Friday, February 22, 2019

Bernie Sanders: Breadlines Are A "Good Thing"


                In the 1980s, America’s economy was surging, much like it is now. It was “morning in America,” and all boats were rising with the economic tide. Ronald Reagan was president, and the fruits of capitalism allowed him to stare down the Soviet Union and win the Cold War without firing a shot. The Evil Empire eventually collapsed under the weight of enervating, smothering, odious, soul-destroying socialism.
                But Bernie Sanders wasn’t buying it. In 1985 he said: "You know, it's funny. Sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is when people are lining up for food. That's a good thing. In other countries, people don't line up for food. The rich get the food and the poor starve to death.”
                No, that’s not how it works, Bernie. Never has been. Nobody lines up for food in the U.S., and the poor don’t starve to death like they do elsewhere. They go to grocery stores and select from a staggering array of produce from across all the food groups. They decide which cereal to buy from among hundreds of choices. They pick from regular, low-fat, no-fat, gluten-free, sugar-free, and a myriad other options. They choose between sea-salt, tomato basil, cracked-pepper and olive oil, barbecue, jalapeno, asiago cheese, cheddar, dill and a dozen other types of crackers. There are separate dairy, meat, bakery and deli departments. The federal government spends $75 billion dollars a year on a food stamp program to help those “less fortunate.” Shelters and volunteers feed the indigent and drug-addled around the country. The number one health problem in America is obesity. Even among her poor. Often because they are busy watching cable television or are immersed in their smart-phones. Income inequality between the rich and poor in America is less than in most other countries. All of this is due to a free market, capitalist economic system. (As the Carter and Obama years made abundantly clear, it is when we alter, modify, repress, or abolish parts of the free market economy that everything goes to hell in a communally-made sustainable hand-basket).
                Meanwhile, in Venezuela, people are leaving or starving or both. The failed socialist government (and there is no other kind) rations food, water and toilet paper. Much as was the case in the Soviet Union. North Koreans are also literally starving under the People’s Economic System. In Cuba, a class 5 hurricane can’t do much damage in economic terms, because there isn’t anything costly to destroy. Everywhere true socialism is deployed, the people lose freedom, weight and hope.
                Sorry, Bernie, but people standing in a 2-hour long line waiting to purchase bread, potatoes and toilet paper aren’t a sign of a healthy, egalitarian society.
                Your popularity, however, is a sign of an increasingly ignorant one.




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