GOP Socialism is Here



If watching political theater is entertainment rather than frustration, watching Trump's Republican Party is as good as it gets. In many aspects, Trump and his Republican Congress have decided government needs to run the economy, as least the parts where there are lots of votes, and this old business of Capitalism needs to be buried in the sands of time. 

This is happening in so many places it's hard to recall them all. We can start with the Federal Government buying a huge stake in Intel, the U. S. chip maker. According to something I read, the Federal Government is buying up shares in many companies each week. Does Trump, or others who do his bidding, think they are so brilliant they will be able to make these companies profit powerhouses? Or, do they think they can make manufacturing companies so successful they will hurt China? 

A faction of the GOP is opposed to this expansion of "socialism" but of course they don't use that word. Socialism and "Communism" are pinned on Democrats so Republicans cannot be accused of them. 

As the link correctly points out, the general differentiation used in economics the line between Capitalism, which includes government paying for roads, national defense, etc., and Socialism is crossed when government takes ownership of a nation's resources and/or its production of goods and services. When Trump bought a big piece of Intel's stock, this was a move into the nation's productive resources not done, at least to this extent, by Democrats. It is a definite step toward Socialism.

The link says Trump Republicans see this as popular. Democrats have also seen it as popular and have had success with a larger public sector. The GOP version has the government owning industries and employing workers. The Democrat version has more health care, education and low-income assistance.

To illustrate the mistakes Republicans will probably make we only need to look at the mistake Biden Democrats made. They had government entering the world of production by subsidizing electric automobiles. There was a confidence this was a good move for the U.S. economy and environment. It was a mistake. Biden Democrats should not have thought they had figured out the complexity of automobiles and what the public will tolerate. Trump Republicans are buying firms and industries thinking, like Biden Democrats, they are smarter than the public. I have my doubts. 

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