Two Americas: De Blasio's Amazon vs. Trump's Walmart

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John Edwards once spoke of “two Americas,” one “for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggle to make ends meet every single day”. One is reminded of this by New York City mayor Bill De Blasio’s full-throated shouting of “socialism for all” from the rooftops of buildings whose height his politburo would determine and whose rents and occupants his commissars would control. Mayor Bill de Blasio cited his "socialistic impulse" in describing an ideal world where New York City government has control over all land and buildings in his city.

“I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be,” de Blasio said in a wide-ranging interview with New York Magazine . “I think there’s a socialistic impulse, which I hear every day, in every kind of community that they would like things to be planned in accordance to their needs.”

To each according to their needs -- gee, where have we heard that before? One would be willing to believe De Blasio’s socialistic impulses arises out of genuine, if wrongheaded, concern for the working poor and the middle class, the people the Democrat “party of compassion” is allegedly the champion of,  if it were not for De Blasio’s  support for what some would call corporate welfare, welcoming cash-rich and taxpayer-subsidized Amazon’s new HQ to New York City while closing its borders to a Walmart invasion.

A listener asked just what the difference was between the two retail giants during the mayor’s weekly guest spot on WNYC radio :

“Amazon is… part of the American economy,” he continued. “I would ask every good progressive, every listener out there who has a concern about Amazon: How many are using Amazon as part of their daily lives? Whatever you like or dislike about Amazon, Walmart is an entirely different universe in terms of the efforts they’ve undertaken to not only undermine labor, small business, the environment… and obviously the politics of [Walmart’s owners] the Walton family to add to it,” referring to the Waltons’ track record of funneling megabucks to conservative causes.

Funny that De Blasio has no objection to the likes of billionaires Tom Steyer, Oprah Winfrey, and George Soros funneling big bucks to liberal candidates and causes. One of the takeaways from the 2018 midterms was the morphing of the Democrats to the party of the rich as those stinky Walmart shoppers lined up at Trump rallies. The GOP is now the party of the working class, or the deplorable bitter-clingers of Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Hussein Obama’s disdain. As deep state coup architect Peter Strzok infamously said in a text message to fellow agent Lisa Page :

“Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support.”

Who wants Walmart greeters and cashiers moving to New York when you can have the high-rollers who work for Amazon?  Amazon promises to deliver 25,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000, which is a lot more than the average Walmart greeter or cashier makes.

Wal-Mart gave people what they want at a price they can afford. Those “mom-and-pop” stores De Blasio champions were often inefficient, opportunistic price-gougers. Walmart believed a fair wage was and is one agreed upon between employee and employer. No one was forced to work or shop there.  It was efficient, innovative, successful, and non-union, and that is why it was and is hated for all these reasons. It is the poster child for roll-up-your-sleeves capitalism.

Founded as a single five-and-dime store in a small Arkansas town, its success story mirrors America’s. It is a poster child for capitalism and the American dream. It is ironic that Wal-Mart critics, who have long complained its employees live paycheck to paycheck, forget that many of its customers also live paycheck to paycheck, and seek quality merchandise at decent prices. They opposed “low” wages for Wal-Mart employees while in effect supporting higher prices for Wal-Mart customers.

That the Democrat Party is now the party of the rich is increasingly seen in its candidates. Forget the occasional Ocasio-Cortez. A Democrat candidate is more likely to be someone like Illinois’ new governor, J.B. Pritzer, who promises to complete Illinois’ financial collapse with single-payer insurance and a progressive income tax, promising to persist until he runs out of other people’s money :

This month saw the election of Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker as governor of Illinois. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, is worth an estimated $3.2 billion, and spent $171.5 million to get himself elected, according to Money magazine.

Another winner was Edward M. "Ned" Lamont Jr., in the Connecticut governor's race. Lamont, an heir to the J.P. Morgan banking fortune of his great-grandfather Thomas Lamont, estimated his assets in 2006 at between $90 million and $300 million, and showed reporters tax returns last month with income totaling $18 million over 5 years.

The winner of the election for governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, filed financial disclosure forms as a member of the House of Representatives indicating estimated wealth of more than $300 million.

Pritzker, Lamont, and Polis are all Democrats…

Somehow, the wealth of Pritzker, Lamont, and Polis has gotten less attention, perhaps because it doesn't so easily fit the country-club Republican stereotype. Instead of writing about the limousine liberals who are so rich they make the Trump cabinet look like a bunch of paupers, the press has been obsessing about how a newly elected congresswoman from the Bronx, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, can't afford to rent a place in Washington until she starts collecting her congressional salary.

The socialism of the coastal elites of which De Blasio is a leader is akin to the old Soviet politburo who lived very well as they dictated what could be built and where, what people would make and where and how they would live. Everyone was equal but some were more equal than others.

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I reject the Democrat Party of the rich in favor of the GOP party of the working poor and the middle class, the deplorable bitter clingers. God, how I love the the smell of Walmart in the morning.                                                                         Daniel John Sobieski is a free lance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily , Human Events , Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.