British socialists: If we’re elected, the economy will implode

On Tuesday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn defended shadow-Treasury secretary John McDonnell for saying: “We’re going to be a radical government … What if there is a run on the pound? What happens if there is this concept of capital flight?” According to McDonnell, the danger is that business interests “come for us.”

Supporting McDonnell with a reflexive homage to Stalin, another Labour guru, Paul Mason, suggested the business pushback would be “like Stalingrad.”

It says much about today’s Labour Party that they view business interests as Nazis, and themselves as brave soldiers for Stalin’s Red Army. The days of Tony Blair and even “Red Ed” Miliband are long gone. This is the era of truth and new realities.

Still, Corbyn, McDonnell, and Mason are right about one thing: If Labour enters power, Britain’s economy will suffer a hammer blow.

It’s just that the responsibility won’t lie with evil corporations, but rather with Labour’s unrepentant socialism. Consider that Labour doesn’t just want significant tax hikes on businesses, stock transactions, and individuals, it wants to re-nationalize Britain’s railways, energy companies, and its mail service. Labour leaders also plan huge increases in government spending to provide free at-the-point-of-use university education, to expand entitlements, to create national infrastructure banks, and to hire more public sector workers.

Unsurprisingly, the private sector is alarmed by these proposals.

Those who have a sense of economic reality recognize that Labour’s hardline socialism would crowd out private investment, and, as McDonnell suggests, lead to a major capital flight. After all, why would someone invest in a Labour-run post-Brexit Britain that is defined by high taxes and regulation? Why would entrepreneurs take a chance on a party that bans Uber? Why stay with Labour, when just about every other government on Earth is pursuing pro-business policies in recognition that capital has never been more mobile?

Indeed, just over the British Channel, France’s new president is already working hard to attract discouraged multinational corporations away from Britain and into the arms of a new pro-capitalist French economy. This economic concern is especially significant in what it might mean for the crown jewel of Britain’s economy: the city of London financial center.

Of course, like any good socialists, Labour know better than reality. They believe that businesses will be happy about the tax gulag and that wealthy investors will enjoy taking risks to feed the gluttonous socialist agenda. They believe this, because they also believe that Nicolas Maduro’s Venezuela is a beacon of moral hope for the world.

When the next election comes, and it may come within the next year, let us hope Britons see Labour’s economic absurdity for what it is. If in doubt, all Britons need do is read some history. After all, today’s Labour is made up of the same ideologues who blew up Britain’s economy in the 1970s, forcing Margaret Thatcher to save Britain from becoming a third-world country.