DEMS/ECONOMY/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Economists in the Trump White House see socialism creeping back into American public discourse, and so they’ve issued a 70-page report in an attempt to put a stop to it. The Council of Economic Advisers’ study, titled ‘The Opportunity Costs of Socialism,’ runs through the experience of socialist or Communist economies — such as the Soviet Union, China, and Venezuela — as well as of more open social-democratic Nordic countries, and presents a standard economist’s critique of central planning: That it stifles competition and innovation, two qualities that make America great…In a briefing with reporters, CEA chair Kevin Hassett said that the impetus for the report was the rise of proposals like Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan, which would create a federally administered single-payer health care program. The midterm cycle has also seen the emergence of self-described Democratic Socialists running for office, such as Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actress Cynthia Nixon, who ran unsuccessfully against New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. In August, Gallup found that Democrats — particularly younger ones — viewed socialism more favorably than capitalism for the first time since they started asking the question in 2010.”
–Lydia DePillis, “White House issues 70-page rebuttal to rise of socialist economics,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 23, 2018 6:58 pm