Socialism Leads to Poverty:
My Take on Why Socialism Leads to Poverty:
Socialism is an ideology that leads to poverty for everyone but the ruling elite. Either the socialists will steal everything from you, or, because of the socialist system, you’ll have nothing to begin with! We cannot let Bernie Sanders force socialism upon us if he’s in a position to do so, and we can’t let politicians like Joe Biden do it now through ridiculous tax plans that will lead only to national poverty!
AOC’s taxes for socialism would strip huge amounts of wealth from the American citizenry and deposit it in the federal coffers. Those taxes would destroy people and businesses who want nothing more than to make a profit and build up their savings (if they understand the importance of saving and investing). The fact is, higher taxes are bad for the economy and the average American can comprehend, at a base level, that taxation is theft if meant as a program of redistributing wealth. They know, as did past Americans, that socialism leads to poverty and should, therefore, be avoided at all costs.
In the past, that profit and saving would have been rewarded by both parties. Now, only President Donald Trump and some of the Republicans understand that tax cuts are good for all and that capitalism leads to wealth. Republicans know that socialism leads to poverty and murder; Democrats don’t. Hence why they continue to support policies that would impoverish America by taxing its entrepreneurs, the people that have, in the past, made us incredibly prosperous, out of existence.
Socialism is an awful system; not only is it an ideology of envy, but also socialism leads to poverty. Because of capitalism, the American middle class is doing well. If AOC and Bernie are able to put their socialist policies and fraudulent agendas in place, then everything will fall apart and America will go from the most prosperous nation in the world to one of the poorest. Don’t laugh. The idea is not that ridiculous. If socialism is implemented here, it will lead to only misery and horrible economic circumstances because that is what happens; socialism leads to poverty and there is no way around it.
Just look at the examples of “real communism and socialism” from around the world: Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc. Despite Bernie Sanders’s contention that Venezuela is a better example of the American dream than America, it is, like all of those nations, an awful, poverty-stricken place that was utterly destroyed and economically gutted by socialism. Would you rather live in a capitalist paradise or socialist hellhole? I know I would prefer capitalism.
But why is that? Why is it always true that socialism leads to poverty? Because socialism destroys the economic incentives that make society work.
With the brand of capitalism found in The Wealth of Nations or Free Market Revolution, the incentive to work hard is always there. As long as there is little to no corporatism, the harder you work, the more you will earn. If you work hard, save and invest, and don’t make horrible life choices, then you will generally do well and be able to provide for your family. That is what makes capitalism virtuous and what makes it work; it puts your economic future in your hands and lets you build your own future and fortune.
As a result, society grows wealthier. Investors and industrialists build new factories, banks, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses, all of which provide jobs and opportunities for others to work hard and start making money, if they want to work there. While that process happens, the economy grows and everyone becomes richer. Yes, there is economic inequality, but that is a reflection of who is the most successful, not of some deep injustice.
In short, capitalism aligns incentive structures so that people work hard and are free, and, as a result, leads to wealth and prosperity.
Socialism, on the other hand, does the exact opposite; socialism leads to poverty because it destroys the incentive structures that lead to economic growth. Under a socialist economy, the harder you work, the more that will be demanded of you and your rewards are commiserate not with the value you provide, as is the case with capitalism, but instead with what the central government sees as your “need.” That’s the ideology of communism/socialism, which Ayn Rand explains well in Atlas Shrugged with her depiction of the 20th Century Motors plant:
Try pouring water into a tank where there’s a pipe at the bottom draining it out faster than you pour it, and each bucket you bring breaks that pipe an inch wider, and the harder you work the more is demanded of you, and you stand slinging buckets forty hours a week, then forty-eight, then fifty-six for your neighbor’s supper — for his wife’s operation — for his child’s measles — for his mother’s wheel chair… — it’s theirs to receive, from diapers to dentures — and yours to work, from sunup to sundown, month after month, year after year, with nothing to show for it but your sweat, with nothing in sight for you but their pleasure… From each according to his ability, to each according to his need…
“We’re all one big family, they told us, we’re all in this together. But you don’t all stand working an acetylene torch ten hours a day — together, and you don’t all get a bellyache — together. What’s whose ability and which of whose needs comes first? When it’s all one pot, you can’t let any man decide what his own needs are, can you? If you did, he might claim that he needs a yacht — and if his feelings is all you have to go by, he might prove it, too.
Why not? If it’s not right for me to own a car until I’ve worked myself into a hospital ward, earning a car for every loafer and every naked savage on earth — why can’t he demand a yacht from me, too, if I still have the ability not to have collapsed? No? He can’t? Then why can he demand that I go without cream for my coffee until he’s replastered his living room?”
The passage goes on, but the basic message remains the same throughout. Socialism leads to poverty because it erodes the ability of people to actually earn money. Instead of being able to work hard and earn, as happens under a capitalist system, people have to work like slaves and are “gifted” money/supplies/food/etc. based on their “need.”
Because no one is able to actually earn money, socialism leads to poverty. Without incentive structures to work hard in place, it is impossible to create wealth because no one will want to do so. Who wants to work hard if all they get in return is more work and no extra money? Other than zealots, nobody.
And that is what Bernie Sanders and his ilk need to learn. Socialism leads to poverty. That is inescapable because it is at the very root of socialism itself. As long as an economic system is structured according to the idea “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need, it is impossible to induce investors to create the new factories, shops, offices, etc. that drive forward economic growth. There will be no returns, much less money to invest with in the first place, so no one wants to or is able to invest and grow the economy,
That is why socialism leads to poverty. It is an intellectually bankrupt system that destroys economies and rips away any investment. If Americans want to be prosperous, they should demand more capitalism, not more regulations and socialism.
So, during this election cycle, keep in mind the fact that socialism leads to poverty. Donald Trump is not perfect, but he wants capitalism to be the economic system in America, not socialism. It is impossible to say the same about Biden and the democratic socialists that support him. So, if you want to avoid poverty, vote for Trump!
By: Gen Z Conservative
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