Socialism

The Horrors of Communism

by George Leef April 14, 2025

Stalin, Mao, Communism, and Their 21st Century Aftermath in Russia and China by Miguel A. Faria, Jr. (Cambridge Scholars, 2024) Jimmy Carter once told Americans that they needed “to get over their inordinate fear of communism.” Like most leftist politicians, Carter saw communism as a matter of good intentions gone awry. The collectivist ideals of Marxism were not ...

The Real Problem with Social Security Privatization

by Laurence M. Vance March 17, 2025

Although Social Security is an unconstitutional relic of the New Deal, some libertarians never tire of proposing ways to reform the system. Social Security is properly labeled the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, which provides monthly benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death. Although it was established in 1935, employers and employees did not begin paying Social ...

Political Paternalism, Not Capitalism, Brings Poverty and Privilege

by Richard M. Ebeling February 18, 2025

George Orwell (1903–1950), the author of the anti-Utopian novels Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949), has often been quoted as saying, “Some ideas are so absurd that only an intellectual can believe them.” Whether he, in fact, said it or not, it rings inescapably true. Even if logic and reason could not dislodge some of those on “the left” from ...

Social Security Expansion Shows True Nature of Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance January 17, 2025

In one of his last acts as president, Joe Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 (H.R.82). The legislation expands Social Security by repealing “provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for individuals who receive other benefits, such as a pension from a state or local government.” A White House ...

Medicare: Expand, Reform, or Eliminate?

by Laurence M. Vance December 13, 2024

Although the nuances of the beliefs of Democrats, liberals, and progressives may be obscure, there is one thing that they all agree on: the expansion of Medicare. Medicare is a government health-insurance program for people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with certain disabilities, people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or ...

The New Deal as the Great Reset, Part 2

by Robert E. Wright December 1, 2024

Part 1 | Part 2 The New Deal effectively killed off what was left of the ninth and tenth amendments, the ones that protect unenumerated individual rights and states’ rights. Occupational-licensing laws that restricted entry into a growing number of occupations to an educated few in the name of consumer safety, for example, trounced the ancient, commonsense, and hence ...

The New Deal as the Great Reset, Part 1

by Robert E. Wright November 1, 2024

Part 1 | Part 2 A conservative opinion outlet recently ran an op-ed entitled “Conserving the New Deal,” which asserted that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies were “great,” as in something good that conservatives should emulate. The New Deal was indeed “great,” but in the same sense as the Great War and the Great Depression were — a big ...

Three Big Social Security Changes That Should Come in 2025

by Laurence M. Vance September 17, 2024

An article at The Motley Fool that was also posted at Retirely — a financial planning company — about big changes coming to Social Security caught my eye: “3 Big Social Security Changes Coming in 2025 May Surprise Many Americans.” Social Security is the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program that provides ...

Two Payments, More Payments, Higher Payments, or No Payments?

by Laurence M. Vance June 5, 2024

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is often confused with Social Security. Although both programs are administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and both programs provide Americans with cash from the federal government, that is where their similarity ends. According to the SSA, the main differences between SSI and Social Security are: Social Security benefits may be ...

The Social Security and Medicare Scams

by Laurence M. Vance March 19, 2024

Charlotte Cowles is a financial advice columnist for The Cut, “a New York Magazine site dedicated to women’s lives and interests, including politics, work, money, relationships, style, and parenting.” She recently lost $50,000 when she fell for a scam, put that amount in cash in a shoe box, and handed it over to ...

Johnsoncare, Bushcare, Obamacare, and Trumpcare

by Laurence M. Vance February 16, 2024

Former president Donald Trump has vowed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) with his own plan. Because “Obamacare is too expensive, and otherwise, not good healthcare,” he vowed: I will come up with a much better, and less expensive, alternative! People will be happy, not sad! I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to ...

Medicare & You

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2024

Although I am not quite old enough to qualify for Medicare, I recently received in the mail a 131-page large-size book titled Medicare & You 2024: The Official U.S. Government Medicare Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Turns out that the book was intended for a previous owner ...