I & I Editorial BoardWhat is it with Democrats and their unrelenting lust for other people’s property? Are they hardwired to steal because they can’t build anything themselves? Whatever the case, the political left is made up of the greediest people on Earth who want to put the U.S. squarely on the road to serfdom.
Not that we were surprised, but we were outraged and disgusted when we learned that Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich is encouraging the Democrats to “lay the groundwork for nationalizing” SpaceX and Starlink.
Reich believes SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, which provides high-speed internet service through its satellites, “should be a public corporation.” He also wants to “defund” SpaceX and Starlink CEO Elon Musk, whatever that means.
“We should not ever have that kind of power in one person’s hands, one private person’s hands,” he said.
Musk had the perfect response.
“Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich.”
Which Reich whined about, apparently unconcerned that 71% of Democrats and 80% of self-identified liberals want to see Musk in prison for the dastardly crime of teaming up with President Donald Trump and daring to downsize the federal leviathan.
What Reich is advocating is straight out of the socialist/communist/Marxist playbook. When the government seizes private property for some undefined “public good,” it’s no less of an act of outright theft. Neither does claiming that a single private person should not have the power of Musk, as Reich declares, justify stealing. But this is how the left thinks: Government is the real owner of everything and takes what it pleases when it pleases.
As for Musk’s power, he has none. He has money, yes. More than anyone else. But it’s money used to capitalize innovation and production. He creates jobs and builds modern conveniences that many of us have come to think of as necessities. If he donates some of his wealth to political candidates and one party in particular, it’s no different than the many wealthy leftists who make heavy contributions to the Democratic Party.
But that’s OK because in Reich’s twisted mind, the Democrats are the angels.
We’ve seen Reich’s petulance in other members of the looter party and their voters. Democrat darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to nationalize the entire U.S. economy. If Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Accountable Capitalism Act had become law, it would have led to “the outright confiscation of wealth through the nationalization of corporate boards that would be forever beholden to political figures.” During the ugly Biden years, top Democrats urged the president to nationalize the oil and gas industry. In the 1970s, around the time he was kicked out of a “commune for loafing,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders advocated for “the nationalization of most major industries, including energy companies, factories, and banks.” His views have not softened since then; he’s simply concealing his cravings until he finds the right moment to resurrect them.
That time might be soon. The Democratic Socialists of America, whom California Gov. Gavin Newsom says are headed toward dominance within the Democratic Party, have targeted large corporations for nationalization, as well as private housing, private grocery markets, family farms, energy companies, and airlines.
Plunder by government is certainly sadistic, but nationalization is more than theft; it’s an economic noose and a wide door for grift. One of the best accounts of its malign effects we’ve seen is from The Economist, which at one time was a sensible publication. In 2017, it explained that when private ownership innovates, costs are reduced and profits are boosted. But …
bureaucrats usually lack such a clear financial incentive to improve performance. Firms with the backing of the state are less vulnerable to competition; as they lumber on they hoard resources that could be better used elsewhere … State-owned firms pose risks beyond that to dynamism. Government-run companies may prioritise swollen payrolls over customer satisfaction. More worryingly, state firms can become vehicles for corruption, used to dole out the largesse of the state to favored backers or to funnel social wealth into the pockets of the powerful. As state control over the economy grows, political connections become a surer route to business success than entrepreneurialism.
Nationalization is also a restraint on liberty. In 1944’s “The Road to Serfdom,” Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek argued that central planning, which is necessary to nationalizing industry and property, results in “the very destruction of freedom itself.”
Nationalization is routine in banana republics, and the experiences have been bitter. Think of Cuba and Venezuela, whose spasms of nationalization did nothing to improve their economies or the lives of those living under the authoritarian governments that breezily steal from their private citizens. In fact, nationalization made life worse for all but those who were doing the stealing.
It’s shameful that banana republic minds such as Reich’s have influence in our politics. It’s also frightening.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
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