The elements of an economic plan presented by Kamala Harris consist of price controls, higher taxes, greater government spending, interventions, regulations, and subsidies paid for by printing a currency devalued by high inflation. These elements constitute “21st-century socialism.” The Kamala Harris–Tim Walz economic plan is the most radical socialist economic plan ever announced by the Democrats.
It was Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana who said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Why cite him? Because Harris and Walz don’t seem to be able to remember the past, much less learn from it. They want to take the U.S. back 75 years to replay the economic disaster that was Argentina.
A brief history lesson: Argentina prospered under (classical) liberal economic policies in the early 20th century. The country became the world’s seventh wealthiest nation in 1908. It enjoyed a high per-capita income, higher than many European countries and its Latin American neighbors. The military took control of the country in 1930 through a coup d’état. This marked the end of Argentina’s economic rise.
Argentina had another a military coup in 1943. This period of dictatorships and intermittent elections is known for its corruption and political fraud. Juan Perón was a young army officer who, between 1939 and 1941, was a military attaché in Italy, where he was exposed to Mussolini’s fascist corporate ideas that would later influence him. He was involved in the 1943 coup d’état. That’s when Argentina’s economic downfall accelerated.
Perón introduced many reforms in Argentina, such as women’s suffrage, industrialization, and a welfare system. His ideas, methods, actions, and legacy became a political force called Peronism. However, a significant portion of the funding of his economic reforms and social programs was concealed from the Argentine people. The economy suffered under him, and he was deposed by a military coup in 1955 and exiled.
The Peronists returned to power in 1973. This period was marked by conflict between political factions and much economic instability. The Peronists were removed from power by a military coup in 1976. The military reign was characterized by a “Dirty War,” a brutal campaign of internal repression by the state.
Although it’s doubtful that the U.S. will endure a military or political coup d’état, that’s what Kamala Harris and the Democrats say will occur if she doesn’t win. But what Harris is economically and politically proposing is so similar to Argentina under Perón that it’s scary.
Kamala Harris proposes reducing inflation by spending and printing more money, reducing competition, and attacking businesses. It has never worked and never will because it’s upside-down economics, like what Perón tried. The only thing that can make prices rise constantly is the destruction of the purchasing power of the currency, which comes from massive government spending and printing currency.
Perón expanded the power of unions, spent lavishly on welfare schemes, and waged class warfare against the rich. He practiced cronyism and paid off his supporters with tax money. Perón’s expanded government appeared affordable. But it set in motion economic consequences that were unsustainable. It wasn’t long before the debts, deficits, and paper money, along with higher personal and corporate taxes, drove the peso down and the economy with it. Spending is what Harris is proposing, or with Biden, is doing today.
Argentina was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but no longer.Socialism was what Perón was promoting. He viewed fascist corporatism as a favorable method of social organization by which socially harmonious class participation would lead to a “fair” distribution of national output. Though it didn’t “mature” into the form of the Hitler’s or Mussolini’s or Chávez’s socialism, it was nationalist, populist, interventionist, demagogic, and authoritarian. This is what could happen to the U.S. if socialist Harris, who is to the left of avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, is elected. Kamala Harris’s economic ideas are failed socialist panderings.
Perón’s socialist political-economic theories organized society into associations of persons with a common economic interest, subordinated to the state. Under this philosophy, workers, employers, professionals, and other classes were organized into state-controlled unions in each field of economic activity. These unions could then negotiate collective bargaining agreements for workers and employers in their fields. Since all unions would be subordinated to the state, a ministry of corporations would necessarily arbitrate all disputes, no doubt in the state’s favor, as with Democrat-appointed judges.
More ominous than his economic policies was Perón’s assaults on civil liberties. He (with wife Eva) always said that whatever they did was “for the people,” especially the poor descamisados (shirtless ones). In their biography Evita: The Real Life of Eva Perón, Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro quote an opposition attorney who described Juan Perón’s ruling style this way: “He is subtle, devious, charming. He does not come out into the open and crack skulls. ... He does his work silently and cynically. You see, there is so little we can put our hands on these days — everything he does is in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘social betterment’ — and yet we sense the smell of evil in the air, and the thin edge on which we walk.” Sound familiar?
What can we expect from Kamala Harris if she’s elected? More of what Joe Biden began. Socialists love “infrastructure” spending, and Juan Perón didn’t disappoint in this regard. His administration made massive “investments” in public housing, hospitals, schools, dams, roads, and the electric grid. In spite of the waste and corruption that came with the spending, many Argentinians still credit him with the “modernizations.” But to civil and economic libertarians, improvements in Argentine life could have been accomplished better and cheaper and without the heavy hand of authoritarianism. Infrastructure spending is what Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of.
As the Democrats say, “Democracy is on the ballot.” Will Kamala Harris, if she wins, view victory as a mandate to “protect” democracy?
There is a leader at the center of all socialist systems. He can reach political power through a coup d’état, as did Perón, or through a democratic election. Once in power, the leader could replace the multi-party democratic system with a one-party system and govern by fiat, by decrees (such as regulations and mandates) issued by the leader and approved by a one-party parliament that has the physical power to execute nationalistic social and economic policies.
A closing point: Socialists always claims to be “for the people” as they heap enormous amounts of money and political power on their supporters — as with the “Green New Deal.” Further, socialists ridicule faith in God because, for many, it isn’t a welcome place for the oppressed. However, oppressors such as Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Ceausescu, and the Kims of North Korea expected their subjects to fawn over them. Add Kamala Harris to that list. Her proposal to end “price-gouging” certainly oppresses food corporation CEOs.