Ocasio-Cortez Supporters Stumped on How Democratic Socialism Would Be Funded

[ducks]

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/07/28/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-supporters-stumped-how-her-democratic-socialism-will-be-funded

[Winehole23]

that's an easy one actually. tax wealth (investors) commensurately with labor(workers).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-12/why-american-workers-pay-twice-as-much-in-taxes-as-wealthy-investors

[sickdsm]

Funding doesn't matter. Seize the means of housing.

New York City is experiencing the highest rate of homelessness since the Great Depression.

For every 1 person experiencing homelessness here, there are ~3 vacant apartments.

Inequality is a crisis, and a bold, 21st-century effort on poverty must advance.

[Winehole23]

the solution for homelessness is more housing, true.

Salt Lake City and San Diego have put forward solutions far short of confiscation with favorable results.

seems if cities invest in taking care of basic needs like housing, costs are saved elsewhere.

[Winehole23]

incarceration, uninsured emergency room visits to name two.

makes it somewhat easier to get a job. there are a number of plusses to putting a roof over people's heads.

[Winehole23]

I disagree that revenue doesn't matter. Tax equity counts for a lot. The tax code is skewed against workers in favor of rentiers.

[pgardn]

Mexico will pay for it.

They built our wall, right?

[sickdsm]

Mexico will pay for it.

They built our wall, right?

Democratic Socialists for the wall


Ezra Klein
You said being a democratic socialist means a more international view. I think if you take global poverty that seriously, it leads you to conclusions that in the US are considered out of political bounds. Things like sharply raising the level of immigration we permit, even up to a level of open borders. About sharply increasing ...

Bernie Sanders
Open borders? No, that's a Koch brothers proposal.

Ezra Klein
Really?

Bernie Sanders
Of course. That's a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States. ...

Ezra Klein
But it would make ...

Bernie Sanders
Excuse me ...

Ezra Klein
It would make a lot of global poor richer, wouldn't it?

Bernie Sanders
It would make everybody in America poorer —you're doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don't think there's any country in the world that believes in that.

[Winehole23]

believe it or not, there are reasonable positions between "open borders" and "zero tolerance"

[Winehole23]

it may shock you that socialists would propound such things, but it shouldn't

[sickdsm]

it may shock you that socialists would propound such things, but it shouldn't

Democratic. You can't forget that.

[pgardn]

Democratic Socialists for the wall





So Mexico won’t pay for free college for all US High Schoolers?

Damn it.
Only walls.
Wait... Not even walls...
Scratch that Orange plan.

[Winehole23]

Democratic. You can't forget that.oh, why not?

[Winehole23]

a Mercatus study scored Medicare for All, with a startling result:


According to the Mercatus model, total health spending wouldactually come in about $303 billion lower (https://jacobinmag.com/2018/07/medicare-for-all-mercatus-center-report)in 2031 than under current projections, with $7.35 trillion going to healthcare that year versus $7.65 trillion expected now. Total national health spending would be $2 trillion lower from 2022 to 2031 under the plan, the report found.https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan-cost-save-money-2018-7

[Winehole23]

so, the buying power of the US government could be used to pay for a lot too.

it's notable that the Mercatus study pegs administrative costs well above Medicare's current 2% rate, so the savings estimate could be on the conservative side.

[Spurminator]

It's cute how Republicans have found their new boogeywoman. Most people have never heard of her but she's a household name with the 70+ Fox News crowd.

[boutons_deux]

It's cute how Republicans have found their new boogeywoman. Most people have never heard of her but she's a household name with the 70+ Fox News crowd.

all Repug/oligarchy alternatives, all opposition to white male Christian supremacy will delegitimized, even dehumanized ("infested", "animals") as part of the oligarchy's strategy of making USA a one party autocracy, in fact, if not in name.

There will be no "loyal (to country) opposition" allowed, because for the oligarchy, "country" is bullshit, unimportant compared to their supranational power to accumulate Capital without limit.

The oligarchy is winning and is unstoppable, irreversible.

[Winehole23]

it's also super cute how establishment pols on both sides of the aisle act there's no possible way for the USA -- the richest country in the whole history of countries --to pay for things that every other rich country in the world can afford.

[Winehole23]

It's cute how Republicans have found their new boogeywoman. Most people have never heard of her but she's a household name with the 70+ Fox News crowd.So was Dave Brat, his win was even more momentous. Hardly anyone mentions him now. The DSA may only be the Dems' Tea Party moment.

Prepare to be assimilated.

[RandomGuy]

that's an easy one actually. tax wealth (investors) commensurately with labor(workers).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-12/why-american-workers-pay-twice-as-much-in-taxes-as-wealthy-investors

For most people, who are already spending $1000s on health insurance a month (for families etc), the costs would quite possibly be less, based on the analysis of Medicare for all.

[RandomGuy]

a Mercatus study scored Medicare for All, with a startling result:

https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-plan-cost-save-money-2018-7

Yeah, that one.

[boutons_deux]

medicare for all would be financed as payroll tax just as Medicare, workman's comp, SS are now

AND

all income, earned and unearned, would be subject to the Medicare levy.

fucking Capitalists don't get no more free rides while Labor pays full freight.

[AaronY]

Whats to explain? The government becomes Santa Clause and starts giving out free stuff; free college, free healthcare, $15 minimum wages, and then even UBI for people who cant find a job in an economy with 3% unemployment. Its not complicated people

[hater]

Whats to explain? The government becomes Santa Clause and starts giving out free stuff; free college, free healthcare, $15 minimum wages, and then even UBI for people who cant find a job in an economy with 3% unemployment. Its not complicated people

Dont forget free wages for our farmers

[AaronY]

Dont forget free wages for our farmers
Ahhh the poor farmers...Its only welfare if the wrong people are getting it

[Spurtacular]

Ahhh the poor farmers...Its only welfare if the wrong people are getting it

It's all wellfare to libertarians.

[Winehole23]

It's already socialism, y'all. Has been a hybrid system for quite some time.

That we socialized bank and non-bank losses starting in 2008 and let the people twist in the wind is just the cherry on top demonstrating just whom socialism in the USA is supposed to be for.

[Winehole23]

socialism for corporations good; socialism for people, bad.

[Winehole23]

$30 trillion+ on war and bailouts since 2000.

war: https://www.wsj.com/articles/study-estimates-war-costs-at-5-6-trillion-1510106400

bailouts: http://ritholtz.com/2011/12/bailout-total-29-616-trillion-dollars/




mostly off budget. we can't afford what, again?

[Winehole23]

we had 30 trillion in the last 17 years to prop up financial institutions who got caught swimming naked when the tide when out, and trillions more for elective wars in the middle east and South Asia, but nothing more for millions of US citizens struggling in the wake of an epochal bust who need housing, health care and work.

the recent tax cut comes to another trillion and a half, skewed markedly to corporations and the top quintile of income.

https://www.thebalance.com/trump-s-tax-plan-how-it-affects-you-4113968

[Winehole23]

you can call that fairness. you can also call it redistribution of wealth up the ladder.

if that's not gold-plated socialism for the rich, I don't know what is.

[boutons_deux]

How Capitalist Utopia Became Everyone Else’s Dystopia

How American Elites Ruined Their Society in a Way the World Hasn’t Seen Since Weimar Germany

American elites mismanaged their economy so badly, so fatally, so totally, the rich world hasn’t seen the like since Weimar Germany.

They created a capitalist utopia — but the problem is that that’s everyone else’s dystopia.

Why didn’t Europe’s “labour share of income” — that is, how much regular people receive— decline, like in the States?

The simple answer, of course, is

“more social democracy, and less capitalism.”

But what does that mean?

It means that European structures and institutions are radically different from American ones — 

so different, that many Americans have little idea such things even exist.

social-scale public goods also meant that Europeans could enjoy the basics of life at reasonable prices,

precisely because many of them were employed at better incomes, in the production of those very public goods —

 whereas in America, capitalism had to produce such things as healthcare, education, finance, and media.

But it had no incentive to produce these things well, affordably, at high quality, or even completely.

So Americans got squeezed savagely — 

they had to pay skyrocketing prices for the basics of life, which capitalism only offered them partially.

fresh food costing three times as much as frozen food,

whole cities without working utilities or supermarkets,

basic medicines like insulin costing thousands,

childbirth priced at half an average person’s yearly income.

And some things just weren’t available to many at all.

No “health insurance”? Sorry — you die.

Bad “credit”? Sorry — no housing.

Want that cutting edge cancer drug? It’ll cost you $500K — but for Europeans, it’s free.

Americans lived perched right at the edge of ruin,

trying desperately to afford the things that Europeans took for granted — 

but those things were the very ones which life depends on most — 

food, water, healthcare, education, finance, media, pensions.

https://eand.co/how-capitalist-utopia-became-everyone-elses-dystopia-a25a88713956

[Winehole23]

100 billion here, a 100 billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about serious money. no legislation necessary!


Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Argentina this month that his department was studying whether it could use its regulatory powers to allow Americans to account for inflation in determining capital gains tax liabilities. The Treasury Department could change the definition of “cost” for calculating capital gains, allowing taxpayers to adjust the initial value of an asset, such as a home or a share of stock, for inflation when it sells.

“If it can’t get done through a legislation process, we will look at what tools at Treasury we have to do it on our own and we’ll consider that,” Mr. Mnuchin saidhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/politics/trump-tax-cuts-rich.html

[hater]

Funny cause Trump supporters are also stumped at how the border wall will be funded :lol

[Winehole23]

public handjobs for the political donor class seem to take precedence

[RandomGuy]

100 billion here, a 100 billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about serious money. no legislation necessary!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/politics/trump-tax-cuts-rich.html

How Republican Hypocrisy Lifts Social Democrats
By its astoundingly cynical approach to deficits and debt, the G.O.P. has opened the door to an expansive left.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/opinion/social-democrats-republicans-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-.html

The same thing occurred to me.

Now that the GOP has finally erased any doubt about their fiscal conservatism being a complete façade, that means their arguments about debt and deficits look a lot weaker.

[Winehole23]

the Dems sing from the same hymnal to protect themselves from the left. expect the arguments to become louder and shriller.

[RandomGuy]

the Dems sing from the same hymnal to protect themselves from the left. expect the arguments to become louder and shriller.

We will swing the party farther to the left. Conservative ideas have had their day, and failed spectacularly.

[DarrinS]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/33901/venezuelas-democratic-socialist-president-our-james-barrett?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=062316-news&utm_campaign=benshapiro

[RandomGuy]

[venezuala bad, booga booga booga]

muh venezuala...

Norway, Denmark, UK, France, German, Japan, etc, etc, etc.

What I find doubly ironic is that it was crony-ism and corruption that brought VZ down, exactly what your cult leader is doing in the US, with his "free press is the enemy of the people" rhetoric.

[Winehole23]

Darrin, mutely, waves his hands.

Trillions spent to prop up TBTFs (read: insolvent banks who made bad decisions) here and abroad didn't turn us into Venezuela.

We socialized the losses of the financial sector starting in 2008. The government implicitly backstops it now.

How is that not socialism and why isn't the financial sector made to pay for the privilege of having the US taxpayer back up its bad bets?

[Winehole23]

We will swing the party farther to the left. Conservative ideas have had their day, and failed spectacularly.Not sure who you mean by we.

I'm less sanguine about the demise of conservative ideas, whatever you mean by that. The average age of a Trump judicial appointee is 49 years old.

[Winehole23]

Now that the GOP has finally erased any doubt about their fiscal conservatism being a complete façade, that means their arguments about debt and deficits look a lot weaker.however that may be, the ideas propelling Ms. Ocasio-Cortez might be gaining traction.

https://www.dataforprogress.org/polling-the-left-agenda/

[DarrinS]

We will swing the party farther to the left.


Great idea

[sickdsm]

Ahhh the poor farmers...Its only welfare if the wrong people are getting it

The ironic thing is that farmers don't want to be bought and controlled by the govt yet every country does it to secure and control the food situation. Those that are in this socialist structure are against the wave of socialism sweeping in. How much experience do those that can't wait for a Socialist regime have besides finding links to support that cause?

PS: Subsidies ALWAYS go straight up the ladder. Straight to the landowner.

[sickdsm]

oh, why not?

Because without putting a cute word in front of it,folks would quickly realize it's the same old,same,old.

[RandomGuy]

Not sure who you mean by we.

I'm less sanguine about the demise of conservative ideas, whatever you mean by that. The average age of a Trump judicial appointee is 49 years old.

Conservative ideas will take a while to die, but that doesn't make them any less failures. It will take us a while to root out that rot after Trump is gone.

We means Democratic Socialists. I would at this point count myself as one, for the most part. As has been noted, I believe that means of production should be kept private.

[Winehole23]

so, not same old same old

[sickdsm]

Conservative ideas will take a while to die, but that doesn't make them any less failures. It will take us a while to root out that rot after Trump is gone.

We means Democratic Socialists. I would at this point count myself as one, for the most part. As has been noted, I believe that means of production should be kept private.

Democratic socialist of America website talks about long term goal of elimination capitalism and private corporations. It also talks about spreading the shitty jobs among a bunch of people. Wonder who'll get drafted to pump septic tanks?


Big difference between democratic socialist and social democracy/republic.



Honest question though. Under democratic socialist party, how would a situation like black rights, slavery, etc have played out?

[koriwhat]

lmao democratic socialism... what a bunch of fucking idiots who subscribe to that nonsense.

[boutons_deux]

It will take us a while to root out that rot after Trump is gone.


Trash is a side show

The MAIN show, totally independent of Trash, is the oligarchy buying the Repugs to fuck America. That started decades ago and will continue after Trash is in the trash pile of history

[koriwhat]

Trash is a side show

The MAIN show, totally independent of Trash, is the oligarchy buying the Repugs to fuck America. That started decades ago and will continue after Trash is in the trash pile of history

could say the same of the other side... your side!

[CosmicCowboy]

Bet this " champion of the people" is a multi-millionaire in 4 years.

[koriwhat]

Bet this " champion of the people" is a multi-millionaire in 4 years.

she probably already is considering she's not one of the people in the streets and never was to begin with. wolves always dress up as the flock.

[Winehole23]

the New Deal didn't turn us into Venezuela either, in fact it kind of saved us from that.

[Winehole23]

Bet this " champion of the people" is a multi-millionaire in 4 years.grossly exaggerated. after two years in government who's going to pay her millions?

people don't get rich off government that fast. it takes time to accumulate connections, favors and power.

[Winehole23]

hell, Bernie Sanders didn't get rich off it yet. if Ocasio-Cortez gets rich as a DSA figure she'd be the first one ever.

[dbestpro]

So Mexico won’t pay for free college for all US High Schoolers?

Damn it.
Only walls.
Wait... Not even walls...
Scratch that Orange plan.

They can"t afford to pay past 6th grade.

[spurraider21]

:lmao "champion of the people"... she's gotten less than 16k votes

[Mikeanaro]

Fuck Venezuela, funny how they want now to deflect to Denmark, Japan, etc.

[boutons_deux]

grossly exaggerated. after two years in government who's going to pay her millions?

people don't get rich off government that fast. it takes time to accumulate connections, favors and power.

The effectively infinite pockets of the oligarchy won't be unloading in her direction except to defeat her and social democrats, since social democracy is exactly what the oligarchy hates and will block.

Unregulated, predatory, rentier, extractive Capitalism is the oligarchy's achievement in America.

That Capitalism will be defended against social democratic movements viciously.

Social democracy doesn't have a chance in USA, since neither Repug or Dem establishments will permit it.

[Winehole23]

Yeah, that one.fucking commies at George Mason University!


the same estimate with the scary $32.6 trillion figure they were promoting to all the journalists in the country also said that the US could insure 30 million more Americans, virtually eliminate out-of-pocket expenses, and cover dental, vision, and hearing care for everyone — all while spending $2 trillion less over the next ten years.https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/mercatus-report-bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all

[spurraider21]

this oughta be Socialist Boogeyman's homepage

[Socialist Boogeyman]

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/07/28/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-supporters-stumped-how-her-democratic-socialism-will-be-funded
I’m under your bed right now.

[boutons_deux]

unregulated capitalism is horribly, fatally worse than democratic socialism

[Chris]

1030587134531399680

[koriwhat]

1030587134531399680

she's such a dumb motherfucker.

[Socialist Boogeyman]

:lmao Chris is scared as fuck.

[Chris]

she's such a dumb motherfucker.

She's terrified of being asked questions :lol

[CosmicCowboy]

She will be New Yorks Sheila Jackson Lee. Elected and reelected by dumb fucks in her district and be irrelevant politically.

[koriwhat]

She's terrified of being asked questions :lol

because she has no answers for any of them that hold any weight. she falls flat just like the whole dem party. a party of retards and constituents who live in a make believe world. sad sad sad.

[Chris]

because she has no answers for any of them that hold any weight. she falls flat just like the whole dem party. a party of retards and constituents who live in a make believe world. sad sad sad.

She's perfect :lol

[SnakeBoy]

unregulated capitalism is horribly, fatally worse than democratic socialism

True, but we don't have unregulated capitalism so what's your point?

[koriwhat]

True, but we don't have unregulated capitalism so what's your point?

he has no point because he realistically can't even tell you or comprehend what democratic socialism is. so sad there's fucking retards like boutons in the great USA.

[Winehole23]

M4A and free college tuition are polling well:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-progressives/ (https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-progressives/)

[Winehole23]

hey look, free shit legislation in red states:


liberal Democrats busy themselves deriding such programs as ponies and unicorns, while Tennessee, with a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, passes it.


State officials had initially anticipated 8,000 adult learners to apply for the program, which expanded the popular tuition-free Tennessee Promise. But a week before the start of the new college semester, more than 30,000 adults had applied for the scholarship according to state education officials.


Tennessee is one of only a handful of states that has a tuition-free program for older adults.


“It’s surpassing all expectations,” said Mike Krause, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. “Now we need to make sure all adults enter campus environments this week and next week ready to succeed.”
While many two-year institutions across the country are seeing enrollment declines (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/21/community-college-enrollment-rates-expected-keep-falling), the coming influx of adults on Tennessee’s community and technical college campuses means all of the institutions will see double-digit increases in students attending, Krause said.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/24/tennessee-sees-thousands-apply-tuition-free-adult-plan

[Winehole23]

there will be four ballot initiatives in the midterms to expand Medicaid in red states:


Nebraska may be one of the most conservative states in the country, but in November, the state’s voters could advance a liberal cause. On Friday, Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale confirmed (https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/medicaid-expansion-to-be-on-the-november-ballot-in-nebraska/article_e0551dbf-ea33-52e1-aec9-549aaf33fac9.html) that organizers had collected enough signatures to put Medicaid expansion on the general election ballot this fall, making it the fourth state to do so this year. Voters in Utah and Idaho will also consider an expansion in November, and Montana voters will decide whether to make permanent the state’s current expansion, which is due to expire next year. If it passes, the initiative would extend Medicaid to an estimated 90,000 low-income Nebraskans.


Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Nebraska are all reliably Republican (https://news.gallup.com/poll/226556/state-partisanship-shifts-toward-democratic-party-2017.aspx) states, while Medicaid expansion, which is optional for states, is the product of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Thirty-two states, plus the District of Columbia, have opted in (https://familiesusa.org/product/50-state-look-medicaid-expansion); Virginia (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-senate-approves-medicaid-expansion-to-400000-low-income-residents/2018/05/30/5df5e304-640d-11e8-a768-ed043e33f1dc_story.html) is the latest state to do so, after several Republican legislators defected and joined Democrats to pass expansion. But even these red-state voters seem open to the growth of government-subsidized health care—Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and individual states—and polling suggests they just might endorse it. A June poll put Utahns’ support for expansion at 63 percent (https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900022085/strong-majority-of-utah-voters-favor-medicaid-expansion-ballot-measure-new-poll-says.html). In Idaho, a June poll found 66 percent (http://www.spokanepublicradio.org/post/medicaid-expansion-campaign-cites-new-poll) support in favorhttps://newrepublic.com/article/150921/red-state-voters-take-medicaid-expansion-hands

[Chris]

Former East German Communists Training, Guiding Democratic Socialists of America


https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2018/08/13/GettyImages-1011669564--700x420.jpg
Democratic Socialists of America march in downtown Berkeley, Calif., on Aug. 5, 2018. (Amy Osborne/AFP/Getty Images)



The United States’ largest Marxist organization, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), is being trained—and guided—by an extremely well-funded network of “former” East German communists. Many of these German communists were documented informants for the notorious former East German intelligence service: the Stasi.

At over 49,000 members—and growing fast—DSA has exploded from an obscure political sect only two years ago to a major force in the increasingly radical American left. DSA is on the verge of electing members Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress and is behind dozens of other DSA members and “fellow travelers” to lesser offices.

Just one stark example is the success of state House candidates Sara Innamorato, Summer Lee, Elizabeth Fiedler, and Kristin Seale in the Democratic primaries in Pennsylvania in May. They are all DSA members.

DSA takes pains to portray itself as open, “democratic,” and completely opposed to the totalitarian socialism of the former Eastern Bloc. DSA claims to be all about Sweden and Norway; not about Bulgaria, Cuba or the former Soviet Union. The reality is completely different.

DSA is willingly working with dedicated foreign communists to change America forever.

East German Communists
When the Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, the Moscow-aligned Socialist Unity Party (SED) held unchallenged power in the German Democratic Republic—East Germany.

In my own country New Zealand, our pro-Soviet Communists called themselves the Socialist Unity Party to emulate their German idols. Communists from all over the world regarded East Germany, much more so than the Soviet Union, as the model “socialist state.” President Erich Honecker with his secret police, barbed wire, and machine guns was regarded as the exemplary communist leader.

Within days of the wall falling SED gave up its monopoly on power, and West German political parties quickly opened shop in the East. Soon, the SED lost 95 percent of its members. In a few months, only the hardest of the hardcore and a handful of younger “reform communists” remained.

The SED quickly changed its name to the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). Old style communism was gone. It would seem that German citizens had nothing to fear from this new party of “democratic socialism.”

In 2007, the PDS further distanced itself from its communist past by merging with the Western-based Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG) to form Die Linke (translates to “The Left”). Most Germans remained extremely skeptical of Die Linke, and rightfully so.

Surveillance
The now-unified Federal Republic of Germany operates a system of “Verfassungsschutz” (Protection of the Constitution) at both federal and state levels.

The 2007 annual German intelligence gazette cites as evidence of “extremism” Die Linke leader Lothar Bisky’s June 2007 statement that democratic socialism remains the party’s goal: “We also still discuss the change of property and power relations. … We question the system.” In addition, the report cites “openly extremist groupings” within the party, including the Communist Platform and several Trotskyist groups known to operate under the Die Linke banner.

In January 2012, it became public that more than one-third of the party’s parliamentarians were under intelligence service surveillance.

The files on Vice President Petra Pau of the lower house of parliament (the Bundestag) were reported to be 600 pages thick.

According to a 2008 report cited in Der Spiegel: “According to the study, about one in 20 members of the former East German Communist party, the SED, was a secret police informant. Over the regime’s 51-year history the number of civilian spies added up to about 620,000, including 12,000 West Germans who worked for the Communist dictatorship.

“For most Stasi informers the prime motivation, the study found, was a belief in the Communist state’s political ideology.”

As it was only the most committed communists who remained in the SED after 1989, it’s possible that many more than 5 percent of current Die Linke members had worked for the Stasi.

Brie Brothers
Several major Die Linke leaders have been exposed as Stasi informers, including the Brie brothers, Andre and Michael. Sons of lifelong communist “true-believer” and East German Ambassador to China and North Korea Horst Brie, the brothers both voluntarily offered to work for the secret police, against their fellow citizens.

At age 19, Andre Brie began informing in 1969 for the Stasi in Potsdam under the code name “Peter Scholz.” He received the Medal of Merit in bronze for his “work.” Andre Brie spied on friends, girlfriends, and work colleagues. In 1986, he demanded an increase in “revolutionary vigilance” at his workplace, the Institute for International Relations.

Andre’s younger brother Michael began studying philosophy in Leningrad in 1974 and continued in 1976 at Humboldt University in East Berlin.

In 1977, the 23-year-old student signed a written statement agreeing to work for the Stasi. Michael Brie’s job was mainly to spy on foreign students studying at his university. In 1990, Michael Brie was investigated by Humboldt University for his communist-era espionage.

According to a subsequent report, “From 1977 to November 1989, he [Michael Brie] was an informal member of the Domestic Security Division and, judging from what the Tribunal had heard, he was mainly involved in recruiting foreign students for socialist intelligence services.”

Michael Brie was a spy recruiter, a solicitor of treason. In 1991, he was fired by Humboldt University for his actions.

Andre Brie also suffered for his spying, or rather for keeping it secret. On Oct. 25, 1991, Brie was forced to resign as chairman of the Berlin PDS when his past Stasi collaboration was exposed, but the episode was only a minor setback in the young communist’s career.

Committees of Correspondence
In 1994, Andre Brie was in Chicago representing the PDS at the founding of a new American communist organization, the Committees of Correspondence (CoC). Modeled largely on the successful Brazilian Workers Party, CoC was designed to adapt communism to the post-Soviet era. It consisted mainly of former Pro-Soviet Communist Party USA members, former Maoists, Trotskyists, and some DSA activists.

According to Chicago DSA’s New Ground of September 1994:

“Over 500 delegates and observers (including 140 from Chicago) attended the founding convention of the Committees of Correspondence (CoC) held here in Chicago in July.

“Speakers … included Charles Nqukula, General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, Dulce Maria Pereira, a senatorial candidate of the Workers Party of Brazil, Angela Davis of CoC, Andre Brie of the Party of Democratic Socialism of Germany.

“Guests during the Convention included Cook County Commissioner Danny Davis, Chicago Aldermen Helen Shiller and Rick Munoz, a representative of the Green Left Weekly of Australia and a representative of the Cuban Interest Section.”

That’s right—the Danny Davis, the one who now serves as a congressman for Illinois and who served on the House Homeland Security Committee. He was a card-carrying member of DSA.

CoC never lived up to expectations. It was supposed to become a mass party, to eventually overtake the Democratic Party. Today’s communists are looking to DSA to fulfill CoC’s failed promise.

Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
Today, Andre Brie, Die Linke, sits on the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the German–Russian Petersburg Dialogue, which promotes friendly relations between Germany and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

In 1990, Andre Brie had helped establish a foundation: the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS), a wholly controlled affiliate of Die Linke. Named after the famed German revolutionary leader, the RLS has “been committed to the analysis of social processes and developments worldwide.”

“Its international activities aim to provide civic education by means of academic analyses, public programs, and projects conducted together with partner institutions,” it states.

The RLS is not a small operation. It has offices all over Germany. In 2015, the foundation received a staggering 47 million Euro (approximately $54 million) courtesy of the German taxpayer.

The chairman of the budget committee in the lower house of the German Parliament, Gesine Lötzsch, a Die Linke leader, had to defend this generosity to a curious German press. According to German News site Internetz Zeitung, Lötzsch responded: “[T]he coalition agreement has highlighted the importance of political foundations. This is followed by deeds.” The author added: “Lötzsch was for a long time the deputy chairman of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is close to her party.” This is a striking example of “crony communism.”

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung funds 17 foreign offices sited on every continent. They include outposts in Beijing and Moscow and on New York City’s Madison Avenue.

Andre Brie’s younger brother Michael has also served on various program commissions of the PDS/Die Linke and today is a researcher at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin. His work focuses on the “theory and history of socialism and communism.”

‘Influential Progressives and Leftists’
A conference “Mapping Socialist Strategies” was convened from Aug. 1 to 4 in Briarcliff Manor, New York, by the New York office of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. It brought together 100 “influential progressives and leftists” from across the United States, Canada, and Europe for an “un-conference” on socialist strategies.

Plenary No. 4 was entitled “overcoming fragmentation and rebuilding the Left.” It states: “Michael Brie and Sarah Leonard discuss building left alliances and new trends on the left. How can the left rediscover and strengthen relationships amongst natural allies in the fight to defend the public sphere and defeat encroaching neoliberalism?”

Panelist Sarah Leonard was an editor at DSA-linked publication Dissent magazine and a DSA member.

Did Leonard have any inkling that her co-panelist once spied on young foreigners like her? Does she understand that Michael Brie once sought to recruit ego-driven young idealists to spy on their own countrymen for a totalitarian dictatorship?

Most of DSA’s top leadership were present at the conference, including DSA National Director Maria Svart, DSA Vice Chair Joseph Schwartz, DSA-linked publication Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin magazine national organizer Neal Meyer, former Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) leader Betsy Avila and the legendary Frances Fox Piven of the “Cloward-Piven” strategy, which sought to “overwhelm the system” in America by flooding welfare to deliberately bankrupt states. Two DSA members Ethan Earle and Heidi Chua Schwa from the RLS-NY office also attended, as did several German-born staff.

Also present were Communist Party USA leaders Libero Della Pina and Judith LeBlanc. LeBlanc was a prominent organizer of the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Other Dakota Access Pipeline organizers included Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and several other affiliates of the Maoist-leaning Freedom Road Socialist Organization, including labor official Bill Fletcher, Jr. environmental activist Bill Gallegos, and San Francisco Chinese Progressive Association Executive Director Alex Tom.

Leftist media personality and host Laura Flanders was at the conference, along with Anne Mitchell and Pat Fry from the Committees of Correspondence, plus International Socialist Organization member Jonah Birch.

International guests included the head of Die Linke’s Strategy Department Christina Kaindl, Harald Wolf of Die Linke’s Executive Board, and Koray Yilmaz-Gunay, adviser for migration at the RLS Berlin.

Others included Dutch Socialist Party Secretary Hans van Heijningen, Swedish Left Party press secretary Petter Nilsson, Portuguese Left Bloc member Catarina Principe, far left Greek party SYRIZA’s European Policy Secretariat member Ioannis Bournous, and Deputy Director of the RLS Center for International Dialogue and Cooperation Karin Gabbert.

These “enemies foreign and domestic” plotted and strategized against the U.S. Constitution for four days. All presumably paid for by RLS, courtesy of the German taxpayer.

Seminars, Training Sessions, Conferences
The RLS-NY office has hosted multiple seminars and training sessions for DSA members and their allies.

In 2017, RLS-NY funded a training session for 45 Black DSA members, the AFROSOC, DSA’s black caucus:

“AFROSOC advocates for and builds power with DSA’s Black/POC membership and their communities. We pursue this work to help build a multiracial working-class base, the only viable strategy for securing a socialist future.

“Generously funded by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, the caucus hosted its first training in NYC for 45 DSA members nationwide in 2017. Members of DSA’s national training team led modules focused on socialist organizing, leadership development and campaign strategy.”

On May 21, 2018, RLS-NY organized a conference on Marxist “Historical Materialism” in Montreal, Canada. Attendees included Michael Brie (RLS Berlin), Maria Starzmann (RLS–NY), Ethan Young (DSA member and People for Bernie co-founder), and Lorenz Gosta Beutin, a Die Linke member of Parliament.

In 2016, RLS sponsored the Young Democratic Socialists national conference. “Speakers from Jacobin magazine, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and College Students for Bernie, as well as the We Need Bernie Committee of the DSA, addressed a packed room … many informative workshops, plenaries, and even casual conversations addressed the true impact of the Sanders campaign and how we should use it as a means to a greater end, by building the DSA and building the next socialist movement.”

From June 24 to 25, 2017, RLS-NY co-hosted a “Democratic Socialism 101” workshop in collaboration with DSA. More than 30 leaders from across the United States came to New York—together with 12 trainers—to participate in this “train the trainer” weekend, hosted at the RLS-NY office.

“Topics we covered included: an introduction to training & community agreements; creating socialist communities and cultures at the base; social movements and fights for racial justice and socialist feminism; network mapping and coalition building; and identifying and developing leaders.”

RLS-NY also sponsors regular DSA seminars and webinars with titles such as “Democracy, radical, liberal, socialist,” “Climate change and just transition,” and “The far right in Government.”

From May 2 to 6, 2018 in Berlin, the Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung organized an international congress on Karl Marx’s 200th birthday.

Panelists included Die Linke leader Katja Kipping; Zhang Shuangli of Fudan University, China;. British Marxist filmmaker Paul Mason and co-organizer of recent anti-Trump protests in London; Italian communist leader Luciana Castellina; and Vishwas Satgar, a former leader of the South African Communist Party.

American participants honoring Marx in the country of his birth included academics Michael Hardt (Duke University), Gayatri Spivak (Columbia University), Arlie Hochschild (UC Berkeley and wife of DSA member and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism Adam Hochschild), Tithi Bhattacharya (director of global studies at Purdue University and a member of the International Socialist Organization), and Sarah Leonard (senior editor with the DSA-aligned The Nation and DSA member).

German communists are spending foreign money to influence American politics. They are training and directing DSA and other Marxist organizations against the interests of the American people.

Former Stasi collaborators are guiding the largest socialist-communist organization on the American left. DSA is being influenced and supported by lifelong supporters of one the most tyrannical regimes in modern history.

Where is the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Why are they not investigating this blatant foreign subversion?

https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-east-german-communists-training-guiding-democratic-socialists-of-america_2628662.html

[Winehole23]

foreign agitators leading red states toward democratic socialism?

devious!

[boutons_deux]

any and all aggressors for the rightwingnutjobs to deflect from the real enemies: oligarchy and Capitalism

[Darkwaters]

She's terrified of being asked questions :lol

I was very hopeful that she'd be dumb enough to debate Ben Shapiro.

[Darkwaters]

unregulated capitalism is horribly, fatally worse than democratic socialism

Intriguing. I would love to hear what defines Democratic Socialist theory as opposed to just regular plain old Socialism. I've never heard anybody explain how Democratic Socialism is distinct from the latter and what makes it superior. Because truthfully, it is often used as a buzz word but nobody has ever explained it. Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi have both been asked and publically embarassed when they could not answer. The fact is that Socialist structures have only had success when linked to Capitalistic economies. Every command economy run on Socialistic philosophies has crashed and burned. So if Democratic Socialism is different and theoretically better then somebody needs to actually try to explain why.

[Winehole23]

how to pay for M4A: rein in drug prices, administrative costs and out of control medical billing. plus a 2-3% payroll tax.

http://theweek.com/articles/792893/how-pay-medicareforall

[Winehole23]

I know everyone is supposed to throw up their hands in despair when asked "how will you pay for it", but actually, it's an analytical exercise.

[Winehole23]

is there some good reason US citizens should pay more than counties that have universalized health care and get worse outcomes?

[boutons_deux]

Intriguing. I would love to hear what defines Democratic Socialist theory as opposed to just regular plain old Socialism. I've never heard anybody explain how Democratic Socialism is distinct from the latter and what makes it superior. Because truthfully, it is often used as a buzz word but nobody has ever explained it. Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi have both been asked and publically embarassed when they could not answer. The fact is that Socialist structures have only had success when linked to Capitalistic economies. Every command economy run on Socialistic philosophies has crashed and burned. So if Democratic Socialism is different and theoretically better then somebody needs to actually try to explain why.

goddamn, you're fucking stupid, and deeply unserious.

democratic socialism is nothing but organizing society for ALL the people, while unregulated Capitalism is a society operated by and for exclusively Capitalists only.

when politicians say democratic socialism, they don't mean communist/socialist command economy where the govt confiscated and owns all means of production, which is the lying red herring Capitalists propagandize with to protect their status quo as "command Capitalists", owning and commanding from the corrupt political class whatever the Capitalists want, which is always more Capital fleeced from the non-Capitalists.

If you aren't a Capitalist, you're being fucked by dog-eat-dog, predatory Capitalists, eg, the large majority of fucked Americans.

[boutons_deux]

btw, society "For The Capitalists" is totally antipathetic to democracy "For The People", and totally committed to autocracy, fascism.

The Big Crunch

Why Predatory Capitalism is Exploding into Fascism, in Every Corner of the Globe

https://eand.co/the-big-crunch-3f774ba261fe

[Winehole23]

Intriguing. I would love to hear what defines Democratic Socialist theory as opposed to just regular plain old Socialism.is there a search engine you use regularly? it's not like the information you're looking for is hidden.

[Winehole23]

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d7e00f15be44f1e6ce3f300b0383614d-c (https://www.quora.com/Why-shouldnt-you-touch-a-baby-bird)

[Capt Bringdown]

Federal Gov spending is not funded by taxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDL4c8fMODk

[Winehole23]

...and then there's MMT. a radical game changer if true.

has it ever been tried anywhere Capt Bringdown (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=7474)?

[RandomGuy]

I’m under your bed right now.

lol....

[RandomGuy]

Bet this " champion of the people" is a multi-millionaire in 4 years.

You're right. Rich people aren't credible at all when it comes to policy solutions.

Thanks for admitting that.

[RandomGuy]

muh Venezuala

[pity response]

[Mikeanaro]

[Muh Mexican brothas, let ´em in!!!]

[RandomGuy]

[weak lulz]

[more pity]

[boutons_deux]

how to pay for M4A: rein in drug prices, administrative costs and out of control medical billing. plus a 2-3% payroll tax.

http://theweek.com/articles/792893/how-pay-medicareforall

all that, but give all group plan members the option to tell the company to send ALL their group insurance cost to their paycheck line item Medicare for all, and as with for-profit group insurance, medicare-for-all paycheck premium is deducted before taxes.

also ALL income, no cap, must pay the M4A fee. Capitalists can't escape. same cap-less rule for all income

[Chris]

1043526169977659394

yikes

[ElNono]

1043526169977659394

yikes

:lmao:lmao:lmao poor Don Jr... somebody take the keyboard away from him.

[Winehole23]

This study by PERI researchers Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Peter Arno, Jeannette Wicks-Lim and Michael Ash presents a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for a Medicare for All health care system in the United States. The most fundamental goals of Medicare for All are to significantly improve health care outcomes for everyone living in the United States while also establishing effective cost controls throughout the health care system. These two purposes are both achievable. As of 2017, the U.S. was spending about $3.24 trillion on personal health care—about 17 percent of total U.S. GDP. Meanwhile, 9 percent of U.S. residents have no insurance and 26 percent are underinsured—they are unable to access needed care because of prohibitively high costs. Other high-income countries spend an average of about 40 percent less per person and produce better health outcomes. Medicare for All could reduce total health care spending in the U.S. by nearly 10 percent, to $2.93 trillion, while creating stable access to good care for all U.S. residents.https://www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/1127-economic-analysis-of-medicare-for-all

[Winehole23]

The researchers also find that based on 2017 U.S. health care expenditure figures,the cumulative savings for the first decade operating under Medicare for All would be$5.1 trillion, equal to 2.1 percent of cumulative GDP, without accounting for broadermacroeconomic benefits such as increased productivity, greater income equality and netjob creation through lower operating costs for small- and medium-sized businesses.

[boutons_deux]

"the cumulative savings for the first decade operating under Medicare for All"

Those "savings" are right out of the profits of Healthcare, BigInsurance, BigPharma, BigDevice, all of whom will spend, successfully, to kill Medicare for All

iow, ain't gonna happen.

BigXXX will finance, elect, and own politicians with a tiny %age of the $1.5T, to maintain the rigged status quo of fleecing, extorting Americans.

[rmt]

When has any estimate of government operated program come close to reality? SS, Medicaid, Medicare, VA?