John Hayward

The implications of Trump's economy for socialism are absolutely terrifying. Full employment? A tight labor market producing competition for workers and wage increases? Who needs socialism when they have THAT?

In boom times, socialism's devious sales pitch shifts to "we're so rich we can afford more government benefits." The amount of damage they can inflict with that sales pitch is limited. People correctly suspect expensive socialist programs could damage the roaring economy.

Also, in a time of full employment and rising wages, people correctly believe the "social safety net" doesn't have to be as huge because they expect everyone to get jobs and take care of themselves. They become more sensitive to abuse of government programs.

The greater danger for socialists is that economies like Trump's become socially transformative over time. Public confidence in the private sector soars. The growing private sector gives them more reasons to trust free markets over central planning.

People become more invested in the private economy, including literal investments. They start learning how all this stuff works. Everyone knows someone who just got a job, got a raise, started a business, earned a bonus.

On a long enough timeline, the transformative effects of a tight labor market begin shaking the foundations of Democrat power, like public education. The deficiencies of Democrat education policies become painfully apparent as employers complain about workforce quality.

The ennui of the current generation is partly due to their sense of aimlessness and diminished opportunities, the sense they need an insanely expensive college degree to have any chance at all - but they get useless degrees because they don't know what to strive for.

Give a boom economy and tight labor market long enough to change society, and that starts changing, especially if the business community can't simply give up on American workers and import labor, or outsource jobs on a massive scale.

The Left absolutely feeds on the despair and aimlessness of young people. It's one of their primary recruiting tactics. Every left-wing belief that sounds absurd to grown adults is sold to young people by making them feel paranoid and depressed.

Why else do you think polls keep showing millennials believe they have it rougher than previous generations when they live in an age of unprecedented prosperity? That feeling was engineered DELIBERATELY. The Left puts a HUGE amount of effort into teaching them to feel that way.

Democrats urgently need to shut this economy down before a new wave of young people starts thinking the future is bright and opportunities await them. They don't want students demanding useful skills training for the careers that await them instead of political indoctrination.

And what happens to the Democrats' other big source of political power, racial tensions, if the economy keeps roaring like this? Capitalism brings cooperation and competition, the only guaranteed antidote for racism.

It's already happening now, as "shock" polls show racial tensions easing under Trump. (It's also due to the fact that Trump, unlike Obama, does not deliberately stoke racial tensions and urge people to nurse their bitter grievances.) Working together means BEING together.

Keep the economy hot enough for long enough, and everyone loses patience for snake-oil "implicit racism" studies and diversity bureaucracies. Real racism, sexism, etc. become unaffordable extravagances when there are jobs to fill and qualified applicants are a precious resource.

Who has time to nurse grievances when they have good jobs with opportunities for advancement? Transforming depressed areas begins to make business sense. Everyone knows someone who is doing better, in every neighborhood.

It's the power of that personal networking that helps economics to become socially transformative. Reading about good economic numbers in the paper when everyone you know is doing badly makes you feel left out, left behind - easy prey for socialists.