They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
This fittingly describes the Democratic Party today, whose pie-in-the-sky proposals, if implemented, would obliterate the U.S. economy.
Take a look at some of the “good intentions” Democratic presidential hopefuls are offering voters leading up to the 2020 election. Sen. Kamala Harris of California wants “Medicare for all,” estimated to cost at least $34 trillion over 10 years. It would destroy the private health care sector and the millions of jobs that go with it. “Big Spender” Harris should explain to the American people how much her total overhaul of the system would add to the already astronomical $22 trillion national debt. She should also explain how much higher your taxes would need to be raised to foot the goliath tab – especially given the fact that Social Security and Medicare are already on a fast track to insolvency, with experts predicting massive financing shortfalls in the next 16 years.
Then there’s Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who wants taxpayers to foot the bill for government-funded child care, universal pre-K and paid family leave. Good intentions until we look at the cost. For starters, universal early child care would cost $140 billion annually, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Warren also wants the U.S. government to pay reparations to slaves’ descendants and Native Americans, in addition to championing the Green New Deal, a socialist dream that might cost $93 trillion. Many other Democratic presidential hopefuls – including Harris and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota – have expressed support for the extremely radical resolution. It would destroy many transportation industries – not to mention the energy sector and food and beverage industry, because if flatulent cows were eliminated in an effort to reduce carbon emissions, meat and dairy products would be history, too.
Say sayonara to the restaurant and fast-food industry, ice cream and yogurt producers, as well as dairy and cattle farms nationwide and all the millions of jobs that sustain those vital industries. At minimum, the government would have to fund a massive spike in unemployment benefits to millions of Americans – including food stamps and other welfare programs – to offset the crushing blow to these institutions.
But the road to hell doesn’t end there. Democrats also want affordable housing. Sounds like another noble intention, but similar to their other utopian, big-government proposals, this goal is short on specifics as to the actual costs or how it would be implemented. Tally all the radical proposals progressives are championing and you realize that if they were to be put in place, America would quickly go from the greatest economy in the world, with historically low unemployment, to resembling poverty-stricken Venezuela.
So the next time a liberal big spender says she wants to make college education free, universal health care and dozens of other socialist goals that sound great, put your grown-up hat on and ask, How would we pay for it? A wealth tax on America’s highest earners wouldn’t even come close to covering the massive costs of any of the liberals’ proposals.
It all reminds us there’s no such thing as a free lunch – no matter how well-intentioned liberals are.
