The Greens are not the savior of AR - DONT BE FOOLED

[Guest guest]

The media has paid scant attention to Ralph Nader's presidential bid on

behalf of the Green Party. This is unfortunate because Nader's high profile

lends credence to a set of ideas which, if adopted, would destroy both the

freedom and incredible economic success the United States and the world

enjoy.

Although the Green Party consists of many different state and local

organizations, in 1989 and 1990 they all came together to write a Green

National Program, which has been revised periodically since then. Although

the Greens claim they are not socialists, their plans call for nationalizing

most industries, banning quite a few others and turning what's left of the

country over to local " democratic " control.

 

The laundry list of socialist ideas offered by the Greens runs the gamut.

They would create a 30-hour work week, which would drive down wages. To

compensate they would create a minimum wage of $20,000 a year, which would

drive up unemployment. To compensate for that they want to guarantee

everyone a government job, which would soon make the government the main

employer for tens of millions of people.

 

Everyone knows how well this system worked in the Soviet Union and

the rest of Eastern Europe. The Greens would destroy investment and jobs by

setting limits for maximum wages and accumulated wealth.

 

No one could make more than 10 times the minimum wage ($200,000 if

their minimum wage recommendation becomes law) or own any accumulated wealth

greater than $1 million. Anything over those figures would be taxed at a 100

percent marginal rate.

 

The result would be devastating. Entrepreneurs and investors would

have no incentive to keep expanding businesses after they reached their

maximum totals in wealth and income. There would be fewer companies with

smaller assets providing fewer and fewer jobs.

 

The Greens want to try their own version of collectivizing

agriculture. Their plan for agriculture would lead to the starvation of

countless millions, mostly in Asia and Africa. They call for nationalizing

all farm land and directing agricultural production through " democratic "

cooperatives. They would ban large farms, giving up the benefits of

economies of scale. This sort of scheme has been tried repeatedly and its

record is one of unmitigated failure. In China, 20 million people died as a

result of Mao's collectivizing agriculture. Much of Africa's inability to

produce sufficient food is due to such socialist meddling with agricultural

markets.