The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money. – Margaret Thatcher

Allow me to indulge in a wee bit of fantasy this morning. Let us imagine that Senator Bernie Sanders had the commonweal of the average American citizen in his mind and heart as he laid out his agenda for his 2016 campaign to be President. So good are [mc_name name=’Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’S000033′ ]’ intentions, that he is willing to spend $18 Trillion in order to achieve them. Here is what President Santa Claus would gladly stuff in your stocking on Christmas Morning 2017.

$15 Trillion would be for a Single-Payer Healthcare program. He would build lots of roads and bridges. He would expand Social Security and make tuition free at all public universities. We eagerly await the glorious day when [mc_name name=’Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’S000033′ ] would open his vault of precious metals and pay for it all. Oh, wait…

To pay for it, Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent running for the Democratic nomination, has so far detailed tax increases that could bring in as much as $6.5 trillion over 10 years, according to his staff. A campaign aide said additional tax proposals would be offered to offset the cost of some, and possibly all, of his health program.

So now is the time for our fantasizing to end. He’s not going to pay for it. Somebody else will. That somebody else will be someone who is not on the receiving end of much of the benefits package. [mc_name name=’Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’S000033′ ] is running on a classic Panem et Circenses Platform that does nothing more than adopt the demagoguery of Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus to the technology and society of 21st Century America.

He is also a wise enough and experienced enough politician to understand tax revenues are both variable and stochastic. He throws out these revenue numbers knowing good and well that Lady Thatcher’s Iron Law will always kick in. He also knows the recipients outnumber the payers. He is also too cynical, too callous and too evil to care.

This is a democracy where a gang of wolves and a couple of sheep all vote over who gets to have a friend over for dinner. That is the cruel reality behind all socialists. This is true whether they are Democratic ones or blithering Maoists who bring revolution through the barrel of a gun. Socialism cannot effectively work and most powerful socialists are adult enough and intelligent enough to know this good and well that Santa Claus does not really exist. That they offer up socialism as a political platform anyway only proves their detestable iniquity.