Boston Herald

Socialism wrong path for U.S. economy

- By BETSY MCCAUGHEY Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and a former lieutenant governor of New York.

The most striking difference between Democrats and Republican­s is not their views on #MeToo, affirmativ­e action or the Supreme Court. It’s how they view the economy. Republican­s deplore socialism. But more than half of Democrats view socialism favorably, according to a recent Gallup poll. The Democratic Party’s left flank is turning the midterm elections into a referendum on capitalism. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, New York congressio­nal candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and dozens of other federal and state candidates protest that our economic system is unjust and needs an overhaul. They demand radical changes like giving workers control of 40 percent of corporate board seats and making boards serve vague goals of social justice instead of maximizing profits. They’re also pushing for huge minimum wage hikes. These changes will tank the economy and hurt the very workers the party claims to represent. The left is revving up attacks on capitalism just as workers on the bottom rungs are beginning to benefit from the booming U.S. economy. According to last week’s jobs report, unemployme­nt has been pushed back to its lowest level since 1969. Pay for people without a college education jumped almost 6 percent since last year — triple the overall wage gain. Tell that to Sanders. He waged a blistering attack against Amazon and its subsidiary, Whole Foods, until last week, when the giant retailer buckled and announced a minimum $15 an hour wage for all workers. Don’t worry about Amazon. The giant retailer can pass its costs onto consumers, but Amazon employees lose. Amazon canceled performanc­e bonuses and stock awards for hourly workers to offset the minimum wage hike. The biggest losers are lowskilled job seekers priced out of the market. Large minimum wage hikes result in lost entry-level job opportunit­ies, research shows. Minorities are hit hardest. On the other hand, Trump is getting tough on low wages where they hurt American workers the most — in foreign countries. Trump’s revised trade agreement with Mexico stipulates that more than 40 percent of auto manufactur­ing work must be done by workers who earn $16 an hour. Meanwhile, Democratic presidenti­al wannabe Elizabeth Warren has introduced the Accountabl­e Capitalism Act, which would give workers control of 40 percent of corporate board seats and a veto over many corporate decisions. It would also compel boards to focus on murky “community and societal factors” instead of maximizing profitabil­ity. Investors won’t put their money into an enterprise under those conditions. Warren’s legislatio­n would cause the stock market to plummet, taking down millions of people’s retirement­s and wiping out the capital needed to create future growth and jobs. Shockingly, this woman wants to be president. Democrats in favor of socialism need to take a hard look at the results in Venezuela and Cuba. Is that what they want for America?

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