going to consider going the way that Europe is – only iun your head, not reality.
PPACA is a multi trillion dollar failure and massively fraud ridden.
You want to be coimpared to the social democrats of Eurpope -= but I have a question – is THEIR purported “universal heathcare system really better” – is that a fign=ment of your immagination ? Or are US left wing nuts FAR stupider and more corrupt than their europena counter parts ?
Why should anyone care what you THINK Europe has ? YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE – and you delivered $hit.
American left wing nuts ARE NOT European social democrats – not even close, you are far far closer to the leninists and maoists, to those who brought us the french revolution and the guilotine – You are even MORE incompetent than European social democrats.
So your first problem is that you are selling a system that FAILED in Europe decades ago, That Europeans have subsequently changed radically, and that even today is sufficiently burdensome to drive most of Europe to standards of living as bad or worse than the WORST US states.
Your second problem is that YOU ALREADY FAILED.
And your third problem is you are actually far stupider and more corrupt that European socialists – and givern the chance far more likely to lead to totalitarianism.
“The regimes of the USSR, Khmer Rouge, and Castro’s Cuba were anti-democratic, single-party dictatorships that relied on violent suppression and state control of all human life.” Coprrect – that is ONE of the directions that socialism goes when it fails.
“Democratic socialists—like those elected in Western Europe and the US—work strictly within the framework of multi-party representative democracy. They advocate for worker cooperatives, robust social safety nets, and public accountability.”
ROFL
Europe is NOT as you describe – THAT Europe failed decades ago – The Europe of today is headed in different directions – but still buried under the baggage of past “social democracy”.
Even if Europe today was somewhat as you describe it – it is STILL today a failure compared to the US.
When Germany can barely compete with Mississippi -= YOU LOSE.
When your arguments are – but Germans can not go bankrupt over healthcare
“German medical institutions are facing significant financial pressure, with about 40% of clinics expecting possible bankruptcy due to rising costs ”
Or that they do not have poverty – like the millions of non-citizen foreign nationals in Germany are living better than the poor in Missippi,
or that Germans live 0.2 years longer than amercians – when amercians have double the rate of diabetes.
YOU LOST.
Even if German was stellar in the few areas you claim – it barely breaks even compared to the WORST state in the US !
No matter how many wonderful things you can maker up about Germany – OBVIOUSLY there are lots and lots of things that are WORSE than Mississippi – because ON NET – Germany is about the same as Miussissippi – you do know that ON NET – means if they are better at somethings they MUST be worse at others ?
“By the way using Alexander Solzhenitsyn to argue against municipal universal childcare or a rent freeze is idiotic. By this same flawed logic, one could argue that capitalism is a failed system because capitalist nations historically relied on chattel slavery and brutal colonial empires.”
ROFL – you really are an idiot – Solzhenitsyn exposed the USSR as it was – and he was not alone. That free market system that you pi$$ on – did not create slavery IT ENDED IT.
Whoopee Mamdani passed a budget – even ahead of schedule.
Lets set off fireworks !!!!
Anyone can wrtite a budget. Anyone can make socialism work on paper – you just have to pretend that it actually works.,
NYC is already fractiuring and having problems from Mamdani.
These will get worse.
Can we get you to agree when Mamdani fails to embrace free markets ?
Just to be clear – while it is POSSIBLE that
Mamdani will fail catastrophically and quickly – far more likely he will fail slowly.
it is near impossible for him to change much of what is NYC – He can cut police – which he did – he reversed a campaign promise to maintain NYPD at 35,000 officers – instead refusing to replace 600 officers leaving or retiring.
TYhat will NOT cause NYC to fail overnight – but it will make it a slightly more violent and dangerous place – more people will leave, more businesses will close, more businesses will decline without failing. More people will be crime victims – quality of life will decline.
Will it go completely to h311 – not likely – but the FACT is that to make even tepid attempts at his “democratic socialism” – other things that make life in NYC tolerable will have to go away.
Mamdani is going to take years and $35M to open ONE government grocery store – Dozens have already closed and left.
New Yorkers already have fewer choices and will have to pay more. Further those hurt the most will be those Mamdani claims to be trying to help.
Further – people do not stop shoplifting – and vandalizing because the govenrment owns the grocery store – Mamdani will have the same problems free market stores have – and far less skills and knowledge at dealing with them. Though the free markets stores – may be gone – when police go down – crime goes up – violent crime, property crime.
People who can leave high crime areas. Stores leave areas with high property crime.
The fact is that Guiliani’s Broken windows policing worked – letting go if it – will bring back more problems.
Mineapolis crime peaked in 2021 – after the George FLoyd riots and defund the police – the police force in Mineapolis drope 50% – after the riots the abandonment of the police station to vandals, and the arressts of Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers – Minneapolis police that could retired – others found jobs elsewhere.
And crime skyroketed – higeher rates continued through 2024 not dropping significantly until 2025 – When Trump was president.
Crime in Mineapolis dropped significantly While ICE was all over the place.
In 2025 the NYC violent crime rate was 699/100,000 people. I live in a red county of 1M people – about 1/8th the size of NYC – our violent crime rate in 2025 was 32.9/100,000 that is less than 1/20th of NYC.
All things being equal – where would you want to live ? All things being not so equal – where would you want to live?
Passing a bugdet is not accomplishing anything.
How is NYC better today than when he was elected ?
X/george didn’t say when he got millions from. The governor gave it to him, she took it from the state tax payers.
Want to be they will never pay it back.
With respect to your list of “accomplishments” – which of those have ACTUALLY happened ?
NYC’s roads suck – nothing new – Has Mamdani filled more potholes in the last few months than Adams before him ?
You subsidize more rents – the money comes from somewhere – either more taxes, or cuts elsewhere – if what you cut was important – things go to h311,
If it wasn;t – why was it there in the first place – Democrats have been running NYC for decades – it is certainly not republicans that caused the city to be rife with waste.
” It turns out you can believe in systemic economic reform and still get the basic “pothole politics” right.”
You can “beleive” in unicorns – that does not make them real.
NYC available office space has been declining since 4Q2020 – the end of Covid. But Rents are still 5% BELOW 1Q2020.
NYC is still recovering from Covid.
“If businesses were panicking over a democratic socialist in City Hall, billions of dollars in private capital wouldn’t be flooding into Manhattan and Brooklyn. ”
Manhattan and Brooklyn are NOT all of NYC.
Regardless 200B/month is flowing into the country right now – SOME of that is going to NYC – MOST of it is going elsewhere.
“High taxes, increased regulations, and the rising cost of doing business are the main reasons businesses are leaving New York City. Many companies are relocating to states like Texas and Florida, where costs are lower and the business environment is more favorable”
5,000 businesses have left NYC in the past year. Others do come and replace those – that is why office space availability is declining – it is also why RENTS are below 1Q2020 levels. Solid old businesses are being replaced by startups – but not Silicon Valley startups. These are lower overhead higher risk and lower reward – that is what happens when the big players leave.
“Retail businesses are leaving New York City primarily due to high operating costs, including increased taxes and regulations, as well as a shift towards online shopping. Additionally, many companies are seeking lower-cost locations in states with more favorable business environments”
CNBC
“That’s not a “city going to h-ll”.”
Sorry X – but it absolutely is – just slowly and since before mamdani.
But it will not continue for ever – eventually things will get bad enough that New Yorkers will be fed up.
Mamdani’s election actually represents a willingness to try something to end the failure.
But it is a choice likely to make things worse not better.
“New York City’s tax base is significantly supported by high-income earners, particularly millionaires, who contribute a large portion of the city’s personal income tax revenue. In 2022, millionaires accounted for approximately 41% of the total income taxes paid by state residents.
Personal Income Tax 41% from millionaires
Property Taxes 27.6%
General Sales Taxes 16.7%
The reliance on high-income earners makes the city’s tax revenue particularly sensitive to changes in the economic landscape. As the number of millionaires fluctuates, so does the city’s tax revenue, which can lead to budgetary challenges.”
Millionaires Leave If You Tax Them: New York’s Millionaire Exodus Has Already Left New York’s Government Nearly $12 Billion Poorer
https://www.ntu.org/foundation/detail/leave-if-you-tax-them-new-yorks-millionaire-exodus-has-already-left-new-yorks-government-nearly-12-billion-poorer
“. . . no one in American politics is advocating for a Soviet-style command economy . . .”
BS.
Your socialist wing is demanding the seizure of the means of production. That is textbook Soviet dictatorship.
“If businesses were panicking over a democratic socialist . . .”
Really?
There’s your typical wish-casting. Then there are the facts of reality, from those who actually deal with the facts of reality:
“JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned of an exodus of companies from New York as a result of climbing taxes and regulatory encumbrances . . .” (April 2026)
Sam, you’re perfectly capable of finding out for yourself. Use a source YOU would trust and…learn.
Nordic countries practice a form of democratic socialism and they make it work.
Hello X/George:
Perhaps you need to get off of selective-presentation-information like AI and “self-educate” as you just told two others to do.
Here’s a few starters for you about your “Nordic” claims:
“The simple fact is that Scandinavian countries are not, by any reasonable definition, socialist.”
Scandinavian ‘Socialism’: The Truth of the Nordic Model,
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/scandinavian-socialism/
“Sweden’s reputation has fallen from welfare-state model to warning example.
Foreign-born citizens now account for 20 percent of the nation’s population.
Officials are perplexed by crime, economic threats, deteriorating education.”
https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/sweden-immigrants-crisis/
Please don’t bother responding. Enjoy your holiday. I’m going snorkeling in the Reflecting Pool.
p.s. I am of Nordic and Western European lineage/ancestry.
And you?
“I’m going snorkeling in the Reflecting Pool.”
Hopefully not with a box cutter.
Lin, it’s ironic that you accuse me of “selective presentation” while completely misreading the very articles you just linked. Neither of those sources supports your argument that progressive social policies are a failure; in fact, they prove the exact opposite. Do you ever read through the articles you cite? You just skim for the key words supporting your bias?
You cited Life in Norway to prove Scandinavia isn’t purely socialist. I already stated that. Democratic socialists do not advocate for a Soviet-style planned economy; they advocate for exactly what that article describes: a system that combines a market economy with a massive social safety net, universal healthcare, and heavily subsidized childcare.
If you had actually read past the first paragraph of your own link, you would have seen the author explicitly states:
“Social security in Scandinavia is more generous than pretty much anywhere else.”
“The World Happiness Report ranks countries according to how happy their citizens say they are… Every year, half of the top ten is taken up by Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.
“The author concludes that because the system works for the population rather than the elite, “it gets closer to the aims of socialism than actual socialism ever has!
“Thank you for providing a source that perfectly illustrates how democratic socialist policies create the happiest, most stable societies on earth.
Your second link regarding Sweden’s current challenges has absolutely nothing to do with the failure of social safety nets. The crisis described by Stefan Hedlund is explicitly blamed on a specific “open-door migration policy with no accompanying policy to help the newcomers integrate.
The article does not state that universal healthcare, public education, or strong labor unions caused the rise in gang violence. In fact, it notes that Sweden’s high-tax, high-benefit welfare model is exactly what allowed it to evolve into a “high-performing export-oriented economy” with “top-notch health care and education” in the first place. Blaming a failure of border integration on local economic safety nets is a total logical disconnect.
Mayor Mamdani just passed a $125.8 billion balanced budget, successfully funding universal childcare and expanding transit relief, all while crime rates are down and NYC office leasing has hit its highest levels since 2019.
Enjoy your snorkeling hope Jeanine Pirro doesn’t catch you touching the peeling paint.
WTF?
when backed into a corner, X always flees along the wall to another corner and makes up arguments in his head. X, you just said “Neither of those sources supports your argument that progressive social policies are a failure; in fact, they prove the exact opposite.”
Where did ANYBODY say that, let alone LIn????????????????????????????????????//,
And why you think that ““Social security in Scandinavia is more generous than pretty much anywhere else.” OR that they are happy people means successful democratic socialism??? No Wonder they call you the clown.
X suffers from his own “total logical disconnect.” It’s defensive punching out with a frosting of condescension on top to make it look like he knows what he’s talking about .Very easy to see he doesn’t understand what he has lifted from his sources.
Flee? When did I flee or got backed into a corner?
Anonymous, apparently you don’t know how to read. That’s pretty sad. No wonder you’re frustrated.
I think I have a lot more credibility here than you do, numbnuts.
“Flee? When did I flee or got backed into a corner?”
All the time – you are still trying to pretend that Sweden which is MORE free market than the US, and whose “safetynet is MORE private than the US”
Is somehow what Mamdani and the DSA is after – absolutely NOT.
Sweden and the Nordia social democracies Tried that nonsense.
IT FAILED.
What they have now resembles a conservatives dream – privatized Social secutity, Education, Medicare.
The happiness index is complete and total garbage – it is essentially made up numbers.
While Standard of living is not exactly a measure of happiness – it IS actually the only correct measure of statisfaction with your lives.
Because that is EXACTLY what it measures – GDP/Person is the value – as assigned BY YOU in the prices you pay and the choices you freely make of what YOU produce
those articles that were referenced show BOTH sides of the story, which is what INTELLIGENT people like to see and read, X. You are clearly incapable of understanding that, so you badly suffer from only choosing sentences from sources that say what you want (grammarly much, X?)s I’ll take what she says over you, bud.
The fact that you have to keep coming back punching and changing your position says it all.
X the data damning progressive policies is massive and consistent – there have been thousands of studies and many many books.
Liberal Lion Sen. Patrick Moniyhan is famous for going to work for LBJ and discovering the great society was RUINING the lives of black people.
the BBC:PBS before they were completely in the tank woke did an excellent series “the commanding heights:The battle for the world economy” that extensively documents the failurte of “procgressive polices” including specifically those of social democrats.
YOUR view of “Nordic Social Democracies’ is based on the failed state of those countries in the 80’s – after those failures THEY CHANGED – but left wing nut arguments have not. You beleiver that the modern and successful nordic nations still are the same as they were 40 years ago – THEY ARE NOT.
But the PBS:BBC work is just one of myriads of studies of all of this.
Socialism IN ALL FORMS FAILS – some faster than others.
PPACA which si a form of socialism has been an expensive useless fraud ridden boondoggle in the US>
It improved nothing, increased healthcare costs and cost the american people trillions – FOR NOTHING.
Medicare and social security are mildly better – any provate entity operated the same way would be jailed for fraud.
Those European social democracies do much better on their retirement systems – THEY ARE PRIVATE
“You cited Life in Norway to prove Scandinavia isn’t purely socialist. ”
Correct it is LESS socialist thatn the US today – it was MORE socialist in the 80’s – that failed – The Nordic countries are running away from socialism.
They are NOT implementing the DSA nonsense or Mamdani policies – they have gotten rid of them.
Sweden is not pure socialism, it is not half socialism it is not as much socialism as the US – most every social safety net that the US provides from govenrment – the swedes provide privately. They did not eliminate social security – they privatized it. They did not eliminate their equivalent to medicare – they privatized it.
The still need massive taxes to support the subsidies for the now private programs – and the burdern of those taxes is on the working calse – because taxing the crap out of the rich caused them to leave.
“they advocate for exactly what that article describes: a system that combines a market economy with a massive social safety net, universal healthcare, and heavily subsidized childcare.”
False – the social safety-net in Sweden is smaller than that in the US.
Yes they have Universal Healthcare – so does the US now – you seem to forget that you FORCED the failing PPACA on us all.
It is publicly funded – through extremely high taxes – but it is privately provided.
“Social security in Scandinavia is more generous than pretty much anywhere else.”
Correct – the systems are PRIVATE – they are government mandated but the money is privately held and invested – they do not have a “social securtity Trust Fund”
That is just an idiotic ponzi scheme.
“The World Happiness Report”
ROFL
Not interested at all in what wing nuts think.
When Sweden was actually socialist they had the highest suicide rate in the developed world – now that they are MORE capitalist than the US – they have a slightly lower suicide rate than the US – and a higher GDP/person.
If you really wish to Transform the US into Sweden – we can discuss that – privatize the entire social safety net – as the first step – that is what Sweden has done.
Also impliment a ballanced budget with automatic spending cuts.
And quit pretending you can fund your government spending on the backs of the uber rich – Tax the crap out of the working class – lets see how that flies in the US.
Standard of living 2026 according to IMF
Monaco 288,002 (2024)
Liechtenstein 226,809
Luxembourg 158,733
Bermuda 142,250 (2024)
Ireland 140,186
Switzerland 126,177
Cayman Islands 04,293 (2024)
Iceland 110,048
Singapore 107,758
Norway 105,877
United States 94,430
Isle of Man 90,015 (2023)
Denmark 83,445
Channel Islands 74,586 (2023)
Faroe Islands 74,175 (2024)
Netherlands 79,918
Macau 76,446
Australia 75,648
Sweden 70,676
San Marino 70,187
Israel 69,804
Qatar 68,138
Austria 67,761
Germany 65,303
Belgium 65,112
Greenland 58,499 (2024)
United Kingdom 61,056
Canada 60,305
Finland 60,130
Hong Kong 59,640
United Arab Emirates 54,214
Malta 53,560
Andorra 53,475
France 52,083
Liar. They absolutely do not. all Nordic countries are completely capitalist. this sort of insincerity is really on brand with you commies huh?
you are essentially correct. I just flashed a link to X which smilingly refers to “cuddly capitalism.”
Check out the links and have a nice holiday, but spend some time coming up with a more identifiable log in.
Lin, nope. He’s essentially wrong. By a wide margin.
X – you want to claim that the nordic social democracies are some modified form of “socialism” – that is correct – they are a minimalist privatied form of socialism that is MORE conservative than that of the US
Regardlkess they haven’t the slightest resemblance to anything Mamdani or the DSA are seeking to do
If you drew a line from Less socialist to more socialist – sweden would be on the less socialist side, followed by the US with what Mamdani and the DSA want right next to Lennons NEP followed by Maoism and stalinism.
No one is lying except the person pretending that “capitalist” and “socialist” are mutually exclusive, black-and-white labels.
If you actually look at the economic structure of Nordic countries instead of just shouting buzzwords, you will find a highly successful blend of both systems:
In Norway, the democratic government literally owns the “means of production” for its most valuable resources. The state is the majority shareholder in its largest energy company (Equinor) and runs the world’s largest Sovereign Wealth Fund to directly pay for its citizens’ public pensions, healthcare, and education. That is a textbook socialist mechanism running parallel to a market economy.
Every single Nordic country funds 100% universal healthcare, free university tuition, and heavily subsidized childcare through high, flat income taxes. If an American politician proposes those exact same policies here, conservatives instantly scream that it’s “communism.” You cannot call those policies “ruinous socialism” when proposed in New York, but then pivot and call them “pure capitalism” when they successfully create the happiest nations on earth.
There is no government-mandated minimum wage in Sweden, Norway, or Denmark. Instead, wages are collectively bargained by powerful labor unions that represent up to 50% to 80% of the workforce. The system is designed to favor workers over corporate executives.
Call it “cuddly capitalism,” “social democracy,” or “democratic socialism”—the label doesn’t change the baseline facts. The Nordic model proves that when you reject cut-throat, corporate-first economics and invest tax dollars directly back into the working class, society thrives. That is exactly what democratic socialists are fighting for, and no amount of semantic hair-splitting changes those results.
“No one is lying except the person pretending that “capitalist” and “socialist” are mutually exclusive, black-and-white labels.”
ROFL at georgie;s “Every single Nordic country funds 100% universal healthcare,” What is Medicaid and Medicare, georgie? And what AI are you using???? THis is what MY AI said.
“Not all Scandinavian countries offer free college tuition for everyone. Norway provides free tuition for all students, while Sweden and Denmark have tuition fees for non-EU students.”
Georgie cherry-picks a sentence here and there which is why he seldom gives us a hyperlink so that we can look for ourselves, then he accuses others of doing that. Juvenile childish lashing out, georgie.
https://capwolf.com/unveiling-scandinavian-socialism-myths-and-realities/
Georgie boy creates phantom arguments.
Keep playing the “democratic socialist” lingo game, georgie. But Scandinavia disagrees with you.
https://fee.org/articles/don-t-call-scandinavian-countries-socialist/
The serious reading comprehension issues on display here are staggering. You linked two articles to disprove the idea that the Nordic model shares elements of democratic socialism, yet the text inside your own links explicitly proves my point. You are so eager to yell “Gotcha” that you are actively ignoring what your own sources say.
You triumphantly quoted your AI to prove me wrong about education by stating:
“Norway provides free tuition for all students, while Sweden and Denmark have tuition fees for non-EU students.”Please read that sentence again, slowly. If Sweden and Denmark only charge tuition to non-EU students, that means higher education is 100% free for their OWN CITIZENS and all EU citizens). My point was that democratic socialists want to fund free public university tuition for American citizens right here at home. Your source literally just confirmed that Nordic countries do exactly that for their populations.
You asked, “What is Medicaid and Medicare?” to imply the US has the same system. This is a massive false equivalency.
Medicare is strictly for Americans over 65, and Medicaid is a heavily restricted, means-tested program for low-income individuals.
Millions of working-class Americans under 65 earn too much for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance, leading to catastrophic medical debt.
In the Nordic model, healthcare is a universal right funded by the public for every single citizen from birth, regardless of age or income status. Trying to equate a broken, partial safety net with universal healthcare is an embarrassing gap in basic policy knowledge.
“disprove the idea that the Nordic model shares elements of democratic socialism”
First it was “form of”, then “elements of”
typical X playing with words to so he won’t have to eat crow.
X – healthcare is not a right not anywhere EVER.
Nothing that requires someone else to pay for it is EVER a right.
No human has the right to force a burden on other PERIOD – that is not a right -0 that is theft and immoral.
You keep harping on Universal health care – like a broken reocrd – we have heard this BEFORE – 2008 wants its idiot back.
Obama Care passed – the PPACA is the law of the lawn the US has “universal Healthcare” just like the rest of the world – and it is a disaster – just as predicted.
Absolutely our healthcare system is broken – YOU BROKE IT – at the same time we are an incredibly affluent country
AGAIN the Poor in Mississippi are as well off as the working class in Germany.
The mess you have inflicted on us is precluding us from getting even more afluent even faster – but we can still afford the inefficient messy, wasteful fraud filled – but otherwise world class system that we have – though we will not be able to if you get your way.
Not only are you ignorant of actual scandanavia but you are ignorant of the US.
Yopu foist the idiocy of universal healthcare on us – now we have it – it has made out healthcare more expensive more fraud filled and more inefficient,
And left a bitter taste in the mouth of most people – the biggest impediment to the socialist nonsense you are shilling – is the bad taste in peoples mouths from the socialist nonsense you already fed us.
Why do you expect Mamdani to do batter than Obama ?
PPACA was a failure – and Obama had the most stagnant economy the US has had since the great depression.
Hey X, apparently you know more about what to call Scandinavia than Scandinavia does.
You area just so smart!
“https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/denmark-tells-bernie-sanders-to-stop-calling-it-socialist/
I try to avoid the term capitalism – it is inaccurate and a tiny facet of free markets.
There is no true free market country in the world. But the DATA – which you ignore UNIVERSALLY – thousands of studies over every country in the world over decades and centiuries demonstrates that the greater the economic freedom the more prosperous ALL the people are – that also follows from Coases law.
Though I often use the term socialism – the important attribute is the SCALE of govenrment – the larger the govenrment is the more it messes with the economy – the worse off people are. Again the data is resounding – for every 10% of GDP govenrment spends the improvement of standard of living is reduced 1% – big enough govenrment results in NEGATIVE economic growth.
A government mandated social safety net is NOT socialism – even a government funded social safetynet is not socialism.
Both are bad ideas – but not as bad as socialism.
All these countries you fawn over have very nearly identical social safety nets to the US – in the countries you fawn over those social safety net services are much more likely to be privately provided – and in some instances merely publicly mandated – but privately funded.
Regardless the countries you fawn over are for the most part
MORE conservative – economically – more free market and less socialist and have social safety-nets with LESS govenrment involvement than the US
Most of them DID have the socialist nonsense that you want – back in the 80’s -= it failed and they privatized it to survive.
Because of the mess they went though in the 80’s – most have LOWER standard of living than the US – even if they are more free market.
The US actually has a bigger more expensive and in most cases broader and more socialist safety net than these countries. But because we got their more slowly – we have an already high standard of living and are better able to afford it.
And there are all kinds of other distinctions.
US healthcare is a complete mess – it is expensive and thoroughly screwed up by government.
Despite that it is still superior to the rest of the world – with very few exceptions – we lead the world in the advancement of nearly all medical treatment.
Further again with few exceptions we deliver the most luxurious healthcare in the world.
I have written this before – but my mother died of colon cancer – she spend a great deal of time in the hospital her last year.
Nothing they did or could have done prolonged her life.
But boy did they take incredible care of her – not just medically – but in every other way. Her room had wood paneling and Marble floors, she had her own 24×7 nurse, and her room had two entertainment centers, and a family area with its own entertainment center and breakfast area.
It was better than the Helmsley Palace in NYC.
That is what Medicare in the US plus a good supliment covers. Outside of the uber rich elsewhere no one else in the world gets that.
From the medical perspective – she would have done as well and lived as long in a 40 person ward served by one nurse in India.
The healthcare needed to live to 80 is relatively simple – antiseptics, antibiotics, and IV fluids. It is so simple that third world nations have life expectancy approaching 80
You rant that US healthcare is worse than the rest of the world – that is complete nonsense.
Americans are just about the least healthy people in the world – and we have a healthcare system that manages to keep us alive to 80 ANYWAY.
As I have noted before – the US has double the rate of type II diabetes of anywhere in the world – Type II diabetes is a death sentence in most of the world – in the US if you behave even a little – you can expect to live a normal life with Type II diabetes.
Regardless diabetes alone explains the small differnces in life expectance between the US and Europe.
Regardless the point is that despite the fact that the US has this simultaneously incredible luxury healthcare system that is also completely Screwed up and expensive and inefficient. Because we have had greater economic freedom for longer – we have a higher standard of living and can better afford it.
But if you F$%K with US growth – then we will be in trouble – we can rtapidly end up where the nordic countries were int he 80s.
Finally – none of this – not what the nordic countries actually have, not what the US has – have more than a passing resemblance to the wish list of the DSA and left wing nuts.
I think that’s a testimonial t the Scandinavian people. Something tells me there isn’t the social welfare fraud in Nordic countries like there is here.
“Nordic countries practice a form of democratic socialism and they make it work.”
Nope – already refuted that – from the mouths of the swedes themselves.
Labels do not matter much – the ECONOMIC DATA is that regardless of labels – larger govenrment underperforms smaller government.
For every 10%of GDP that govenrment consumes – growth declines 1%. It does not matter whether you call bigger government labor, socialist, Democratic socialist, Communist, Fascist, or any other label – Bigger is measurably worse in every way.
Nor is this the results of ONE study – it is the result of every study on the subject ever done.
There are many many reasons socialism fails. But even if you fixed all the other problems of socialism it requires big and inefficient govenrment.
This should not be surprising – it is ALWAYS more efficient to meet wants and needs through free exchange than by FORCE – govenrment is FORCE – pass a law and either you enforce it – or people ignore it. If you enforce it – that use of force is a COST that you much pay in addition to everything else needed tpo get what usually only a FEW really want.
John Say, yoh sure have a big appetite for economic fantasy.
Countries like Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which have some of the highest government spending-to-GDP ratios in the world—often exceeding 40% to 50%—yet consistently maintain strong, highly competitive economic growth, high productivity, and unmatched social stability. According to your linear rule, these economies should have collapsed decades ago.
Peer-reviewed threshold analyses published in journals like ScienceDirect and by institutions like the Fraser Institute find that the optimal, growth-maximizing size of government sits roughly between 18% and 26% of GDP. Below this threshold, a lack of government spending hurts growth because an economy cannot function efficiently without public infrastructure, a court system to protect property rights, and an educated workforce.
It is intellectually dishonest to lump all government spending into one bucket and label it “inefficient”
Studies (including historical data from the National Bureau of Economic Research) show that while excessive government consumption (like bloated administrative bureaucracies) can hinder growth, public investment (like funding research and development, public transit, and early childhood education) yields a positive economic multiplier.
Data proves that countries with high levels of social trust and low corruption can sustain a larger public sector without harming the economy. Because the money is spent transparently on programs the public actually uses—like universal childcare or infrastructure—it lowers the cost of living for the working class, allowing them to participate more robustly in the private market.
Reducing the complexities of global macroeconomics down to a bumper-sticker slogan about “big government bad” isn’t data-driven analysis. It is just ideology masquerading as mathematics.
yeah but nordic countries don’t have elements of, or form of, democratic socialism. nice try.
Now tell us where HAS it worked before?
Swedens economic growth in 2025 – was 1.5% in 2026 it is projected to be 2%, in 2027 it is projected to be 2.2%
Sweden is considered to be the STRONGEST economy of the nordic countries.
US growth in 2025 was 2.5 % Goldman Sachs projects the US growth to be 2.8% in 2026
For most of the past 50 years US growth has run slightly less than 1% higher than Europe – Which is Why Germany has the standard of living of Mississippi
Growth in GErmany was 0.2% in 2025 it is projected to be 0.6% in 2026
Absolutely the nordic countries are outperforming the rest of Europe – they are NOT outrperforming the US.
X – I do not give a schiff about peer reviewed data – Actual science is actual data. Peer review is just another name for Biased.
Einsteins theory of relativity was NOT peer reveiwed – it was VERIFIED by real world data.
Peer review is just left wing nut code for biased.
No the growth optimizing maximum is not 18-26% – the KNOWN growth optomizing maximum is 18% – that is the smallest modern developed government that we have –
Governments spenmd 26% of GDP underperfom those that spend 18% – there are just very few of those.
Further data from the 19th century puts the growth optimizing maximum at below 8% – Those of you on the left seem to forget that the 19th century occured – and that the US grew at an average rate of 7.5% through the 19th century – though you have to be careful with 19th century data – because unlike the 20th and 21st centuries the 19th centuryu data has to be adjusted for DEFLATION
Regardless the largest size of Government in the US was 8% during the civil war – and the US grew at 7.5% through the 19th century – so the 18% number is obviously wrong.
Regardless – current US government spenting is 38% of GDP – that is 20% higher than YOUR claimed growth optimizing maximum.
Swedens government spending is 49% of GDP – 11% higher than the US – and Sweden’s growth is a bit less than 1% lower than the US – confirming EXACTLY what i tald you before. For every 10% opf GDP govenrment spends – growth declines 1%.
Absolutely there is a minimum required below which everything declines. – but it is NOT 18% – total cost of Courts and law enforcement and prisons int he US in 2025 was $274B that is 1% of US GDP. The US defense budget is another 3+% of GDP – though we can easily debate whether we need to spend that much on defense – I would be happy to cut defense to 1-2%
Total US cost for roads and bridges – which most people are not prepared to privatize – was a bit over 400B in 2025.
We are not getting to 8% very fast – much less 38%
The best data on government spending is from the work of Harvard IDEAS RESPEC #4 ranked economist Robert Barro – he found that the economic value created by each $1 of govenrment spending is $.25-.35
Your NBER claim is nonsense – Absolutely there is a positive return on govenrment spending – OVER THE LONG RUN – i.e. 30+ years
But every sane financial advisor in the wporld will tell you NEVER to spend on anything that takes much more than 7 years to produce a positive return.
That is the threshold used in the real world by both businesses and wise ordinary people to make an investment
If you invest $500B in something that takes 30 years to get a postiive ROI – you are LOSING Trillions of dollars in value – because You COULD have invested the same money in something that went positive in 7 years – and if you did that over and over for 30 years – you would have about 6T in value created – not $500B.
This is the power of compounding – and it is why even a 1% difference in the rate of growth over a long period – results in Germany having the standard of living of Mississippi.
It does NOT take govenrment to spend billions – even trillions of dollars – The money invested in the stock market dwarfs US govenrment spending – The New York Stock exchange turns over $1T in trades per day – the US has about 2T in float on =credit cards at any given time.
There is absolutely nothing that prevents private investors from funding the same projects the govenrment funds – EXCEPT that private investors will not fund projects with a 30yr RIO – that is just STUPID
When the US growth in GDP is 3% – that means AFTER factoring in the total cost of govenrment and the small return on that govenrment spending – and then adding in ALL porofits and all losses throughout the entire rest of the free market – the NET return on investment for the entire country was 3%.
Reduce goivenrment spending 10% – and that goes up to 4%. over approximately 15 years they difference between 3 and 4% means DOUBLING our standard of living.
Cut govenrment spending to your 18% optimum and everyone will be better off in 20 years than all the govenrment safetynet programs that ever were.
“Data proves that countries with high levels of social trust and low corruption can sustain a larger public sector without harming the economy. ”
False – The data shows that higher government spending in countries with very high levels of social trust do the same amount of damage as lower levels of spending in countires with lower levels of trust. There is no such thing as a free ride – All government spending is damaging – LOW enough govenrment spending does less harm than the benefits that you get from “the rule of law”.
But that social trust allows higher spending with equivalent damage. BTW there is no “and low corruption” – if there is corruption there is low social trust – one is a subset of the other.
Those nordic countries you faw over have high social trust (and as a result low corruption) because they are mono-cultures – everyone is the same race, the same tribe, the same religion – going back centuries. Those same noric countries are having serious problems – because immigration has damaged that mono culture and damaged social trust.
If you want your nordic system – aside from privatizing your social safety net – you much also throw out everyone of different races and religions – are you going to do that ?
BTW that too has problems – Diversity is damaging to social trust – diverse nations have higher crime rates and all kinds of problems that mono-cultures do not have.
But they are also more creative and more innovative and that produces higher levels of growth.
Few people have a problem with the Diversity and Inclusion in DEI – it is the equity that F#$Ks everything up.
That is littlerally why the US revolution succeeded and the french revolution failed.
The declaration of independence said all men are created equal – they have the same right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The american revolution place liberty – above all us – “give me liberty or give me death” “live free or die”.
The french revolution focused on Egalitaire – equity – and that resulted in blood int he streets. That is another of the flaws in socialism – from the french revolution to the present – we are NOT equal – that is just not true – and it can not be forced.
We can receive equal treatment by the government – we can have equal rights. Any effort to force equality – beyond that results in a loss of freedom and a decline in society – including standard of living. Mono cultures artificially have greater equality – you just do not allow people who are different in and often social pressures create high levels of conformity – but that also REDUCES economic growth – growth is inexorably tied to Freedom – you cited the Frazer institution – they will absolutely confirm that rise in standard of living corresponds to higher levels of freedom. The mono culture and social pressures necessary to maintain high levels of social trust – are antithetical to freedom.
Conformity and freedom do not go well together.
One of the reasons that the US is the great nation it is, is because of its diversity – and the freedom that it MUST maintian to support that diversity.
“Reducing the complexities of global macroeconomics down to a bumper-sticker slogan about “big government bad” isn’t data-driven analysis. It is just ideology masquerading as mathematics.”
You are correct that the every 10% of GDP govenrment spends reduces growth by 1% is an ov er generalization – it is accurate – because we have very few examples of governments that only spend 8% of GDP so dat to establish the inflection point where less govenrment spending shifts from positive to neutral to negative is hard to ascertain from the data we have – though there is no doubt it is below 18%.
Further – this is also a curve – not a linear equation – the reality is that the damage done by a 10% increase in spending is GREATER than 1% the higher govenrment spending is.
All that said – no Big govenrmnent bad is not ideology masquerading as mathemtaics – it is the uncontroverted product of massive amounts of real world data.
it is also trivially demonstrateable logically – as well as mathematically.
Once again – GOVERNMENT IS FORCE, the use of force to accomplish anything that does not require force is inefficient.
We use law enforcement to punish and prevent crimes – if there was another effective means that worked – it would be better – there is not.
We use courts to protect rights – both against violence – against govenrment and to protect contract rights. Again if there was a way that did not require force – it would be better – but there is not.
There are ways to get healthcare without force there are ways to get housing without force.
All I am doing is stating Coases law in a different form – The rule of law, strong property rights and bargaining will always produce the best acheivable results.
Why ? Because they require the minimum of force.
Y9ou make something illegal – you need people to look for and then punish violations – that is inefficient – it means more people to accomplish the same task.
Whenever you can accomplish something without force – it will always be more efficient – and standard of living will rise.
This is not some ideological excercise – it is what the real world data says,
And the real world data says that – because the laws of nature and logic produce that result.
If there is an alternative – FORCE is always less efficient.
BTW that is also why the higher levels of special trust in a mono-culture are less harmed by more govenrment – because where there are high levels of trust LESS FORCE is needed. And the more diverse a society is the more force is needed to accomplish the same thing.
The US took large numbers of people from Afghanistan when we left. One of the problems this has caused is it included large numbers of older afghani men who brought wives that are 13yrs old or younger – in Afghanistan – that is normal. In the US it is pedophilia.
Diverse cultures ALWAYS have clashes of values and lower social trust. the more different we are – the less trust we have – this is not new.
I have tried to respond to your post above – while you have numerous errors and lots of shallow thinking – you have sprinkled through your remarks many statements that are correct or partly correct.
But most of the time you do not understand WHY they are correct. I state a rule – every 10% of GDP that government spends costs 1% in growth – you are correct – I have made a linear statement for something that is not linear – it is a curve. I skipped that – because the US is not cutting spending 20% so that we get anywhere near an inflection point.
In the real world there are almost no governments spending under 18% of GDP and the few that are are – undeveloped and barely government.
I would separately note that – the real mathematical equation is not likely even a simple curve – because the necessary government spending before that spending starts to harm an economy is likely very nearly fixed for a given population size – in other-words the tie to GDP is weak – The cost of “the rule of law” is close to fixed – for a given number of people Government spending should rise very little as Standard of living rises.
Which is driving towards a different point – all this data – all these economic rules – HAVE CAUSES.
More govenrment spending is economically harmful because force is inefficient.
One of the differences between classical and various permutations of keynesian economics is that classical economists argue from fundamentals of nature and human before towards rules – such as the rules of economics, and THEN they validate their conclusions with data. While far too much modern keynesian economics tries to develop rules from data. If you do not understand the fundimental principles of nature that dirve the rules – with near certainty you will end up wrong.
A decade or so ago – Economist David Romer demonstrated in an economics paper – that is applicable to ALL science that given equations with enough variables and coefficients he could ALWAYS come up with multiple different solutions that perferctly hindcast whatever real world data we were trying to develop a model for.
And that the conserquences of this were that reasoning from the data was ALWAYS going to produce the result that best mapped to the biases of the analyst – and this would be true no matter how hard the analyst worked to eliminate bias.
Again – with a complex enough equation you can ALWAYS find many answers that fit the data. But there is still only one correct answer – and the addition of more data will cause many of the prior solutions to fail. It is nearly imposible to reason from data – particularly complex data – to rules of complex systems (and to some extent simple systmes, or simple systems with many influencing factors).
If you want toi find something that holds up – you must start from principles – it is possible that the data might falsify your principles – if so chose new principles and start over.
But if you work from principles FIRST – develeop rules based on those principles and THEN see if they fit the data – you are more likely to find the truth.
One of the raeasons this works is you are NOT hiding your biases – you are OPENLY testing them – and if they are wrong they will openly fail.
The danger is when reasoning from data to rules rather than principles to rules validated by data, the biases are beneath consciousness and are NOT directly tested – and therfore falsified if they are wrong.
This applies way beond economics. It is the fundimental flaw in keynesian economics – that and Keynes developed a bunch of equations that are not equations – they are one way implications – and Keyenes mathematically treats them as equations –
But is it also the flaw in “climate science”
Democratic socialism is like the Democratic Republic of North Korea
Search Assi
“Mayor Zohran Mamdani balanced New York City’s budget by utilizing $6.1 billion in one-time tricks and short-term savings, along with securing significant state aid and implementing cost-saving initiatives. This approach allowed him to close a projected $12 billion budget gap without raising property taxes or cutting services.”
Mamdani used TRICKS X!!!! Keep up BOZO!
So? He used exactly what republicans do all the time. What matters is he did what he promised to do.
well if mandami’s just gonna do what the republicans already do why vote for the sworthy sob?
Keeping your promises is important – but only if those promises have net positive results.
I can not predict exactly how badly mamdani will fail – because I can not predict how forcefully he will flow his own ideology
But to the extent he does – he will fail. That is essentially a mathematical truth.
The newly crowned socialists in New York will one day hold control of NY. In doing so, they should be worried about a much larger increase of wealthy folks (and their companies) leaving for places like Texas, Tennessee, Florida, etc.
Not just the wealthy – ordinary people are fleeing too.
X: Your praise of Mamdani is a bit premature. It’ll take a bit more time for all the problems he will cause to become apparent; and you know that.
This will be a ‘communist’ that will not be instituting ANY communist policies. Where’s he gonna put the gulags? upstate NY? Only in America do we have the freedom to have our own mini tin-pot dictator just for fun.
Just watch. You will see NO communist policies coming out of this so-called communist NYC mayor.
Praise isn’t “premature” when it is based on a balanced budget, increased corporate investment, safer streets, and direct relief for working families. Moving the goalpost to some unnamed future disaster is just an acknowledgment that his current track record is working.
What matters to NYC voters is the results they are seeing now. Not some assumed future.
“Praise isn’t “premature” when it is based on a balanced budget”
A budget balanced with tricks is not a ballenced budget whether you are republican or democrat and will eventually bite you in the ass.
“increased corporate investment”
NOPE – Just SOME new corportatee investment – on NET NYC is losing capital and has been for a long time.
“safer streets”
By magic with less spending and less police – again there are no unicorns.
Mamdani is benefiting from a nationwide decline is crime – partly as the post covid crime boom dissipates.
Partly as crime declines as Trump deports lots of criminal illegals.
But in the end – less police means more crime all other things being equal.
“and direct relief for working families.”
If you steal from productive people to benefit less productive people – EVERYONE ends up worse off.
This has been tried over and over – it does not work.
“Moving the goalpost to some unnamed future disaster”
No one is moving the goal posts – some future disaster is inevitable.
Somethings do not work – the wheels do not always fall off exactly the same way – but they always fall off.
“just an acknowledgment that his current track record is working.”
But it is not working now – you claim increased corporate investment – that is FALSE – there is some NEW corporate investment – but counting the credit while ignoring the debts is fraudulent counting –
“What matters to NYC voters is the results they are seeing now. ”
That is what matters now.
What happens int he future is what will matter to voters in the future.
Socialism looks wonderful if you do not look deeply or at the future.
You yourself proved this – no matter WHAT even YOU have had to accept that the nordic countries are NOT as you claim they are – they WERE, but they have changed
Trump would have no problem proposing what YOU call Nordic socialism – privatize social security – vouchers for school. All govenrment subsidized services provided completely privately – mass deportation of immigrants – revoking citizenship of immigrants.
That is these nordic countries – and that is NOT mamdani and the DSA
As much as you try to – your engaged in a bad bait and switch.
There is not a left wing nut in the country that would not call the social safety net of the nordic countries fascist if we tried to impoliment it here.
While not nearly as successful as you claim – it also is substantially different from anything you actually want to do.
Not some assumed future.
ROFL
What Difference ?
Are you saying that the “DSA” members in the US are in anyway difference from the “democratic socialists” who have governed Eurpoean countries down to a Standard of living equal to Mississippi – the worst US state ?
Can you name a Socialist Success Story – ANYWHERE – Democratic socialist or otherwise.
The REALITY is – it does not matter what you call your form of statism – the greater the govenrment intrusion on the economy the slower the improvement of standard of living – ESPECIALLY for the worse of.
This is beyond debate. Europe has not been able to manage a sustained growth rate over 1% for the entire 21st century – it is very little better in the late 20th.
The US had a later 20th century growth rate of 3.5% – the US 21st century Growth rate is barely above 2% – that decline is almost entirely do to Obama and Biden – Bush averaged about 2.5% – poor by US standards, but great by 21st century measures – Trump 47 was approx 2.8 INCLUDING Covid and over 3 for the prior 3 years.
BNidens after inflation growth rate may have been negative – it certainly was not much over zero.
The Working Class lost 3500/yr under Biden.
With respect to Mamdani – While he has said lots of stupid stuff and done lots of stupid stuff he has not been in office long enough to measure the impact of his policies – though the wring is on the wall.
“Progressive policies work.” correction 0- NOWHERE EVER
“NYC Mayor Mamdani is proof. Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget”
He is required to by law.
He has done so by raising property taxes and screwing the working class.
” fixed basic infrastructure, funded universal K-2 childcare, and initiated city-owned grocery stores. ”
ROFL
“He is winning over notoriously cynical New Yorkers by simply keeping his promises.”
No he is seeing significant backlash and getting booed publicly.
And he is barely into his term.
He is spending $25M to open ONE grocery store – and we have no clue how badly that is going to go – as it will not open for 3 years.
In the meantime – Numerous grocery stores have announced they are closing and leaving NYC
“Trump proved years ago that voters want a break from the status quo.”
Correct – but what you do MUSTY work.
While it makes zero sense to me that many Bernie Bros also voted for Trump – that is a known Fact.
While we could do far better than Trump economically – he is STILL the best president on any economic scorecard in the 21st century – though he is not doing as well as Reagan and Clinton, and Kennedy.
“Now that people are burning out on Trump’s rhetoric and conservative overreach,”
ROFL
If Trump were allowed a 3rd term he would crush any democrat contender.
Trump has been floating between a 40-50% approval for his entire 2nd term. That is above Biden, Above his first Term, above Obama and Above Bush.
Thus far all the left wing efforts to crush him and republicans have failed.
Trump’s immigration efforts are 6% MORE popular than they were this time last year – they have INCREASING super majority support.
A clear majority STILL want to deport every single illegal alien in the US – even amoung DEMOCRATS – support for deportations has RISEN.
The purported blue wave in 2026 has crested – Democrats as a whole have been deeply in the hole for a long time – but the generic ballot edge of democrats is on the decline,
Democrats hopes in TX and ME are failing – Collins is tie – and has never lost a race in ME – even when she was behind by 9 in July.
Talarico is tanking against Paxton who is NOT a candidate with broad cross over appeal. There are several D incumbent Senate races that could flip R.
A few polls have Brown losing in OH. Many other D incumbent senators are in striking distance. While it is unlikely that Republicans will Gain Senate seats and they MIGHT lose one or even two, Democrats are going to have to pay for very expensive races to unseat GOP incumbent AND pay for very expensive races to protect Democrat incumbents.
Odds still favor D’s taking the house – but those odds are declining.
And 2028 odds have ANY significant republican contender beating every major democrat contendor.
Further 2025 was an intentionally disruptive year – and while voters often VOTE for disruption – they tend to be unhappy when they get it.
Regardless the immigration war is winding down – it is ever harder for lunatic left wing nuts to gain media attention by doing stupid things to ice facilities.
GDP is rising, the stock market is rising, Working class incomes have already rising $1500/yr more than inflation – recovering almost half of what they lost under Biden.
Surprising even me – Trump’s claims regarding Gas prices have proved true – I filled up yesterday as 3.14 – and economists are predicting 2.50 by October.
Oil is flowing from the Gulf – it is flowing from the US, it is flowing from Venezuella oil is at $68/bbl and the long term trend is DOWN.
dropping oil prices will positively effect EVERYTHING
Boith OIL prices – and the public as a whole are ignoring the ceasefire Drama. People KNOW that we do not have Peace in the mideast or Ukraine or ….
But they KNOW the trajectory is irrevocably to ward peace. The straits are open – Iran either does not have the will to close them – or more likely does not have the ability.
And that effectively means the conflict is over. Israel is mopping up Hezbollah – and there is very real hope that Lebanon will return to being a prosperous safe country.
The cease fire in GAZA has held. The west bank never joined in any of this nonsense.
The tides have turned in Ukraine – thanks atleast in part to Trump cutting Iran off as a munitions supplier to Russia – those of you on the left think so shallow that you never pause to consider what the ACTUAL global effects of any of Trump’s actions are, Trump is NOT playing 4D chess – the 3rd order impacts of his policies are mostly easily forseable.
But those of you on the left are so shallow in your thinking – you completely miss them.
Xi has done as Trump asked and stayed mostly out of the Ukraine and Iranian conflicts – and the relationship with the US is significantly imporved – Xi gave Trump what he wanted.
The risks to Taiwan though not gone are substantially diminished.
The US is seeing an average MONTHLY net inflow of capital of about $200B – that is over 2.4T in foreign investment in the US each year – this is NOT press announcements this is real money actually being invested in the US.
Further Socialism is dying throughout the world. The left will lose power in France Germany, and the UK with the next elections. In sweden and Denmark socialists have had to move hard right to hold power.
If lulu loses what is currently a dead heat – Venezuela may be the only “socialist” Country left in South America – and they are falling all over themselves to be nice to Trump.
The only question regarding Cuba is WHEN it is falling. Unemployment rose to 4.5% under Biden it is dropping slowly under
Trump – despite massive cutbacks in federal employment.
” they are looking at democratic socialists and realizing their ideas make practical sense. ”
ROFL
Again socialism in ANY form has not succeeded anywhere ever. It dramatically underperforms capitalism.
“Republicans are terrified because their boogeyman tactics are failing, leaving them looking like the old, corrupt status quo.”
Lets see we have massive corruption in Illinois, California, and Minesota – what to they have in common ? They are run by Democrats.
HHS is reporting that as much as 1/3 of all social safetynet (aka socialism light) spending is FRAUD
As many as 40% of those on Obamacare may not exist – BTW if you can get instance without being real – why should we believe you can not vote ? That you have not voted ?
The left has spent 2025 “shooting its wad” to get Trump and you never brought him below 40pts.
Like Iran you are out of ammunition.
You rant about Mamdani’s successes – Mamdani is a GIFT to republicans.
Even raving left wing nut James Carville is panicked over the rise of Socialism in the democrat party.
I fully expect more Socialist success int he Democrat party – little could be better for Republicans.
Most interestinglyh the democratic party is replacing some of its most whacky politicians with far whackier ones.
Please sir – can we have more ?
Paid by the word? Spelling, grammar, and sentence structure optional? John Say hangs out his shingle.
Not paid at all. I have been published many times – when someone pays me – I will worry about all those things.
When I write for myself – everything I do not care about is optional.
Or to quote malcom in the middle – “your not the boss of me”
“Can you name a Socialist Success Story – ANYWHERE – Democratic socialist or otherwise. ” I cannot.
but X says the successful nordic coutries are all socialist countries. well, form of, elements of, sort of. somehow.
Then he changed the subject. we should ask him he’s so smart!
NYC received a multi billion dollar bailout from NYS taxpayers. It’s misleading to create the implication that Mamdani single-handedly balanced the NYC budget.
“[JT] audience’s ignorance to conflate “socialism” with “democratic socialism.””
You’re a complete fraud.
You claim to know that those terms mean, but can’t prove it.
Sam, all you have to do is look it up yourself. It’s incredibly easy. You can show me I’m wrong by proving that there is no difference between “socialism” and “democratic socialism”. I already know they are not the same. It’s the reason why I have been pointing it out all this time. You can show me I’m wrong by showing there is no distinction between the two.
NOOOOOOOOOO X it is YOU who carries the burden. YOU’re the one who made the statement that Sam questioned. YOU look it up yourself and cite YOUR sources, clown. Sam has NO burden. He asked you to support your statement.
You likely are either an old man or a student who tries to use AI to force your opinion as factually sound. DO YOU GET IT//////
It is impossible that you understand law.
“NOOOOOOOOOO X it is YOU who carries the burden.”
Exactly.
But, as is typical with the Left, it cannot prove. So it merely asserts. Then when challenged, it resorts to sophistical tricks (and hostile ad hominem).
“NYC Mayor Mamdani is proof. Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget, fixed basic infrastructure, funded universal K-2 childcare, and initiated city-owned grocery stores. He is winning over notoriously cynical New Yorkers by simply keeping his promises…”
Done all that has he? In a pig’s eye.
“Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget, fixed basic infrastructure, funded universal K-2 childcare, and initiated city-owned grocery stores.”
He’s done none of that.
“NYC Mayor Mamdani is proof. Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget,”
Let’s stop there. Ignorant people say, “Wow, NYC balanced its budget.” But did they? Tell us, GSX, did NYC balance its budget, or was money shifted around while taxpayers paid more, and the money owed increased due to the payment of interest? By law, NYC must balance its budget, so we know they will. But how did they do it? They sacrificed the future for the present, increased the eventual cost, and taxed citizens, all while changing a few laws and regulations so NYC could meet the law by having a balanced budget.
Why do we argue with GSX? Only to make sure others don’t fall for the trickster and think NYC is paying its bills.
Lying again george.
Rejecting corporate donors, he balanced the city’s budget
__________________________
He did NO such thing. He was given money buy the governor who stole it from the taxpayers.
Lying george
To close the gap, Governor Kathy Hochul provided $8 billion in combined assistance between the current fiscal year and FY 2027 http://www.vitalcitynyc.org. This included:
$1.5 billion in direct state funds
$4 billion in additional aid announced in May 2026 NBC New York+1
State authority to defer pension contributions to the city, saving billions Fox News+1
A pied-à-terre tax on second homes valued over $5 million, generating hundreds of millions NBC New York+1
Xlax Please, coffee came squirting out of my nose on that one! You should really try stand up comedy.
Bold move. Deportation just got a lot more complicated.
https://babylonbee.com/news/entire-democrat-party-placed-on-no-fly-list
“Mamdani’s $126B budget soars nearly 10% from last year, leaving NYC on verge of fiscal crisis” NY POST. Eat it X
He already ran out of other people’s money?
Here in America, we know how to keep our money away from commies.
Why did FDR get 4 terms? Because tge dollar was worth nothing… here we are again…. but now it’s lazy socialists and invaders getting what others built and earned
IMHO my greatist fear is the mergin of Islamic extremisim and the socialist doctrine. On the surface it should be incompatible but both call for the elimination of Isreal and the take over of the west. They core is dangerous and won’t hesitate to take out who they need too. Look at the French Revolution…..they will eat us then their own it it is not quashed.
That’s Prof. Turley’s point in “Rage and the Republic.” This is a very dangerous time in America. These people hate this country yet they are able to spew their hatred of it–and all who oppose them–because of the freedoms we enjoy. Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Mary,
I am more concerned – though hopefully we are past that of the return of Crypto socialism like the Biden administration.
Mamdani si going to fail – catastrophically -= he already is.
Further these socialist winning in various parts of the country are terrifying Democrats.
Peter Theil beleives we hit Peak Woke in 2020.
Anheiser Bush has not recovered from what was a relatively small mistake putting a Trans male on a limited run of Bud Lite cans.
John Deere, Cata pillar, Tractor Supply, Harley Davidson have been forced to roll back DEI programs by customers.
Disney has had two HUGE big budget flops in a row. Disney has lost half its market value – Musk could pick it up for a few times more than he paid for Twitter.
No one goes to TX or FL for the climate – I have been in TX and FL in august – I have been in Gerogia in June.
California is the garden of eden – or it was until the left took over.
It took a century to build CA into the massive success that it was – it is taking left wing nuts decades to destroy it – but they are slowly succeeding.
London was headed towards replacing NYC is the financial capital of the world – but left wing nuts in the UK tanked that, Recently a conservative won an election in a district in Scottland that has not voted conservative for 80 years.
Regardless TX and FL are fighting over which replaces NYC – JP Morgan has more employees in TX than NYC – New Stock Markets are opening in Miami and Dallas,
People are moving from the garden of Eden to Hot as H311 TX – and not for the climate. Rich people, Working class people, Capital are flowing steadily out of blue cities and states
AS I noted to Mamdani cheerleader X -= It will take $35M and 3 years for Mamdani to open ONE grocery store – dozens have left NYC already.
The very people socialists claim to benefit are the ones they screw over the worst.
I would further note – this is just the normal left wing nut rebranding.
the far left has made the term liberal so toxic no one wants to be associated with it – Woke and DEI are going the same way – Progressive is not far behind as a lable that left wing nuts have turned into an albatros.
All we are seeing now is the same idiots rebranding themselves as “democratic Socialsits” – to people who have no clue how badly socialism fails ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE.
Trading a few not quite socialist left wing nuts in congress for a few actual socialists is meaningless.
The real danger to the Contra was the socialism lite of Obama – we had the worst and longest recovery from what was not really that bad a recession ever – the closest parallell we have is the great depression -where ONCE AGAIN the US left destroyed recovery byu $hitting all over free markets and choking the economy.
Obama took office near the bottom of a recession – there was nowhere to go but Up – he should have left office with 4% average growth,
Instead he left with 1.48% I do not think any president short of FDR had done worse over 8 years.
Further Obama brought back the nearly ended welfare programs that Clinton and Gingrich had taken out – to the great benefit of the poor and working class in this country.
We are now being told 40% of PPACA participants do not exist – We are seeing similar levels of Fraud in other left wing nut programs.
And democrats are electing people who want more ?
Ronald Coase wrote an excellent and readable book – a history of past Mao China that is also a really good primer on economics. How China became capitalist.
One of the factors that helped turn china arround post Mao is that Deng traveled elsewhere in the world and found that – as one of the most affluent men in one of the largest countries in the world – ordinary people in most of the rest of the world lived much better than he did.
It is better to be working class in the US than Middle class in Europe today.
It is better to be poor in the US – than most any class in most of the rest of the world.
We are throughout the world actually on the down slope away from socialism.
But failing socialists act desparately.
In the US the democratic party has a HGUGE problem – which I have been pointing out for years – without the far left – no democrat can get elected.
But embracing tghe far left makes you totally undetectable in almost all of the country.
The danger to this country is NOT the Mamdanis’ they well fail – and likely publicly on their own.
The danger is the Biden’s and the Obama’s who are more covert and ultimately more destructive.
Mary, we should be concerned, but not frightened. Every generation has its crisis. When I was young, we practiced getting under our desks in case Soviet nuclear bombs were launched. Then, later, we had the Cuban Missile Crisis. Along the way, the Soviets almost released nukes from a submarine stopped by one person. I am sure there were more close calls. We’ve had Ebola and a made-up deadly Covid virus. The young were worried that climate change would kill them and swallow up the coasts. We are still here.
What you are talking about is destruction from within. I agree. Though it is not imminent, it should be our number one concern. The mission of the Islamists in America is exactly as they say and write, “destroy the West from within.” They are tied together with the socialist left.
If you study the history of socialism and it’s abject failure everywhere you start to understand how brainwashed, indoctrinates and ignorant our people are today. You understand our school system is a total failure. Socialism becomes communism and then either fails like the USSR or morphs into fascism like China that now allows private ownership of the means of production but with total government control. All that is left is the heavy tax burden and repression.
And for those that mean to bring up Sweden because it has a lot of social programs remember it is still capitalist.
The socialist of today seems to be under a belief that wealth just is. This belief is implied in Karl Marx’s 1890 letter of Otto von Boenigk, ” [The ‘socialist society’s’] crucial difference from the present order consists naturally in production organized on the basis of common ownership by the nation of all means of production.” Marx and the socialist avoid discussion of the entrepreneurs that made inventions, that risked capital to prove their ideas, and that developed the means of production. Their world is remarkably static with the means of production there and the products already established. Indeed Thomas Sowell, in an essay in his 2002 book, “Controversial Essays”, writes, “No government of the left has done as much for the poor as capitalism has. Even when it comes to the redistribution of income, the left talks the talk but the free market walks the walk. What do the poor most need? They need to stop being poor. And how can that be done, on a mass scale, except by an economy that creates vastly more wealth? Yet the political left has long had a remarkable lack of interest in how wealth is created. As far as they are concerned, wealth exists somehow and the only interesting question is how to redistribute it.”
I don’t have a good answer to bring many of our misguided fellow citizens back to reason. But it seems to me that between easy money doled out by cities to favored groups for little effort and DEI hires in the academic and corporate worlds to be well paid for contributing little value except providing a diversity adornment, significant segments of our population have lost sight of the value of a dollar. Unfortunately, many cities have increased the minimum wage resulting in fewer teens working those jobs and getting valuable lessons. This raising the minimum wage is a self reinforcing cycle of destruction. The secondary schools and colleges certainly cannot be relied on.
In socialism wealth is something the ruling elites have, while everyone else has poverty. Socialism is not about equity, but about the ruling class’s power.
Don’t be fooled.
Exactly, Socialism cons the sheep into the herd mentality of we’re all equal. As they remove freedoms and liberties from the populace and slowly die the death from a once productive economic system to that of the communalism state of collapse, only then do the people realize they’ve been duped. Only then do they realize that the people with standing in the Party are the rank and file recipients of “wealth “ which is no longer cash, it’s goods, services, healthcare and housing, only then do they realize, they are last.
Exactly. Kurt Schlichter’s prescient novel “The People’s Republic” is a look into the crystal ball for what we’ll see.
The rulers are few and the ruled are many thereby removing the freedom from the many as well as the opportunity!
Like capitalism?
I don’t vote. I can’t participate in fraud. It’s entrapment.
Happy 4th
AGain – read rthe posts above – or look at reality – or actual economics or pretty much everything outside of the delusional left wing nut world.
Socialism fails directly in proportion to how much it is applied.
Free markets succeed in direct proportion to how much they are applied.
The DATA is unbelievably overwhelming.
If the data is so “unbelievably overwhelming,” please provide the specific peer-reviewed studies, government reports, or economic indices you are relying on.
Which specific data points show that a pure free market creates a healthier society than a social democracy?
Where is the data showing that privatized healthcare outperforms universal systems in cost-efficiency or life expectancy?
What economic study proves that leaving infrastructure, education, and childcare entirely to corporate profit creates more long-term stability for the working class?
You can shout the word “DATA” in capital letters, but until you provide actual citations, it is just an ideological opinion masquerading as a fact.
When we look at the most trusted, comprehensive economic data sets globally, the nations that integrate deep democratic socialist policies—high taxes, state-managed public assets, and massive universal welfare programs—consistently outperform pure free-market systems across nearly every quality-of-life metric:
Year after year, the top five spots are dominated by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. These are highly regulated economies with massive public sectors.
The Social Progress Index: This index measures basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity. Nordic and Western European nations with heavily funded social safety nets consistently rank at the top, far ahead of the United States.
The Human Development Index (HDI): Published by the United Nations, this combines life expectancy, education, and per capita income. The highest-ranking nations are those that treat healthcare and education as universal human rights, not commodities to be bought and sold on a free market.
You can call the progressive agenda a “delusional left-wing nut world,” but the current numbers out of New York City under Mayor Mamdani tell a very different story:
Fiscal Stability: The administration successfully closed a multi-billion dollar deficit and passed a $126 billion balanced budget without raising property taxes on working-class families.
Economic Inflow: Venture capital investment in NYC businesses reached $11.1 billion in early 2026.
Commercial Growth: Commercial office leasing has hit its highest levels since 2019.
If democratic socialist policies spelled immediate economic doom, private capital would be sprinting away from New York City. Instead, it is flooding in.
“The Human Development Index (HDI): Published by the United Nations, this combines life expectancy, education, and per capita income. The highest-ranking nations…”
GSX You are hiding behind big national averages that you clearly don’t understand. You are just using them to ignore how the real world actually works.
“If the data is so “unbelievably overwhelming,” please provide the specific peer-reviewed studies, government reports, or economic indices you are relying on.”
Again lets quit this idiotic pretense that perr review means something – data and analysis are either reproduceable and statistically valid or they are not.
You have already on your own found some of the evidence I have refered to – there is far more.
“Which specific data points show that a pure free market creates a healthier society than a social democracy?”
None – there is not and never has been a pure free market – but Frazer institute – which you cited – and many others you have not – have repeatedly provide – more freedom produces better outcomes. Coase won the Nobel prize for proving this – essentually as a mater of natural law.
“Where is the data showing that privatized healthcare outperforms universal systems in cost-efficiency or life expectancy?”
Your nordic countries would be a start There is only one developed country in the world that has non-private healthcare system – and that is the UK – and that is failing and slowly becoming a hybrid – What you call “universal healthcare” that supposedly exists throughout the world – ranges from undeveloped countries – that have laws – but almost nothing behind those laws – and actual healthcare is strictly private pay – to much of europe – which is primarly legally mandated private healthcare.
Sometimes – Much of Europe that is a legal requirement that people buy on their own health insurance, that meets minimal requirements,
In others it is “free” private healthcare paid for with high taxes on occasions there are a few non-private clinics – but nobody but britain has a truly overnment owned healthcare system – and as I said – that is failing.
Though messier – the US today is little different from most of Europe.
With respect to outcomes – life expectancy – nearly all variations in life expectancy throughout the world today have almost nothing to do with the healthcare system.
As I have pointed out over and over – antispetics, antibiotics and IV fluids will get ANY nation in the world to near 80 year life expectancy – and those are cheap.
Nearly every country in the world can provide a healthcare system like the US had in the 50’s and get close to 80 year life expectancy.
But that is NOT what Americans want – we do not want wards with 40 beds and no privacy and one or two nurses.
We want the modern state of the art – we want the Lamborghini of Health care – and that absolutely does improve the quality of our lives – but it does very little for life expectancy. Contra the left – people are not dying by the thousands for lack of healthcare – because the healthcare that distinguishes between life and death – is cheap.
“What economic study proves that leaving infrastructure, education, and childcare entirely to corporate profit creates more long-term stability for the working class?”
History. Conditions for the working class and everyone else have improved directly as we shifted from merchantilism and prior government controlled economic systems to the earliest forms of even partly free trade – and the freer that has become the better everyone has done.
The industrial revolution the computer revolution – now AI – all advances came because of free markets – socialism kills invocation – free markets create it.
I refered to to the BBC/PBS documentary on “the commanding heights:the battle for the world economy” – but that was based on a book – go find the book – it cites thousands of studies – and facts and data – or there is just about every modern nobel winning economist in the past hundred years. Or the works of 19th and 18th century economists back to Adam Smith. Actually go out and read The Wealth of Nations – it is more than a prier on economic theory – Classical liberal economics arose from Smiths analysis of why some nations grew wealthy over the prior 5 centuries and why some grew poorer. The british empire did not defeat the Spanish and the dutch and the french militarily – it did so economically FIRST. Regardless – the theroy and the data and the rules of economics are ALL IN THERE in Smith’s “an inquiry into the nature and causes of THE WEALTH OF NATIONS” Smith established 250 years ago – why ranting about the fact that Elon Musk is a trillionaire is STUPID 99.99999% of Musks wealth benefits other people – not him and there is absolutely nothing he can do about that – Smith had never heard of Musk – but still proved -0 whether they liked it or not the wealth of the uber rich – benefited others and the richer they were the greater the benefit to others.
“You can shout the word “DATA” in capital letters, but until you provide actual citations, it is just an ideological opinion masquerading as a fact.”
I have provided you many sources. I have provided primary sources in several other posts. YOU found frazier institute on your own – and Almost correctly understood their work.
“When we look at the most trusted, comprehensive economic data sets globally, the nations that integrate deep democratic socialist policies—high taxes, state-managed public assets, and massive universal welfare programs—consistently outperform pure free-market systems across nearly every quality-of-life metric:”
Not once not ever – there is a reason that the Nordic countries are no longer socialist – they were failing and changed – not completely but over time radically.
Your repeating garbage you heard from some idiot.
Even looking at the fake version of your own examples – There are approximately 10 nations in the world that are theoretically doing better than the US – out of 440 countries. The US is in the top 0.25%. Of those ten – is there a single one with over 20M people ? Is there a single one that is a large diverse country ?
Is there a single one that has such incredible diversity that even the majority race int he country – is still made up of dozens of different nationalities.
If Norway has a higher standard of living than the US – but it does not have a higher standard of living than North Dakota. Atleast half of US states – if treated as countries would beat out most of the top 10 countries you think are doing better.
Approximately 15% of this country is 1st or second generation immigrants – mostly from very poor south and central american countries – Take ANY of the countries you think are doing better – and add 15% very poor immigrants and see if they are still doing better ?
You are thoroughly blind to reality. Yes there is plenty of data and it is not hard to find – and at one time or another I have provided you with lots of it – including alot today.
Bujt this is so OBVIOUS a truth – that unless you are blind – you do not need economists to see it.
You rant about high social trust – the US is massively diverse – and it CAN NOT POSSIBLY EVER have that high social trust – people who are different just plain do not trust each other. They do not trust those with different religious belifs with different political beleifs, of different races of different national origen. Social trust is pretty much entirely the consequence of a monoculture – and the very nations you cite prove that – social trust in those nations tanked as they took in immigrants, now they are throwing them out.
The US does not and can not ever have the levels of social trust that the nations you fawn over do – yet we outperfom all of them.
No I do not care about fake metrics.
I do not care if other countries have “free healthcare” – if you are poor in the US – you have free healthcare, though the poor tend to use it badly – just as they tend to be bad at most everything – which is why many of them are poor. It is NOT a sign of a high standard of living to have free healthcare – because Healthcare is NOT free – not for anyone – your just playing games with how it is paid for. The only metric that matters – because it is the agregation of all other metrics – is standard of living – measure in GDP/person. I am specific about how to measure it – because you do not get to try to stuff in happiness metrics – they are already in GDP.
What we are freely able to consume is a reflection of our values – whatever they are with the weights each of us as individuals assigned to each thing
One of the principles of economics is “value is subjective” – that goes way beyond economics. We produce in order to consume – “the sole purpose of production is consumption” Adam Smith – and with the value others have assigned to what we produced – and our own choices as to what to produce knowing those values – we select whatever it is we want – limited only by what we have produced.
I have expressed that is words – but it is also math – and it SHOULD be logically obvious to you that there is no arrangement aside from freedom, that can possibly result in societally greater total value.
The above is just once again a permutation of Coases law. You know the one that won a nobel for one of the 4 greatest economists in the past 100 years.
“Year after year, the top five spots are dominated by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. ”
I beleive of the above only Norway – a country with relatively speaking immense oil wealth and a tiny number of people actually has a higher standard of living.
Further – not a single one of those countries has a higher standard of living than the top 25 US states – all of which are larger and large economies.
Your argument is that one or possibly two of a collection of Tiny monocultures dont even have real economies like the US and are economically crushed by most US states
and are not actually socialist or even socialist lite are economically superior ?
Does norway have a consequential steel industry ? Does it produce semiconductors ? Is it a top food exported for the world ? Is it the financial center of the world ?
Norwegians should be proud of their country – but it is no less idiotic to compare the US to Norway than to Monaco or the UAE – Both are wealthy countries with a high standard of living that is entirely unsustaiable oin their own. They are wealthy by giving other nations something highly valued. They are not able to stand on their own.
“These are highly regulated economies with massive public sectors.” actually pretty much every one of them is far more lightly regulated than the US. You really are clueless about all these countries.
Did you actually read the frazer institute evaluations you provided ?
“The Social Progress Index:”
Not even slightly interest – GPD/person encapsultates EVERYTHING – if whatever you think “swocial progress is – is actually of high value to people – that will be reflected in GDP. If it is not – then it is a fake value – in reality absolutely happieness and social progress and everything including the kitchen sink is in GDP – because we produce what we value – and GDP is the value of what we produce.
“This index measures basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity.”
So does GDP -= while measuring absolutely everything else. Further – instead of relying on some biased individual to weigh the value of each of these and myriads of other subjective values – GDP allows US to do that for ourselves.
When you go to the theater and buy tickets for a show – you are adding the Value YOU placed on that show to GDP.
If you did not value it enough – you would not buy the tickets. There is NOTHING you can come up with that humans value that is not withing GDP.
And equally important – GDP dynamically reflects its CURRENT value. We do not currently place a high value on water – it is absundant and things that are not scare tend not to have high value – but if waters abundance changes – its value will change to reflect that.
“Nordic and Western European nations with heavily funded social safety nets consistently rank at the top, far ahead of the United States.”
Of measures subjectively weighted for the purpose of placing them there.
Anyother reason I am not interested in anything besides GDP is YOU can not game it. US GDP is a reflection of the value that americans primarily and the rest of the place on what the US produces. and that includes everything we produce – even the things that make us happy.
“The Human Development Index (HDI): Published by the United Nations, this combines life expectancy, education, and per capita income. The highest-ranking nations are those that treat healthcare and education as universal human rights, not commodities to be bought and sold on a free market.”
You keep offering fake value schemes.
But lets actually look at those – of the top 100 colleges in the world – all but a handful are US colleges – I do nto think there is a single Nordic one in the list.
There is lots wrong with US education – that is YOUR fault – but we still do better by far than the rest of the world.
There is a famous query of the leader of Singapore regarding education – Students in Sigapore do significantly better than US students – But no nation produces the nobel prize winners the US produces. No nation produces the Elon Musks the Jeff Bezos, and on and on and on – A tiny portion of the US navy just obliterated Iran in a couple of months – no other nation in the world can do that. Nor is this just about our military might it is abotu our incredible accomplishments in EVERYTHING.
You rant about this stupid indexes – none of them meausre all of that. The US is not the best nation in the world in absolutely everything. But we aqre the best nation in the world in most things and when we are not best we are 2nd or 3rd or in the top 10 -0 there is not a single other nation in the world that ranks so highly in EVERYTHING
Which is precisely why you are full of schiff. You can not see the obvious.
“You can call the progressive agenda a “delusional left-wing nut world,””
I am not calling it that – it is.
“Fiscal Stability: The administration successfully closed a multi-billion dollar deficit and passed a $126 billion balanced budget without raising property taxes on working-class families.”
Meaningless.
“Economic Inflow: Venture capital investment in NYC businesses reached $11.1 billion in early 2026.”
And 5000 business left – NET is in MINUS OUT. NYC is NET losing – and it has been for sometime.
It has lost 12B in TAX REVENUE in the past few years – not capital – Tax revenue – that is a smkall percent of the CAPITAL that left.
“Commercial Growth: Commercial office leasing has hit its highest levels since 2019.”
No since 2020 – NYC is still not at prepandemic levels – and rents are DOWN 5% – despite the fact that US GDP has nearly doubled over the same time period
What does that mean ? It is like going to look at strip malls in the US – Sears is gone, Bosdcovs is gone, The malls are still there – and they are filled.
With mattress warehouse or Asian nail salons.
Again Tax revenues are DOWN 12B – that did not happen under Mamdani – he has not been their long enough.
But the FACT is that NYC is slowly being hollowed out – its Tax base is moving elsewhere -0 slowing,
it is being replaced – THAT is the figures you are citing – but they are Inflows only NOT NET VALUES
Revenue without expenses.
And if you are expecting that to improve under mamdani – your nuts.
This is true.
In socialism – wealth is something no one has. When Deng took power post Mao in china he visited the rest of the world and learned that as the supreme leader of China HE was poorer than most of the world.
The claim that “in socialism, wealth is something no one has” is flatly disproven by looking at the most successful mixed economies on earth today.Nations like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden utilize deep democratic socialist mechanisms—such as massive state-owned enterprises, high progressive taxes, and a comprehensive social safety net. Far from being impoverished, these countries have incredibly high GDPs per capita, thriving middle classes, and practically non-existent extreme poverty compared to pure free-market systems. Wealth exists abundantly in these societies; it is simply invested back into public infrastructure, universal healthcare, and education so that the entire population thrives, rather than just a handful of billionaires.
nope. not true. they are capitalist to the bone and very successful ones at that. they LOVE capitalism as much as true Americans.
there is literally NO element or form of democratic socialism in those counties.
X is still embarrassed over this too.
Sowell is right as usual. To the extent today’s socialist left has a narrative about past wealth creation it is just a repressive form of redistribution involving domestic and imperialist colonial exploitation which they see as the essence of capitalism. They do not credit the genuinely wealth creating benefits of private property, free exchange, the price mechanism and entrepreneurial activity. To them, these are just cover for the preservation of the status of those who currently have wealth and power. They can be done away with and wealth will nonetheless continue to appear, by magic.
I would bet if you listed a survey to Democrats that listed the core principles of Communism, you would get a similar result!!!!
If you are one of the 28% of Democratic voters who are scared of this shift, why are you still supporting this party? The moderates are no longer welcome. The writing is one the wall. You just have to read it.
Traditional Democrat voters have to vote Republican and there has to be a blow-out a couple of times before the Party leaders see the handwriting on the wall and go back to be a center left Party. Our country needs two strong parties, one a little right of center and the other a little left of center. We don’t need huge change. Our liberties are important to preserve against the Government, and a free market economy by its nature adjusts more rapidly and effectively than any planned economy.
I am seriously concerned that the democratic party is beyond recovery.
Democratic leaders can NOT turn their backs on the left – increasingly elections are being won by small margins.
The republican base is broad and made up of many competing views – there are squabless – but the closest to a fracture was the departure of Neocons from Trump
, and Trump 47 may well be drwaing many back – I am not sure that is a good thing. Regardless no group of republicans today is going to sit out elections if they do not get what they want.
Conversely -= Democrats can not win nationwide elections, and many many other elections without the enthusiastic support of their far left.
But increasingly they can not win elections while embracing their far left.
It is a lose-lose situation.
The only democrat who seems to have managed – is Sen. Fetterman – and PA is a strange state it is almost evenly split – but MOSTLY PA Democrats are traditional blue collar working class democrats.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
The Pig leaders are allways special
Colleges and universities quit educating people long ago. Accordingly, it would be better if people stopped referring to the radical DSA intellectual thugs now infecting the Republic as “college educated.” A better descriptor is “college indoctrinated.”
Professor Turley: 27% of Americas are currently registered as Democrats. 62% of those Democrats surveyed said they would consider voting for a Democratic Socialist; that equates to carrying 16% of the voting public. Perspective is essential. While the socialist rise is very concerning for the Democratic Party apparatus that embraced them, then cheated them, assuming they had nowhere else to go, it’s not “Rome is burning” for the Republic, yet. Let’s not add excessive oxygen to the small but vocal ember of socialism.
Indeed. Let’s stamp it out now. While it’s an “ember.”
Your numbers are wrong.
You can get different numbers elsewhere by shifting definitions – such as democrat vs lean democrat – but the FACT is that meaningful support for socialism – though much higher than it ought to be is still fringe.
DK – good post,
This is really the last gasps of Woke. Wounded animals are dangerous – but they do eventually die.
*. Obstinate defiance disorder is intractable.
“The party was always in favor of social welfare programs but remained ardently committed to free markets and free speech. ”
Turley continually misses a crucial point regarding the so-called “decay” of liberalism. Social welfare programs require mandatory taxation of productive individuals and enterprises to sustain them. The inherent nature of such programs is for more and more people who are not exceptionally strong willed (that is, most of the population) to rely on those “free lunches” in lieu of diligently pursuing hard work and taking prudent risks to get ahead. The result is an ever increasing burden of taxation required to support those programs eventually becoming oppressive and confiscatory. Such programs are inherently incompatible with a free market (and, ultimately, with free speech, since rational, honest speech portraying the faults of such systems must be stifled to prevent the truth from becoming widely known and accepted). Many or most politicians find that pandering to the non-productive parasite class that they created is by far the easiest path to re-election, and to gaining nearly unlimited power and enrichment from their positions. From that point of view, today’s “woke” Democrats are a very logical, predictable evolution of the liberal Democrats with whom Turley once made common cause. Republicans, while not quite as thoroughly implicated, have also been far from guiltless in this perversion, but Turley’s subject today is Democrats.
Don Wannutono (Estovir): Tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations are even more obnoxious than benefits to low-income types.
High taxes on businesses (“corporations”) translate into taxes on all people through higher prices. Usually such taxes hit the working poor the hardest.
You just described Trump’s tariffs.
Then the chinese should love Trump’s tariffs. How come they don’t?
Two different things. Though they may well be laughing about how Trump is damaging the U.S. economy. The main point you avoided is that everyday Americans are paying the cost of the tariffs.
The primary indicators of economic health are strong growth and falling inflation. Dismissing the current economy as ‘damaged’ ignores the definitive empirical data.
Democratic and Socalist is an oxymoron. When today’s Democrats speak of democracy they mean it in the sense of “Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.”
But now the Democrat Party has done the neat trick of combining nazism and communism.
More ‘Nazi’ references means it’s Estovir again.
LAME as usual from ANON.
IMHO all communicators’ stylebooks should be revised to use the term “Democrat” rather than “Democratic” when referring to party affiliation. Democrats, individually and as a party, haven’t been democratic for a long time – remember the 2024 presidential election? – and we should be far more selective in using the word “democratic” in speech and in writing.
Growing up in a poor Polish family on the Southwest side of Chicago West of Midway Airport, our 23rd Ward would always vote against Mayor Daley. This is in the 60s. We would be greeted at the polling place(Byrne School) by ‘thugs’ with baseball bats telling us to vote Democratic. They underestimated us Polish people having been treated by Nazis, Commies and others. We believed in FREEDOM and we got ahead on our own WITHOUT HANDOUTS! We are a Constitutional Republic, NOT a Communist Collective. — Joe_in_Indiana
Joe, I found this AI Summary:
Historically, the 23rd Ward was not a monolith that always voted against Mayor Daley. In fact, the Southwest Side ward, which includes neighborhoods like Garfield Ridge and Archer Heights, was a reliable part of the Democratic stronghold during the tenures of both Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley.
For much of the modern political era, the ward was aligned with Mayor Richard M. Daley, represented by loyalist aldermen such as William O. Lipinski and Michael R. Zalewski. While aldermen like Jim Laski occasionally led localized city council revolts on specific property tax hikes, the ward’s electorate and political organization consistently supported the Daley administration in mayoral elections.
Chicago;s 23rd has been losing its White population for years, whites technically became a minority in 2020 census.
Good for Joe in INdiana!
Wait a minute. Putin has a great big grin. Considering that Trump is a Russian socialist stooge, the pampered college kids should be voting for Republicans because Trump is just a closet socialist spy in Putin’s back pocket. Isn’t this what they told us? Perhaps they would be more comfortable with Hamas at the massacre of Jewish women and would gleefully help Hamas stab a Jewish woman in her vagina. As planned, the study of socialism in world history has been removed from the college curriculum with the heartfelt approval of Joe Biden and Barack HUSAIN Obama. Who wouldn’t have guessed?
55 years ago, 58,150 of our best young Americans were sacrificed for another country’s freedom. Unfortunately, history shows that because of greed corruption and subversion of both America and South Vietnam, it was for nothing. Afterwards, 2M people were exterminated in that country. I had friends and family in that number, many went because they knew and believed, end the cancer of liberty there before it found its way here. Honor to those that gave all, oath to fight to the death here iwhen it comes time here.
Condolences.
The Democrats have always compartmentalized their voters. Previously, it was unions, urbanites, blacks, women, and the lower middle class. Now it has become hate: the rich and Jews – and Trump. Trump is new, but hatred of the rich and Jews have been used previously across the world to motivate voters. The Republicans would be foolish to simply point out the folly of socialism to win votes. That may not work. They need to do a big think.
50 years from now will be our tercentennial. The present and past we hold dear under the Constitution today points to celebrating the tercentennial on our part of Earth, Earth’s Moon, and Mars. That view has what the socialists neglected to offer. Hope.