I generally like Mark Skousen, and I understand that he wrote this and WSJ published it.
Socialism is in vogue again. Critics of capitalism call the market economy unfair, arguing that big corporations don’t pay low-income employees a living wage. They draw on studies showing that inequality has grown dramatically in both income and wealth. Their solution: a highly progressive income tax, or even a wealth tax, on the superrich, and a minimum wage of $20 an hour or more.
These economically destructive measures are unnecessary and would disrupt the positive changes happening in capital-labor relations. The private sector is quietly solving the inequality problem without more redistribution and wage controls.
"How? Companies both large and small offer generous profit-sharing programs for employees—401(k) plans, stock options and discounted stock-purchase plans."
According to the National Center for Employee Ownership, more than 12,000 U.S. companies currently share ownership with more than 25 million employees, and that number is increasing. The reasons for adopting profit-sharing plans vary, as do the benefits they offer.
But it's not that convincing an argument:
Don't worry, Mamdani fans, wealth inequality and living standard concerns aren't problems because successful companies have favorable stock programs (look, capitalism working by making workers capitalists!)
What 401(k) plans with matching contributions or stock programs do amount to financially ingenious, tax-favored tricks that spread a company's equity wealth around among tens of thousands of people... Presumably, Mamdani fans are concerned with tens of millions of people, and not those working at Nvidia or Microsoft.
Plus, look at this confession that the system isn't working etc... you can't save your way to the top unless you're getting in at the bottom of the future success stories:
The number one way Americans become multimillionaires isn’t through timely real estate purchases, being early investors in startups, or being paid a living wage. The formula is much simpler: consistent buying of company shares and stock indexes, usually in the form of automatic contributions from every paycheck into a retirement account, or by receiving bonuses through company stock deals.
Democratic socialism is all about taxing successful entrepreneurs and running out of other people’s money; democratic capitalism is all about increasing profit margins, sharing the wealth and growing prosperous together.
Well-intentioned, but a ridiculous own goal I must say.
archive misbehaving with WSJ again so this is a "trust me, bro" post