Trump’s America – Episode # 109 – Trump’s Bogeyman

By Arthur Piccolo

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Feb. 22, 2019:   I can finally get back to one of my postponed episodes this one about …

President Trump’s so-called State of the Union speech earlier this month. Unlike most of his critics, I think it was a rather good speech for him, not us.

No matter what he said or how CNN and others would have called it BAD even if he had denounced his own Wall or figured out how to turn water into gold and told all of us instead of keeping it a secret for Trump enterprises.

It was a “good” speech for him because it proved Trump may not be as easy to beat in 2020 as some believe. REMEMBER he just needs to win one more Electoral Vote than the Democratic candidate! He did far better in 2016.

Which brings me to this week’s subject: the ‘S’ Word Trump used in his State of the Union speech to try and SCARE Americans …. SOCIALISM!

SOCIALISM is obviously going to be his #1 FEAR word for the 2020 campaign even more so than immigrant, if almost anyone of his Democratic opponents, except the likes of Bloomberg or The Idiot Shultz –gets the nomination. As for anyone else, SOCIALISM will be on Trump’s lips more or less depending on who the Democratic candidate is.

So now let me bring in my media partner for this week The Economist!

Why The Economist Magazine? Because their cover story this week is yes – SOCIALISM. And it makes my work so much easier when I have a media partner who can pretty much write the episode for me with their words.

Before you get worried, I think I’d better begin with this week’s punch line. This episode is NOT promoting Socialism; rather the misuse of that label by Trump and others DESPERATE to discredit necessary reforms!

So let’s get to The Economist cover story titled “Millennial Socialism.”

I will interject with brilliant commentary as necessary and useful.

“Socialism is storming back because it has formed an incisive critique of what has gone wrong in Western societies. Whereas politicians on the right have all too often given up the battle of ideas and retreated towards chauvinism and nostalgia, the left has focused on inequality, the environment, and how to vest power in citizens rather than elites.”

WRONG The Economist. You are misusing the word. Just like Trump.

“Many of the new socialists are millennials. Some 51% of Americans aged 18-29 have a positive view of socialism, says Gallup. In the primaries in 2016 more young folk voted for Bernie Sanders than for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined.”

NOT socialism in any real sense rather sanity for all of us not just Elites.

“Not all millennial socialist goals are especially radical. In America one policy is universal health care, which is normal elsewhere in the rich world, and desirable. Radicals on the left say they want to preserve the advantages of the market economy. And in both Europe and America the left is a broad, fluid coalition, as movements with a ferment of ideas usually are.”

Right it is NOT socialism, it is good logic for a far BETTER America.

Now get this next what the Economist and Trump label SOCIALISM.

“The millennial socialists think that inequality has spiraled out of control and that the economy is rigged in favor of vested interests. They believe that the public yearns for income and power to be redistributed by the state to balance the scales. They think that myopia and lobbying have led governments to ignore the increasing likelihood of climate catastrophe. And they believe that the hierarchies which govern society and the economy—regulators, bureaucracies and companies—no longer serve the interests of ordinary folk and must be “democratized.”

WOW imagine that wanting to end these ABUSES. It’s called Socialism???

Even The Economist is forced to cover itself with this next …

“Some of this is beyond dispute, including the curse of lobbying and neglect of the environment. Inequality in the West has indeed soared over the past 40 years. In America the average income of the top 1% has risen by 242%, about six times the rise for middle-earners. But the new, new left also gets important bits of its diagnosis wrong, and most of its prescriptions, too.”

Yes, ALL of this is beyond dispute. RADICAL inequality sucks big time!

In fact I will bring in another very infrequent media partner The Washington Post here even though it is owned by the Much Discredited Jeff Bezos. This article today Thursday from WP titled ….

“Income inequality is rising so fast our data can’t keep up” And states …

“Increases in wages at the top are outpacing economists’ ability to measure them because the federal survey tracking the wage data “top-codes” the highest earnings amounts: For confidentiality reasons, wages are fully recorded only up to a certain threshold.”

In other words, the government stops categorizing wages at a rather low threshold of $150,000 annually. Everyone above is lumped together. So we do not get any kind of a REAL picture of income inequality in America. Those making $10 MILLION + are lumped with those making $150,000.

Now let me continue with The Economist my primary partner this episode.

“Millennial socialists also misdiagnose public opinion. They are right that people feel they have lost control over their lives and that opportunities have shriveled. The public also resents inequality. Taxes on the rich are more popular than taxes on everybody. Nonetheless there is not a widespread desire for radical redistribution. Americans’ support for redistribution is no higher than it was in 1990, and the country recently elected a billionaire promising corporate-tax cuts. By some measures Britons are more relaxed about the rich than Americans are.”

Again this is so, so wrong. First of all The Economist keeps misusing the term “socialism” just as Trump does to create a phony Bogey Man to rant and rave against. Compounded by this Fake News that “Nonetheless there is not a widespread desire for radical redistribution.” What is RADICAL redistribution. NO definition provided. Is it RADICAL or socialism to oppose EXTREME inequality? It is neither radical or socialism!

It is support for an America we can ALL believe in! That is FAIR to all.

I’m not sure how much of this socialism nonsense you or I can take but here is some more of this gibberish from Economist about so-called socialism.

“The real problem lies with its prescriptions, which are profligate and politically dangerous. Take fiscal policy. Some on the left peddle the myth that vast expansions of government services can be paid for primarily by higher taxes on the rich. In reality, as populations age it will be hard to maintain existing services without raising taxes on middle-earners.”

Let me translate that gibberish from The Economist.

Since telling the 1% to pay their FAIR share of taxes will not pay for all government services all by itself the rich should be allowed to pay as little taxes as they can get away with. That makes a lot of sense. Increase inequality even more because taxing the rich more won’t end all of it.

I agree with you enough of this nonsense about so called “socialism.”

I will not insult my readers with more from this cover story from The Economist. I’ve provided enough to prove that inserting SOCIALISM into the election discourse is just cheap misleading sloganizing which is one of President Donald Trump’s very few “talents” FEAR mongering.

I will leave you with this trope – you can look up the meaning of trope make it a learning experience – the very end of this Economist cover story …..

“Millennial socialism has a refreshing willingness to challenge the status quo. But like the socialism of old, it suffers from a faith in the incorruptibility of collective action and an unwarranted suspicion of individual vim. Liberals should oppose it.”

Isn’t that nice of The Economist concluding its cover story by throwing those it MIS-labels as socialists a bone. They mean good but they are naïve.

Here is how I will conclude this episode …

The Economist like Trump is peddling Fake News.

DON’T BUY IT!!!

(This series dedicated in honor of the late Liu Xiaobo & Jamal Khashoggi)