Sadiq Khan Claims Socialism Causes Crime

As that current little rubric goes, how are you liking your free 60 day trial of socialism? GDP is 6 % or so down in March, it’ll be perhaps 25% down in April. This is the sort of economic performance that can only be achieved by government. In this case, closing the economy down. In other cases it’s also the government closing the economy down. What differs is that this time it’s a pandemic, not socialism. The results being largely the same of course.

The fun thing being that we’ve not got Sadiq Khan telling us that socialism closing the economy down causes crime:

The mayor of London has demanded the prime minister spearhead efforts to stop a rise in offending that police around the country have raised fears about as relaxed lockdown restrictions allow more people back on to the streets.

Khan said there was a “proven link” between rising poverty, increasing deprivation, increasing mental health problems and rises in serious violence.

Well, yes, poverty and deprivation tend to go together, they have very much the same meaning. What’s interesting here is Khan’s link of that to offending and violence. We’re perfectly willing to accept the link too.

Note something important here though. It cannot be that increased relative poverty is going to be the cause of this. For relative poverty isn’t increasing in this lockdown. It never does in recessions. Richer people depend more upon profits as part of their income than poorer people do. Profits being the thing that collapse in a recession – just look at the cuts in dividend payments going on. Very poor people depend mostly upon state benefits for their incomes – not things that have fallen in the slightest. Income inequality has fallen these past few months as it always does in recessions.

So, it’s that fall in the actual level of income, not the relative one, which is causing this forecast rise in offending and violence. OK, if you say so Mayor Khan. And what’s the best manner of getting the economy to contract? Institute socialism of course. It being no more and no less than what is going on right now, all those really bright people in government telling the rest of us, in detail, what we may do, where, when and to whom.

Socialism causes violence and offending. OK, cool. So, let’s not have any of that then, eh?

Or, as we might put it, we’ve tried that free offer and don’t wish to pick up the paid subscription to that socialism. All of which seems most sensible.