PCG's Stephen Flurry Lambaste Trump as a Socialist

PCG's Stephen Flurry recently denounced Trump's proposal to give paid parental leave to some parents should he become president by calling him a socialist. 

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has gained a huge amount of support this election season by promising to undo the policies of the Obama administration. But as we draw closer to the general election, Mr. Trump has embraced views typically espoused by Democrats. As columnist Charles Krauthammer recently put it, Trump is trying to "out-Democrat the Democrats.” On today’s Trumpet Daily Radio Show, Stephen Flurry discusses this development and more. (Stephen Flurry, Trump's New Entitlement Program: Make Socialism Great Again?, September 15, 2016.)

If even the Republican nominee for president can be labelled a Socialist according to PCG's heir apparent then does the word "socialist" even mean anything to PCG's 1% except as a term of deprecation for politicians they do not like?

The proposal to provide parental leave to some parents is condemned as giving more entitlements to people. He complains that it means taxpayer money will be wasted. He complains that it is an expansion of government and that government needs to be reduced.

Buttressing this claim Stephen Flurry even talks as though the United States is at this very moment broke. If so then why does no one act like it? Why are the police officers still getting paid? Why do so many people choose to invest in US bonds? Why are interest rates so low for US bonds?

Here are some facts that contradict Stephen Flurry's dire assertions that America is somehow broke.

The U.S. dollar is a global reserve currency. It is considered the least risky asset in international finance. If investors have to start taking haircuts on this debt, it means that the way money is measured around the world would be thrown into question. All kinds of businesses, both domestic and foreign, would grind to a halt as investors stopped to figure out how to sort out the mess. Even in a best-case scenario, the results would be catastrophic. Financial markets eventually sorted things out after the 2008 meltdown, but it still sparked the worst recession in 75 years. A default on U.S. government debt would be worse. 

And there is no reason for the government to default. The U.S. government owes $12.8 trillion to the public. The majority of this money is owed to American citizens and businesses. And the annual output of the U.S. economy is currently $18.1 trillion and growing. The federal government collects over $3 trillion in taxes every year. The national debt just isn’t that big a deal. If it were, you’d see investors demanding high interest rates on American debt. But interest rates are in fact very low, meaning investors think the U.S. will not have trouble paying its debts.

Even if the United States eventually saw interest rates rise, the government could easily deal with it by raising taxes or simply printing more money. Printing money would pose the risk of modest inflation over the long term, and inflation isn’t an ideal way to deal with problems. But a little bit of inflation is way better than crashing the global economy. (Zach Carter, "Great, Donald Trump Threatened To Default On The National Debt," Huffington Post, May 6, 2016.)

It is nonsense to say that the United States is broke. It is simply not the case.

Later in the broadcast Stephen Flurry talks approvingly of President Calvin Coolidge who is praised for cutting bureaucratic regulations, cutting the national debt and is held up as a true conservative unlike Trump.

Just a few months after President Coolidge left office the Great Depression struck the United States. Economic collapse such as that does not just happen. Such an event happens for a reason. Perhaps Stephen Flurry should be weary of idealizing him.

Stephen Flurry ends with a religiously themed section talking about the need to be a responsible assistant citing David and Paul.

At first PCG's 1% seemed to like Trump but they don't like him anymore.