猫咪社区

鈥淲e renew our resolve that ,鈥� Donald Trump said recently.

Someone should alert him that America is now a hotbed of socialism. But it鈥檚 socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism.

In the conservative mind, socialism means getting something for doing nothing. This pretty much describes General Motors鈥� receipt of , plus , since Trump took office.

Some of this corporate welfare has gone into the pockets of GM executives. Chairman and .

But GM employees are subject to harsh capitalism. GM is planning to lay off more than in North America by the end of 2019.

The nation鈥檚 largest banks saved , some of which went into massive bonuses for bank executives. On the other hand, . They lost their jobs.

Banks that are too big to fail鈥攃ourtesy of the 2008 bank bailout鈥攅njoy a hidden subsidy of about because they have the backing of the federal government. This hidden subsidy gives giant Wall Street banks a huge advantage.

In 2017, Wall Street鈥檚 bonus pool was . So, take away the hidden subsidy, and that bonus pool disappears, along with most profits. Trump and his appointees at the Federal Reserve are . But they will make sure the biggest banks remain too big to fail.

When he was in business,  to shield himself from the consequences of bad decisions鈥攕ocialism for the rich at its worst鈥攚hile leaving employees twisting in the wind. Now, all over America, executives who run their companies into the ground are getting gold-plated exit packages while their workers get pink slips.

Under socialism for the rich, you can screw up big time and still reap big rewards.  after a security breach that exposed the personal information of  customers to hackers.

聽after being in charge of the unit that opened more than 2 million unauthorized customer accounts.

Whatever happened to the idea of a meritocracy鈥攁n economic system that allows everyone to get ahead through hard work, and economic gains go only to those who deserve them?

. Many of today鈥檚 superrich have never worked a day in their lives. Trump鈥檚 response has been to expand this divide by cutting the estate tax to apply only to estates valued at over . .

To the conservative mind, the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable, and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet, that鈥檚 exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich.

Meanwhile, most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism.

They need stronger safety nets, and they deserve a bigger piece of the economic pie.

If you want to call this socialism, fine. I call it fair.

This article originally appeared on . It has been republished here with permission.