Children working in factories with hazardous working conditions in pollution ridden cities are some of the images historians enjoy using when covering the Gilded Age of American history — the period following the American Civil War up until the early 20th century.

If we took court historians’ interpretations at face value, we’d be under the impression that the Gilded Age was a precarious hellscape. To them, government intervention was the savior that swooped in and rescued the United States from the horrors of capitalism during this period.

Whenever the so-called economy shows signs of weakness most experts are of the view that what is required to prevent the economy sliding into recession is to boost the overall demand for goods and services.

If the private sector fails to increase its demand then it is the role of the government to fill this void.

Following the ideas of Keynes and Friedman, most experts associate economic growth with increases in the demand for goods and services.

Most libertarians are familiar with Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex and its nefarious influence on US foreign policy. Many have read Major General Smedley Butler’s short book War is a Racket, in which he lays out the ways in which war is in the economic interests of certain groups, while other groups pay the cost.

Angela Merkel’s chancellorship is ending. It is time for an evaluation. She has ruled Germany since 2005. After the election in September 2017 she began her fourth term, yet in October 2018, she abdicated as the chairman of her political party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union). She indicated that she may resign also from the chancellorship and make room for a successor.

For decades, Americans have been burdened with historic expansions in government control, including in areas earlier generations could not even imagine as possible. Such dictates violate Americans’ inalienable self-ownership.

Socialism’s popularity is reviving in America. 

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez captured a seat in the new Congress and is calling for confiscatory tax rates at the same time Democratic Socialist candidates are thriving in many areas of the nation. The Washington Post reported in July that it’s “been a good summer for the Democratic Socialists of America,” who have “never had more adherents or more clout.” The Democratic Socialists of America openly calls for the abolition of capitalism.

Why does support for socialism persist?

The short answer may be simple human nature, our natural tendency toward dissatisfaction with the present and unease about the future. Even in the midst of almost unimaginable material comforts made possible only by markets and entrepreneurs—both derided by socialists—we cannot manage to conclusively defeat the tired but deadly old arguments for collective ownership of capital. We’re so rich that socialists imagine the material wealth all around us will continue to organize itself magically, regardless of incentives.