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Bernie's commonsense ideas of Medicare-for-All and free college education, for example, are hysterically decried as totalitarian designs from China and the USSR. (Photo: Shutterstuck)
White House Economists Are Obsessed with Socialism
A new White House report links the idea of Medicare for All with Mao. Really?
Nov 07, 2018
Trump's White House seems to be both spooked... and spooky.
Check out a 72-page "spookonomics" report issued right before Halloween by his Council of Economic Advisors. It reads like an endless Trump tweet, focused on his perceived political enemies and riddled with fantasies, lies, and paranoia about the policies of progressives.
A la Joe McCarthy, Trump's economic advisors spew conspiracy theories about the proposals of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and other democratic populists, frantically linking them with "Failed Socialist Policies" of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and other communist dictators.
Bernie's commonsense ideas of Medicare-for-All and free college education, for example, are hysterically decried as totalitarian designs from China and the USSR. Likewise, the report compares Warren's assertion that corporate giants are dodging their tax obligations to Lenin's demonization and killing of yeoman farmers.
In this ludicrous, right-ring political screed -- paid for by us taxpayers -- the fraidy-cat Trump scaremongers toss in the supposedly spooky word "socialism" 144 times. That's an average of twice per page!
Among the horrors that the Trumpistas cite is that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have stated that "large corporations... exploit human misery and insecurity, and turn them into huge profits," and "giant corporations... exploit workers just to boost their own profits."
Excuse me, learned scholars, but all of that happens to be true, as the great majority of Americans know from experience. Trump's economists also inform us that if the U.S. adopted Venezuelan policies, our economy would shrink by 40 percent. Well, perhaps, but here's the thing: No one is proposing we do that.
What's really spooky is that these know-nothing ideologues are actually advisers to a president of the United States.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
bernie sanderselizabeth warrenjim hightowermedicaremedicare for allsingle-payersocialismtotalitarianismtrumpism
Trump's White House seems to be both spooked... and spooky.
Check out a 72-page "spookonomics" report issued right before Halloween by his Council of Economic Advisors. It reads like an endless Trump tweet, focused on his perceived political enemies and riddled with fantasies, lies, and paranoia about the policies of progressives.
A la Joe McCarthy, Trump's economic advisors spew conspiracy theories about the proposals of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and other democratic populists, frantically linking them with "Failed Socialist Policies" of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and other communist dictators.
Bernie's commonsense ideas of Medicare-for-All and free college education, for example, are hysterically decried as totalitarian designs from China and the USSR. Likewise, the report compares Warren's assertion that corporate giants are dodging their tax obligations to Lenin's demonization and killing of yeoman farmers.
In this ludicrous, right-ring political screed -- paid for by us taxpayers -- the fraidy-cat Trump scaremongers toss in the supposedly spooky word "socialism" 144 times. That's an average of twice per page!
Among the horrors that the Trumpistas cite is that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have stated that "large corporations... exploit human misery and insecurity, and turn them into huge profits," and "giant corporations... exploit workers just to boost their own profits."
Excuse me, learned scholars, but all of that happens to be true, as the great majority of Americans know from experience. Trump's economists also inform us that if the U.S. adopted Venezuelan policies, our economy would shrink by 40 percent. Well, perhaps, but here's the thing: No one is proposing we do that.
What's really spooky is that these know-nothing ideologues are actually advisers to a president of the United States.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
Trump's White House seems to be both spooked... and spooky.
Check out a 72-page "spookonomics" report issued right before Halloween by his Council of Economic Advisors. It reads like an endless Trump tweet, focused on his perceived political enemies and riddled with fantasies, lies, and paranoia about the policies of progressives.
A la Joe McCarthy, Trump's economic advisors spew conspiracy theories about the proposals of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and other democratic populists, frantically linking them with "Failed Socialist Policies" of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and other communist dictators.
Bernie's commonsense ideas of Medicare-for-All and free college education, for example, are hysterically decried as totalitarian designs from China and the USSR. Likewise, the report compares Warren's assertion that corporate giants are dodging their tax obligations to Lenin's demonization and killing of yeoman farmers.
In this ludicrous, right-ring political screed -- paid for by us taxpayers -- the fraidy-cat Trump scaremongers toss in the supposedly spooky word "socialism" 144 times. That's an average of twice per page!
Among the horrors that the Trumpistas cite is that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have stated that "large corporations... exploit human misery and insecurity, and turn them into huge profits," and "giant corporations... exploit workers just to boost their own profits."
Excuse me, learned scholars, but all of that happens to be true, as the great majority of Americans know from experience. Trump's economists also inform us that if the U.S. adopted Venezuelan policies, our economy would shrink by 40 percent. Well, perhaps, but here's the thing: No one is proposing we do that.
What's really spooky is that these know-nothing ideologues are actually advisers to a president of the United States.
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