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On March 19, 2019, I wrote an opinion piece in the Standard-Examiner about the fear espoused by former President Trump and Utah Rep. Chris Stewart of the emergence of socialism, when Sen. Bernie Sanders talked about his philosophy of democratic socialism. Even though I am not impressed by Sen. Sanders philosophy, I do think that there are certain areas of social and economic activities that require government involvement. It appears that this fear of socialism is raising its ugly head again in the political arena. Many GOP politicians, who we expect to be more educated to know the difference between capitalism and socialism, are trying to convince voters that the vote for politicians in the Democratic Party will bring about socialism in the country. This threat is repeated every time some GOP politicians have the occasion to speak to the media and their supportive crowd.

Let me first clarify the confusion some of the GOP politicians have about socialism and capitalism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that under socialism and capitalism labor has control over their labor services, but in socialism, as opposed to capitalism, production workers control the means of production and the output of goods and services, and their allocation. We have nothing even close to this feature in the U.S. economy. In capitalism, capitalists control the means (inputs) of production and their allocation, and markets are used to distribute the output. This is the dominant feature of the U.S. economy. Also, there is a class division between workers and capitalists, and capitalists are entitled to the profits they earn and their allocation.

Some GOP politicians and former President Trump, who are constantly blaming Democratic politicians for advocating socialistic ideology and policies for supporting government expenditure programs, have themselves not done away with many such programs. Similar to past decades, total government expenditure from 2016 to 2019 in the Trump administration had remained somewhat more than one-third of the value of the output (GDP) of the economy. In 2020, it increased to 44% due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and severe recessionary mass long-term unemployment, especially among women and minorities. The government, since the Great Depression of the 1930s, has taken an active role in the recovery process of the economy, and it is implementing the same policies now. I am sure that GOP politicians, who are always pushing for supply side tax policy, despite its failures, do not think about socialism when implementing those policies which have primarily benefited high-income earners.

GOP politicians do not question the fact that close to two-thirds of the mandatory spending is on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. However, discretionary spending can be controlled. This type of spending is for subsidies such as those to oil companies, farmers and ranchers, and corporations such as Boeing, Alcoa, Intel and Nike (some call it welfare to corporations). However, when it comes to spending on some programs to help low-income and working-class Americans, there is an outcry of socialisms threat. This duality of thinking fails the logic test.

In a market economy, the government has an important role in the provision of public goods, such as national defense, environmental quality and education, including early childhood education affecting the development of human capital. Early remedial investment in education and child care (especially emotional nurturing) pays higher dividends in the future development of cognitive and noncognitive abilities of disadvantaged children, thus leading to success in socio-economic adjustment and in the labor market in adult life. Continuing this investment in later stages of life keeps its effectiveness (see F. Cunha and J. Heckman, American Economic Review, May 2007). Human capital has spillover effects, hence its development requires government involvement.

To increase productivity of the economy, the government, in cooperation with the private sector, must also encourage the development of new technologies. In fact, it was the government that was instrumental in the development of the internet that has produced the remarkable growth in the technology sector of the economy. Mr. Trump, who was addicted to the use of Twitter, an outgrowth of the internet, for his communications, should be thankful to the government. I wonder if he ever thought about socialism while using Twitter.

Deceptive information on socialism is divisive and distracts from policy debates. Efforts should be made by all politicians to implement policies that increase the productivity of the economy and to make sure all Americans share in it.

Vijay Mathur is a former chairman and professor in the economics department at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio. He resides in Ogden.

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Guest op-ed: Rhetoric of socialism is raising its ugly head again - Standard-Examiner