Socialism supporters begging for collapse of US economy: Art Laffer
Former Reagan economist Art Laffer on the rise of socialism.
A new Gallup poll found that 43 percent of Americans say socialism would be a good thing for the country, something former Reagan economic adviser Art Laffer told FOX Business startles him.
“What it really means to me is that there are a lot of people who are uneducated about socialism and don't know what is going on. If you support socialism in this country, you're just begging for a collapse in this economy,” he told FOX Business’ Neil Cavuto on Tuesday.
Laffer said socialist ideas in the past, such as George McGovern's basic income proposal during his 1972 presidential run, never works for the economy.
“When officials come in and do things like in Venezuela, the catastrophe is really serious. It really makes me wonder about democracy from time to time," he added.
While the poll found four in 10 Americans embrace some form of socialism, 51 percent believe socialism would have a negative impact on the country.
“I think you are going to find a lot of people going right to the President. He's done such a good job on the economy, and who doesn't want a good economy? I can't imagine Joe Biden doing anything other than damaging this economy,” Laffer said.
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Previous Gallup research found that Americans' definition of socialism has changed over the years. Nearly one in four now associate the concept with social equality and 17 percent connecting it with the more classical definition of having some degree of government control over the means of production. Galllup also noted a majority of Democrats have said they view socialism positively in polling since 2010, including 57 percent in the most recent measure in 2018.