Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Quote of the Day — Garry Kasparov (March 1, 2016)

Garry Kasparov, 2007
(source: Wikipedia)

As seen on the chess giant's Book of Face:
I'm enjoying the irony of American Sanders supporters lecturing me, a former Soviet citizen, on the glories of Socialism and what it really means! Socialism sounds great in speech soundbites and on Facebook, but please keep it there. In practice, it corrodes not only the economy but the human spirit itself, and the ambition and achievement that made modern capitalism possible and brought billions of people out of poverty. Talking about Socialism is a huge luxury, a luxury that was paid for by the successes of capitalism. Income inequality is a huge problem, absolutely. But the idea that the solution is more government, more regulation, more debt, and less risk is dangerously absurd.
I have nothing to add to that.

Fortunately, Mr. Kasparov has more, writing a follow-up in The Daily Beast. Here's a (very) small taste:
A society that relies too heavily on redistributing wealth eventually runs out of wealth to redistribute. The historical record is clear. It’s capitalism that brought billions of people out of poverty in the 20th century. It’s socialism that enslaved them and impoverished them. […] Once you give power to the government it is nearly impossible to get it back, and it will be used in ways you cannot expect.
Stay safe.

[Hat tip: Legal Insurrection]

3 comments:

  1. I studied his chess games and he is, of course, brilliant.

    He is not a one-trick pony since he understands that socialism/communism is evil.
    Those that support Bernie Sanders, are not fellow Americans. They are lazy and thieves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The grand irony is that those too lazy to work will not fare any better under a socialist regime than they do under a capitalist one. In fact, it's quite likely they'll be worse off.

      It's just that everyone else fares poorly, too, so the lazy only do "less poorly" by comparison.

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    2. Then we run out of other people's money and we are all equally miserable.

      My blood boils every time I pass a car with an economic illiterate as proven by their Bernie Sanders bumper sticker.

      Delete