New York City’s new socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani recently took the oath of office, and offered with a smile an encapsulation of everything that’s wrong with progressivism, past and present:
Thanks Peter. Happy new year. too much wisdom here. Think the Minnesota fraud might be the turning point we have been waiting for, DOGE 2.0. Money spicket needs to be turned off. Chicago has already run out of OPM and the clock is ticking for local bankruptcies. Pension funds at 20% funded will not survive actuarial scrutiny. Sooner the better.
I've heard people say: "Once they realize Mamdani's plans do not work, they'll dump him and restore market sanity." Um, no. The sad fact is that people just don't learn from history. As Peter has repeatedly pointed out, there is ample evidence out there that socialism doesn't work but free enterprise does. But few bother to look at the data.
Peter, this post is a real keeper. I'm sharing it with my grandkids, who are right now being browbeat by their college profs to become socialists. I couldn't possibly state the case for capitalism any better.
The term “rugged individualism” is a bit of a strawman. I’m a libertarian, but I don’t consider myself “rugged” – not into camping, hunting, fishing. Lone cowboy riding the trail? The last horse I had anything to do with cost me ten bucks when it came in seventh.
Now, I’ll further impugn my macho credentials by referencing an ancient Barbra Streisand song and acknowledging that “people do need people”. A modern economic and social structure requires cooperation among individuals. But both efficiency and justice require that this “cooperation” be based on mutual consent, not the coercive “warm embrace of collectivism”.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the tea kettle is whistling and it’s time to watch “The View”.
Thanks Peter. Happy new year. too much wisdom here. Think the Minnesota fraud might be the turning point we have been waiting for, DOGE 2.0. Money spicket needs to be turned off. Chicago has already run out of OPM and the clock is ticking for local bankruptcies. Pension funds at 20% funded will not survive actuarial scrutiny. Sooner the better.
Would be nice, but I fear it's sweeping back the tide. Too many people are too reluctant to admit they were wrong.
I've heard people say: "Once they realize Mamdani's plans do not work, they'll dump him and restore market sanity." Um, no. The sad fact is that people just don't learn from history. As Peter has repeatedly pointed out, there is ample evidence out there that socialism doesn't work but free enterprise does. But few bother to look at the data.
Peter, this post is a real keeper. I'm sharing it with my grandkids, who are right now being browbeat by their college profs to become socialists. I couldn't possibly state the case for capitalism any better.
Awesome! Thank you.
The term “rugged individualism” is a bit of a strawman. I’m a libertarian, but I don’t consider myself “rugged” – not into camping, hunting, fishing. Lone cowboy riding the trail? The last horse I had anything to do with cost me ten bucks when it came in seventh.
Now, I’ll further impugn my macho credentials by referencing an ancient Barbra Streisand song and acknowledging that “people do need people”. A modern economic and social structure requires cooperation among individuals. But both efficiency and justice require that this “cooperation” be based on mutual consent, not the coercive “warm embrace of collectivism”.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, the tea kettle is whistling and it’s time to watch “The View”.
More than a bit. It's part of the conflation of government and society, as if the only way people can look after each other is through government.
Fact is, we *do* look after each other even when we engage in capitalism. Mutually beneficial transactions are a form of helping one another.
As for The View? I'd rather chew hot asphalt.
Chew hot asphalt? Now THAT’s rugged! I’ll have to try it.