Who pays for utopia? | Hour 3

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to vpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. So I have an uncomfortable question to ask, but you know me, I ask them anyway, who is going to pay for Utopia? Because I'm hearing a lot of really awesome ideas about how we're gonna have heaven on Earth pretty soon. But I'm looking at the price tag and I'm not sure. I'm not sure we can afford it. But Pete, we can't not afford it. We can't afford not to. This story from end analysis from the Cato Institute's Adam Mitchell reminds me of the hilarious response that the North Carolina Legislature had in response to the Momo. The Momomo the Moral Munday movement, remember that popped up in the wake of the election of mayor Pat m Pat McCrory as governor, but also the Republican electoral takeover of the legislature, their super majorities, and the Democrat party in this state was hollowed out after scandals and fiscal bankruptcy and it was just they were just a mess and they had been swept out of power, and Republicans had the trifecta, and so, you know, enter the void or the breach, if you will. One Reverend William Barber who led his he was doing these they called it the was it the HK on j I think is what it called. They were annual marches, the historic thousand on Jones Street, I think it's what it was, a march, and it was like black churches whatever, and they were they would do in march, and he basically took that model and turned it into this vehicle for Democrats. And Democrats were completely you know, hollowed out as a party. They could not organize this stuff themselves, so they just kind of glombed on to Reverend Barber's action. And then they got the teachers' unions involved, and so every Monday they were marching on the Capitol and they were like, we demand you spend a lot more money, right, And the legislature, the legislative leaders, they when the when the the Momo MO finally put together their list of demands, the legislative leaders took that to the legislative research staff and they said. Priceless for us. And when the price came back, it was, I forget how much, but it was way more than the state actually brought in in revenue. It would bankrupt the state that they're there. It was like, I want to say, it was somewhere like sixty eighty billion dollars something like that, and our budget was twenty This is what they demand, right, So all they do is demand programs and services with flowery language, euphemistic terms, and there's there's never any fiscal accountability for their hypothetical proposals. And now the Cato Institute has run the numbers on the Democratic Socialists of America platform their proposals, their new spending, and what they found is it would more than triple federal spending, which is fine because like we're not running deficits at all at the federal level. I mean, that is a model of fiscal prudence up there. They proposed the government pay for healthcare, housing, higher education, and electricity, among others. All jobs would be government guaranteed what could go wrong. Retirement benefits would be expanded, paid, family leave is universal, fossil fuels eliminated, and reparations are paid. The DSA platform claims that the bill for all of this will be sent to. The richest individuals and the corporations. You got to say it like that, because it's scary. Tally up the bill and at ballpark somewhere between either anywhere from seventy one trillion dollars to two hundred and twelve trillion dollars in new spending new spending seventy one oh sorry, over a decade. So basically it would at least on the low end of this analysis, because it's a pretty widespread seventy one trillion to twelve trillion. That's because the DSA, Yeah, they leave out a lot of details in their list of demands. Right, So we are spending somewhere in the neighborhood. I think it was somewhere around seven trillion right now, and we don't even have have half of that. Like, we're deficit spending at a pace that's almost like double what we take in so if you divide the seventy one trillion by a decade, because this is a seventy one trillion over the next decade, so that's seven trillion year. So that's basically so what they're demanding is at a minimum, doubling federal spending at a minimum. Okay, we're already at a deficit. We're only taking in about three to four trillion if I recall correctly, So you want to what triple the deficit every single year? See, and most people when they hear this, they would say, well, that's crazy. Why would you propose that kind of level of spending if you know we can't afford it? Right, we'd have to raise all. These taxes and take in all of this extra revenue, Like, why would you do that? It seems like it would bankrupt the country. That's the point. That is the point, because destruction is the purpose. As I mentioned last hour, what you see happening in Los Angeles, what you see happening in New York City right with these DSA radical leftists in charge, destruction is the purpose. Any means they can use to take control, including destruction, is the point because by gaining control, they can then destroy capitalism, because that's what they're really about. Because the issue isn't the issue. The issue is always the revolution, the communist revolution, the Marxist revolution. So, okay, could we actually afford this? Cato took a look at that too, confiscating every dollar of the highest richie riches, of the richie richests, if you took every dollar of their wealth, and you took every dollar of corporate profit, that would only cover a fraction of the costs, which would mean what to implement this utopia, you would need to tax the middle class. So they looked at universal healthcare the cost There they went to a low end estimate all the way to a high end estimate. So I'll run through the lowest. These are the low end estimates of what these things would cost. This gets you to the seventy one trillion over ten years. Okay, universal healthcare forty trillion, reparations thirteen and a half, federal jobs guarantee four and a half, housing for all three point four, infrastructure and transit three point four, green energy investments three point two, publicly funded retirement two trillion, paid family leave seven hundred billion, free college six hundred billion. Those are the low end estimates. High end estimates, Well they're much higher as you might have guessed, and that's what gets you to two hundred and twelve trillion dollars. So and they point out in this analysis that this is an imperfect exercise, which is why the low end and high end estimates it's such a large spread. Oh, by the way, you know what I saw. There was an article. I did not pull it for the prep pile, but I saw that. Excuse me. I saw the headline that the I think it was Finland. They have a sovereign wealth fund where everybody shares in the profits of. The of the oil industry. Right, so they have this sovereign wealth fund and apparently there's like billions of dollars that are invested in Tesla. So you're Scandinavian, your Scandinavian socialist model relies on it's not even a socialism. And the Scandinavians get very touchy when you say this too. They're like, we're not socialism were I forget what they call it, but it's a regulated capitalism or something like that. I forget what they call it, but they don't call it socialism. But for the people who are like, oh, we want socialism, you know, like Sweden has, like Norway and Finland. That's the kind of Scandinavian socialism, that's what we're talking about. But those things are propped up by cowboy capitalism here in America. Like they're taking that money from their natural resources, putting it into an investment fund and then buying stock in US because they know just like all socialist economies, all communist economies, they all rely on capitalism. This is what Ludvig von Mis has pointed out a century ago, Like you can't run a commi or command control economy. You can't run it without the concepts of a free market. It's impossible, which is why they always fail. All right. For over a year now you've heard me talking about Create a Video, great local company in mint Hill that has helped more than two million families preserve their memories by turning old photos, VHS, tapes, film reels and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now creative videos helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. Introducing group travel videos perfect for family reunions, church mission trips, group vacations, destination weddings, student trips, senior adult groups, sports, teams, I mean, really any gathering of people that you care about that's traveling together. 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You can email Katie Katie at group travel videos dot com. Group travel videos from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. So the kto In Institute took a look at the DSA demands, all of their plans for utopia, and they ran the numbers and quickly realized that if we were to do the things the DSA wants to do, the cost would be anywhere from seventy one trillion to two hundred and twelve trillion over the next decade. Okay, So that's the expense side of the ledger. Let's look at the revenue side of the ledger. Where are you going to get the money. In the US, federal, state, and local governments spend almost forty percent of GDP gross domestic product. That's everything that America produces. Okay. So if you look at our GDP, everything we produce, government spends forty percent of that, which is nuts. It is absolutely nuts. Okay, So forty percent of GDP. By the way, if you look over at like the European Union, it's forty nine percent on average. The high end of that is Finland at fifty eight percent. The low end of that is Ireland at twenty two percent. So Ireland actually has a lower government spend as a percentage of GDP than we do. Using the lower bound estimates, So taking the low side of these estimates, the DSA agenda would raise US spending to over fifty seven percent of GDP. That's the low end. If you were to take the high end estimates, the US government spending would reach ninety two percent of GDP. So basically, nine out of ten dollars worth of everything that is created in the country would be spent by government. No comparable country on Earth spends anywhere close to that amount thesa's the DSA agendas spending could give the government a claim on national output much closer to estimates of state control under Soviet style communism, which has never really been tried. The federal government is projected to collect seventy trillion dollars in taxes over the next decade, roughly eighteen percent of GDP. Paying for the DSA agenda would require roughly doubling federal revenue at the low end and quadrupling it at the high end, in addition to the revenue needed to cover the Congressional budget offices twenty four trillion dollar projected ten year deficit. The DSA suggests we'll just get the rich to pay, and the corporations, they'll pay all, they'll pay for all of the new outlays. The problem with that is there's not enough money in those two groups. The four hundred wealthiest Americans were worth a record six point six trillion dollars. So let's take all of their wealth, take it all six point six trillion. That would cover only about nine percent of the low end revenue three percent of the highest estimate. Their wealth could be seized only once, though, and if you attempt to liquidate trillions of dollars in assets, that would in turn drive the value down. So now let's look over at the domestic corporate profit side. After federal taxes are projected to be about thirty five trillion over the next decade. So let's take every dollar from all of those corporate profits. That would fund half of the low end estimate and only seventeen percent of the high end estimate. That also assumes that firm would. Continue operating normally while the government took every cent of their profit. But I would submit that without a profit motive, they would not continue to be in business. So you take all of the richie rich money, you take all of the corporate profits, and you still can't fund it. The entire wealth of the richest Americans, plus every dollar of corporate profit and maximum top income tax rates as well, still leaves the DSA agenda anywhere from twenty nine trillion to one hundred and sixty nine trillion dollars short. So where do you go. Well, the only remaining source of revenue large enough to cover the DSA agenda is the same one that every large European welfare state relies on, which is the middle class. To cover the DSA's high end spending estimates, every one dollar the federal government collects today would need to become about four dollars and thirty six sense. Applying that increase to individual income tax rates would push the twenty four percent bracket above one hundred percent and the top rate above one hundred and sixty percent. There aren't enough rich people or corporations to pay for all of these all of these things. So when they say we just want to tax the rich, the rich is everybody. That's what they're that's what they're advocating. That's who pays for heaven on Earth. A bunch of people have weighed in on the cost of utopia. Stanley says, So the DSA proposal basically wants to guarantee all citizens their needs, including a job. Question, if the government is guaranteeing all my needs, why would I want or need a job? There in lies the fundamental problem with Commonism Marxism. People will not work. We already tested this, by the way, in America, there are examples beyond the Pilgrims. They tried this. That was their initial economic plan. Basically, Russe Lumbo used to talk about this every Thanksgiving. That was the initial plan. There was another story I've got someplace in my uh in my files. I had not heard of it. Some some richie rich went and started an entire town, you know, and based on a Marxist model. Do You'll never guess how it ended. Yeah, nobody did any work. People quit working. That's what happens. And by the way, this is one of the reasons why I say this philosophy, this Marxist philosophy, is evil. Is because. It is through work that we find purpose fulfillment, satisfaction. Right. I'm not saying, you know, be only all about the work. I'm not saying that. I mean God worked six out of seven days, right, he only rested on the on the seven. So there is something intrinsically valuable about work. There is something intrinsically human about work, and if you don't work, you get sort of separated from that value. All right, Kevin says, uh, pete. To your point, Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund is heavily invested in US capitalism. A crash in US markets could cause the two point three trillion dollar fund to drop to drop by about one third in value. Even the supposed good socialist. Countries are reliant on US capitalism, that is correct, seven. One seven number says. My guess is with this kind of spending by the DSA they're proposing, it may be a great way to protect our borders because nobody is going to want to come to the United States anymore. When when, yes, Steve the lib pete, what happens when capitalism fails? So okay, So I reject the premise. Capitalism, I would argue, does not fail. Capitalism or free markets only fail if government disrupts the free markets, when government constrains, when government regulates, when government puts its thumb on the scale, right, crony capitalism, that is a different thing. If you're talking about use of government and connections to legislate things right, monopolies right that distort the markets. So you know, you're talking about the corruption of markets which make them not free markets. So I, like, I am not. One that says, you know, just don't have any kinds of guard rails on the markets. I don't advocate for that. So what happens when capitalism fails like the banks? And oh eight? Well you know why say, there you go, there's a fundamentally flawed premise. Is that capitalism is not why the banks failed. The banks failed because they were adhering too all of the regulations that they are under, specifically the ones that allowed them to write mortgages for people that should not have been given mortgages. It didn't even allow them to, it made them write the mortgages. So your premise is already flawed. But so this is, as is often the case when arguing with the lefty, is that they give you the false choice and then they say my answer is correct. See, so here he goes what happens when capitalism fails like the banks? And no, wait, I'll give you the answer. Since you're a simple socialism right, bringing any bills, call me dot dot dot. Okay, I don't know what that means. Republicans have nothing to offer the American people but fear, and you clown are peddling that fear. No, I am peddling truth, and I understand that evil reacts very badly in the face of truth. It has always been that way. So I'm offering truth about an evil ideology that is Marxism. It is a totalizing ideology. So when I present that, demons get kind of mad, you know what I mean. They will attempt to drag you away from truth. Like you hear me, how many times do I play the rim shot throughout the program? Right, we're just having a laugh here, we're just having fun. Now that being said, I see the adversary, I recognize it. And you telling me that what I'm seeing is not really what I'm seeing that no, no, no, there's some other thing that would explain what you're seeing and why it looks like this thing that has constantly reared its head throughout world history, Like, that's not really what it is. See that's called gas lighting, Steve, and I recognize gaslighting as well. So you can say I'm pedaling fear, but people should be afraid of an evil ideology, and they should fight against that ideology taking root. They should, So it's not pedaling fear. It's making people aware of what's at stake. And I understand why if you are advocating for that evil ideology, why you would want me to shut up? And you would want to call me an ism or an ist or whatever you want to call me a name. You want to say basically what the left always does is shut up. That's your point. You want me to shut up because you would prefer to work in darkness. You would prefer there not to be light on what it is that you are advocating. All I've given you, which is kind of funny, like this idea that I'm pedaling fear. All I've been talking about is the cost of the programs that the left is advancing. They have proposals, this is what we want to do. Well, okay, let's run the numbers. You run the numbers, and that's pedaling fear. In other words, shut up. In other words, don't look at the cost, don't look at the impacts. That's what Steve is saying. Probably doesn't realize he's saying that, yes. The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money. Margaret Thatcher. Yeah, I don't know. Timoteo says, human nature would have to fail in order for capitalism to fail. Right, the free market is human nature. This is the way people have, you know, traded since humans met the next tribe. If we didn't kill each other, we traded. And here's the thing. When you trade, when you engage in free trade, when you engauge in the free market, less. Likely that you will actually go to war. Capitalism, by the way, free markets lead to abundance, socialism leads to scarcity. That's that's it. That's the shorthand. Right. So if you want less. Of everything except misery and starvation, throw your lot in with the Marxists. It is really that simple, Kevin says, Tell that Texter that was Steve the lib Tell that joker to do his research. The Oaight crash was because Fanny May and Freddie Mack forced lenders to give out loans to people that should not have been approved. It was disgusting. Yes, correct mentioned that. Yeah, people that never should have gotten loans were getting all sorts of loans. Mike says, if leftists in this country actually knew what socialism was or it ever experienced it, They would not want it. Socialism is good for social programs and capitalism is good for raising capital. They should balance each other. We should go back to the original constitutional system where the loser of a presidential race becomes vice president. We locked the two of them in the oval office until they come to terms. Right, I'm not sure what that had to do with anything in regards to work. One of the first questions people ask each other after meeting is what do you do for a living? The reason is you want to know what it is that connects them to the rest of us. In other words, what is your contribution? Seven oh four Number says socialism has two classes, the uber rich and the poor. Yes, Scott says Steve. The lib should read nineteen eighty four Brave New World, and we to be see how the DSA's utopia really turns out. Yeah, Brave New World is like I like that is prophetic. Steve says. Without capitalism, socialism would die. Without socialism, capitalism would thrive. Russ says, a friend of mine or friend of a friend keeps trying to do the pay what you can COMMI restaurant model. She started one near Raleigh and another in DC. Both failed in less than six months despite pretty good financial backing. But don't worry, she's crowdfunding to try it a third time, and this time it will definitely work. Uh, pay what you can, COMMI restaurant models have never really been tried. Pursuing one's own economic interest is human nature unchained and at its finest and therefore ungovernable. Pre market capitalism is the only rational path, it, says Ian. Uh, okay, I don't know, that's not related. Okay, both led to thirty trillion in debt. Both what capitalism and socialism? No, the the command control stuff, the government right, I mean the social security right. The FDR New Deal stuff, which was the like that was the that was the I don't want to say payoff, but okay, fine, to the rise of Marxism globally. That was FDR's like recognition that we've got these movements that are out there, so let's tap into it. You got the Progressives with Woodrow. Wilson, right, this this philosophy, this ideology was a sendant and there were a lot of people that were all in on the ideology. And back then you could even forgive people for saying I mean you could forgive them now for thinking that this was a better path forward. We are perfecting, you know, governance in true Hegalian fashion. We are deconstructing the parts that don't work and creating the perfected, penultimate version of government. Because they didn't know, you could say, because Marxism hadn't been around for a long time and people were trying to figure it out. And by the way, if you've ever noticed all of these Marxist movements, they always fracture. Do you ever notice that they always turn on each other? They fracture from within. We covered last week how the DSA they got taken over by the Communists, by the Red Star Caucus. Yeah, they got taken over a couple of years ago. That's why they're seemingly more radical. And we never really heard about them before because they were not influential, because they were more of a Fabian model. They were not like full blown Comis, they claimed, and then the Commis came in and took over. So like, why are they always splintering apart? In they're supposed to be the ones that are uniting the workers of the world. Know, why do they fracture so often because once the external enemy is eliminated, there always has to be a scapegoat for why their system fails, and so then they attack each other always by the way, Jonathan Turley had a great piece over at the New York Post New York Losing Billionaires, sorry, losing billions as millionaires flee citizens. Budget Commission reported New York's share of millionaires fell from twelve point seven percent in twenty ten down to eight point seven percent. The exodus of wealthy citizens left New York short almost eleven billion dollars in tax revenue. Shocking. Who could have ever predicted such a thing that people with millions and millions of dollars, when you try to take it from them, they actually can afford to pick up and move immediately to anywhere else in the world. Who could have seen that coming? All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.