Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

The Left does not know what the word “economy” means. President Obama hinted at this, I think it was during the campaign, when he railed against those who said that government jobs were, somehow, not “real” jobs. He seems to believe that going to a work location bringing home a paycheck somehow creates a productive job. What he has confused is the simple circulation of monies with the grow created by production.


That’s all there is to it. The economic views of the Left are that simplistic.


Take karoli, for example. It is karoli’s understanding that working for the government is just as good, or even better, than working in private industry. Check this out:






Disparity Between Public and Private Employees’ Paychecks Proves Corporations Steal from Employees







Isn’t it amazing that the federal government has managed to keep pay rates and benefit levels competitive for their employees without breaking the bank? On the other hand, private industry has laid off a good chunk of their workforce while squeezing every last bit of productivity out of those who remain, held back raises while telling their employees they’re lucky to have a job, stopped making 401k matching contributions even after their profits have soared to record highs and they’ve banked a ton of cash that they’re NOT spending to hire or rehire laid-off employees.


...


I have a different question:


Can’t we now all agree that private industry workers are overpaid to pad the bottom line and do something about it?


Or this one:


Can’t we all agree that even a small portion of these bloated profits should go to the employees who make that bottom line happen?


Instead, it’s turned into an attack on unions, which is the other theme of this summer of discontent. Attack the unions. The reason Republicans opposed the bill extending federal aid to states for police, firefighters and teachers was because they were trying to break the unions.




I sit amazed every time one of these blatantly Marxist comments presents itself so openly. Karoli raises questions of ownership, of profit, and of government control of wealth and income. If it weren’t so tragic it might even by funny. But it’s not. C&L is one of the mainstream Left’s leading blogs, right alongside HuffPo and Kos.

More on: Politics, Economics

Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles