Can Sanders Dismantle Capitalism, Which Elects Phony Billionaires Like Trump? DMT.NEWS

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. We’ve had millionaire presidents before, but never a billionaire capitalist like Donald Trump. To make matters worse, his status as president and well-connected billionaires is dangerous as it impinges on the structure of the U.S. state where capitalist and state interests now directly interlock. Trump’s connections to different capitalist industries and criminal enterprises can also be seen through generous tax cuts for the wealthy and a push to privatize public education, healthcare, housing, prison, urban development and economic zones, and border security.

Sen. Sanders, a Democratic contender, wants to consequently dismantle this capitalist system that elects phony billionaires like Trump. He can do it if he pivots fast enough from a Super Tuesday which energized former vice president Joseph Biden. But first, he must show how capitalism “enables” people like Trump to become president. He must then rebrand socialism, facing a Republican-Democratic and corporate-media establishment that demonized socialism. Finally, he will have to overcome the “narrow political spectrum of debate and ideas” in American politics.

Phony Billionaires Like Trump

Sanders is already off to a good start, challenging the hallmark of Trump’s personal narrative that he is a self-made billionaire who started with just $1 million. Court records in New York State show:

“Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s and again in 2008, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents. He also received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.”

The money came to Trump because he helped his parents dodge taxes, setting up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts, facilitating improper tax deductions worth millions more, and undervaluing real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns. Sharply reducing the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him placed an unfair burden on workers who had to pay. It also meant underfunded schools, roads, hospitals, start-up grants for businesses, fire and police departments, and other life-saving services.

From 1990 to the Great Recession in 2008, caused mainly by overinflated real estate markets, subprime mortgage crises, and lending schemes, Trump filed bankruptcy six times. He had to pay only 0.04 cents on the dollar owed, regardless of bailouts and public assistance. Some contractors and subcontractors lost their businesses. (1) Thousands of workers lost their livelihoods and homes. Some survived, others did not. At least two known contractors committed suicide. There may have been more. Despite all of this, Trump still won the presidential election in 2016.

If Sanders continues to remind Americans how Trump made his billions, he may succeed in showing how democratic socialism is preferable to capitalism. Something else is Trump’s financial success, albeit tainted in his case, does not necessarily prepare a person for political office. Nor does it make them more mentally fit, something Trump struggles with. This includes how some still link the wealthy to divine providence or the “survival of the fittest,” and then try to live vicariously through their ownership of power, status and dominance, and authoritarian nature.

Democratic Socialists Like Sanders

For Sanders, the real danger facing America are billionaire’s like Trump who inherit their wealth, believe in their entitlements, and buy political offices. It includes economic inequality. The very nature of capitalism, its selfish-interest and aggressive competition, gives rise to pathological phonies who make false promises and then mismanage government. This why Trump won’t release his tax returns as promised.

“They break every rule of human decency with their greed and dishonesty. They cause division among workers, encouraging racism and exploiting fears.”

Sander’s must continue to show how democratic socialism is about softening capitalism and compensating for growing economic inequality, instead of wanting to overthrow an existing system with a small group of voters as Trump and his rabid base did. In fact, a large majority of voters would like a nationalized healthcare system. They want to reign in government spending and subsidies for corporations that pay no income taxes. But they want to keep public education and make sure programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are intact.

Something else Sanders is doing is showing how under capitalism, the American dream is moving further and further out of reach for millions. Buying a home or paying for college or adequate healthcare is increasingly unaffordable-and millennials, many of whom entered the job market at the height of the recession, are feeling it. Since 1960, education and home costs have risen 114 and 121 percent respectively, compared to a 29 percent increase in income. For health insurance, it is 332 percent. With more people doing worse, socioeconomic mobility is at an all-time loss.

Sanders believes that,

“We must recognize that in the 21^st century, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights. That is what I mean by democratic socialism.”

Capitalism, on the contrary, thrives on the exact opposite: a profit motive with the result of “adverse” income inequality. Capitalism diminishes levels of mental and physical health, academic achievement and social mobility, and equal economic opportunities. It is linked to heightened levels of infant mortality, obesity, crime, violence, drug abuse, and incarceration.

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Squandered Wealth and “Free Stuff”

Sanders biggest challenge may be his own generation, which has squandered the wealth of younger generations. This is the reason they and billionaires like Trump can’t shake Sanders’ democratic socialism, wrongly associating it with communism and strict government control. Younger generations are much more receptive, however. The question is not, “How much will a new program or policy add to the deficit?” but “Can a policy be implemented without significantly raising inflation?” If the answer is yes, the U.S. can pay off its national debt.

Sanders says this can be done by increasing government revenue-including taxes on the wealthy, raising the corporate tax rate to 35 percent, and eliminating most corporate tax breaks and loopholes. Together, the government will not only have enough money to pay for the new programs he proposes, but the economy will be rewired to “spread the wealth” that has been unduly taken from the younger generation and working classes.

Bottom line, there is no “free stuff.” And it’s a message that just might dismantle capitalism, which elects phony billionaires like Trump.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.)

(1) Fuchs, Christian. Digital Demagogue: Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter. Archway Road, London: Pluto Press, 2018., pp 113, 114.

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