If you could pick one economy, which would you go for?
Economy A, with 3.2% economic growth, 3.8% unemployment, and 8.8% youth unemployment? Or economy B, with less than 2% GDP growth, 8.8% unemployment, and 20% youth unemployment?
I ask this question because Democrats seem inclined to pick economy B.
Economy A is, of course, today’s U.S. economy. Economy B is today’s French economy, governed by the economic model that 2020 Democratic presidential aspirants propose the U.S. follow.
My point here is thus simple: Why do Democrats support an economic model that produces lower growth and higher unemployment, and thus less human opportunity?
We shouldn’t let 2020 Democrats avoid the question. After all, France’s economy is built around the regulations, taxes, and expenditures that 2020 Democrats say would be great for America. France has extensive labor protections and the highest percentage-of-GDP taxation of any Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member state. That fits well with the call by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for extortionate tax hikes. It also fits nicely with the effort by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to break up big corporations.
But it’s not just about regulations and taxes. Democrats also seem to want the French social model of generous entitlements. They do not, however, seem to notice that France’s investment in unproductive activity (unemployment), has proffered an intractable structural budget deficit.
My basic point here is that Democratic claims of a better, more moral economic model do not match up to tested reality. As measured by the models that matter most — economic growth rates and minority, low-skill, and youth unemployment rates — Trump’s economy proves a better servant of human interests than the French-style economy that Democrats promise would be best for America.
Still don’t believe me?
Just ask the French — when they stop rioting.
