Why Socialism Prioritizes Control Over Prosperity

Socialists rarely abandon their ideology no matter how badly socialist economies perform, and that persistence makes sense once the goal is understood as the establishment of state control rather than genuine prosperity. Even the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ongoing crisis in Venezuela have failed to move true believers, who simply argue that more socialism, not less, would have produced better results.

The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute.

Forget the rhetoric from Mamdani and other “democratic” socialists about “affordability.” The current wave of socialist rhetoric and action is about establishing socialism as the dominant arrangement for our political economy and has nothing to do with actually fulfilling the promises that socialist politicians are making. It is about imposing a socialist regime, which is an end in itself.

About 40 years ago, economist Bruce Yandle went to Washington to work for the Council on Wage and Price Stability, ready to apply his knowledge of economics and educate his fellow workers. After all, he reminisces, one eye-rolling, head-scratching decision after another was coming from government regulators that surely someone versed in economics could expose as stupid, wasteful, and downright ridiculous.