If America goes for guaranteed income programs, it will reverse its own history: Varney

I call it a vote buying operation – vote for me, and look what you'll get: politicians, handing out taxpayer money because they think it will win your vote.

The Washington Post reports Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is working on a jobs program that falls into the category of vote buying: he wants the government to guarantee a job for anyone "who wants or needs one," which will pay $15 an hour with benefits. A government-guaranteed government job, run by a vast government bureaucracy. Apart from Bernie’s need to attract attention and votes, do we need a government jobs program in a fully employed economy? And who pays for it?

Then there is the universal income idea. Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang was on the show yesterday, advocating a $1,000 a month payment from the government. To every adult age 18 to 64, do what you like with the money. At least Mr. Yang was honest enough to admit that it would be paid for with a 10% national sales tax! But you get the point: vote for me, and look what you'll get!

Not only is this economic nonsense, it’s also, in my opinion, grossly immoral. Since when has it been okay to seize your money that you worked for, so it can be handed out by politicians to other people? Granted, some form of income transfer is legit. I'm not railing against the income tax. But the scale of what the left proposes takes income transfer to a whole new level. The top 20% of income earners already pay 87% of federal income taxes, and wealthy people in many states already lose more than half their income. And the left wants more.

As I’ve said many times, I've been here before. I've lived in socialist economies, and it’s not much fun, for anyone.

If America goes for these guaranteed jobs or guaranteed income programs, we will be reversing our own history, and we'll look more and more like Europe: a large, go-nowhere museum.

And, by the way, there will be no turning back: once you've got a government program, whether it’s immoral nonsense or not, you’ve always got that government program. The left will have bought those votes forever.