In 2021, I shared a cartoon strip about a worker blaming capitalism after losing his job following an increase in the minimum wage.
One month ago, I shared a meme with a similar message. It showed the European Central Bank investigating supposedly mysterious price increases when the ECB’s bad monetary policy obviously deserves the blame.
Today, let’s look at another example of free enterprise being blamed for problems caused by government.
Heather Long of the Washington Postopines about young people not being big fans of free markets. Here’s some of what she wrote.
…why Americans under 40 are so disillusioned with capitalism. …Young people in America have come of age during the Great Recession, the sluggish recovery that followed and then the coronavirus pandemic. Unemployment has been 10 percent or higher twice in the past 15 years. …shore up Social Security. …Young people have seen the headlines that, if nothing changes, Social Security will start having to reduce benefits in 2034. …a better way to ensure that Social Security will be there for younger generations is to raise taxes slightly on corporations and the wealthy. …Young Americans have had a harsh introduction to capitalism. …a wise place to start would be to give workers a secure retirement again, starting with Social Security.
There are two major flaws in her analysis.
First, the 2008 financial crisis was not the fault of capitalism. It was bad monetary policy and foolish Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac subsidies. And while I don’t particularly blame government for the pandemic, it also would be absurd to blame capitalism for the accompanying economic troubles.
Second, it’s even more absurd to assert that Social Security is good for young people. Those are the people who are getting a terrible deal from the program. And even if young people aren’t directly hit by the author’s proposed tax increases, they will indirectly suffer as the economy gets weaker.
Since Ms. Long was writing an opinion column, I reckon we can’t say that her piece is an example of media bias. But she deserves a booby prize for poor analysis.
Dan Mitchell is co-founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and Chairman of the Board. He is an expert in international tax competition and supply-side tax policy.
