zuzak20160220GreenOnSanders.html

How a Vote for Sanders Is Like a Vote for Hitler

Dear Alexander Green:

You are presumably of Jewish ethnic origin, such that Hitler and the Holocaust have been burned into your soul. However, Jews were not the only ethnic group that suffered terribly during World War II.

I happen to be of Ukrainian ethnic origin, such that Stalin and the Holodomor, as well as Hitler and his genocidal imperialistic policies, are burned into my soul. Hitler came to power in January 1933, exactly at the time that Stalin was implementing the 1932-1933 famine-genocide that took the lives of some 7 to 10 million Ukrainians. I invite you to view the recent documentary of Yurij Luhovy titled "Genocide Revealed", his older film "Harvest of Despair", or the "Ukraine Famine Genocide Holodomor" by Taras Hukalo.

A visual depiction of Hitler's genocide in Ukraine during WWII is available on the "XoXoL" website of Dr. Lubomyr Prytulak or specifically "Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs". And you should certainly read Nazi Empire-Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine by Wendy Lower (2005), who categorically states that Hitler's intent in attacking the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 was to expand German lebensraum by colonizing Ukraine at the expense of the indigenous Ukrainian population.

I agree with you that Bernie Sanders is a dangerous demagogue, who utilizes hate mongering to attract votes -- in the style of Hitler and Stalin. His intellectual predecessors were those "International Socialists" (as opposed to Hitler's "National Socialists"), who supported Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution and later Stalin's genocidal policies against Ukrainians and other ethnic nations comprising the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, many of the intellectual predecessors of your "millionaire and billionaire friends" were just as guilty of condoning and/or supporting the genocidal policies of both Hitler and Stalin.

Somehow, in your article you fail to mention the murderous malicious psychopath, Vladimir Putin, and the support he has garnered among your "millionaire and billionaire friends", such as Donald Trump. Mr. Putin has created a kleptocratic Mafia state that has a annexed Crimea, invaded the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and is bombing U.S. allies in Syria. These are real "hot" wars and not the so-called "cold" war that so many American and European politicians and businessmen are whimpering about. He has declared the United States an enemy, threatens the Baltic and Eastern European states and openly supports the dissolution of the European Union. He scoffs at democratic values, rule of law and human rights. Is it not time that Americans developed a backbone?

Today, Ukrainians commemorate the memory of the "Heavenly Hundred" -- Euromaidan activists, who died under sniper fire on 20 February 2014 in a successful attempt to overthrow a kleptocratic president supported by Mr. Putin, but unfortunately all attempts to eradicate corruption from governmental and state institutions appear to have failed. The corrupt billionaire Oligarchs in both Russia and Ukraine are still in power. Are there corrupt billionaire Oligarchs in the United States? Is not corruption in business, financial institutions, politics, governments and educational institutions a burgeoning problem throughout the whole world?

Perhaps Mr. Sanders is correct when he claims that billionaire Oligarchs have "corrupted politics". Just look at the way Congress, Senate and Whitehouse operate. Look at the funding and operation of the Presidential elections. My perception is that democratic values, rule of law and human rights are being eradicated in the United States, just like in the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

Sincerely
Will Zuzak; 2016.02.20
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

How a Vote for Sanders Is Like a Vote for Hitler

Lately, the economy has been weak and the stock market has acted hinky.

There are good reasons to believe this rough patch -- like every correction and bear market of the past -- is temporary and things will eventually get better.

But only if Americans don't lose their collective minds and elect the "Democratic Socialist" from Vermont to the highest office in the land.

Some praise Sanders' economic policies. (They were a big hit in Greece and Venezuela at first, too.)

But aside from economic prescriptions that even the left-leaning Washington Post calls "An Assault on Reality," Sanders shares an unflattering trait with the former leader of the Third Reich.

Outrageous? Perhaps. But hear me out...

There is no event in modern history to compare with the Holocaust. Germans murdered 6 million innocent Jews. And would have murdered millions more had the Allies not stopped them.

Some folks want to believe this whole tragic affair was due to a few bad apples in the Nazi party.

Not so.

The Jews were systematically excluded from German economic life, kicked out of their homes, herded into ghettos, and loaded onto freight trains in the open, in broad daylight, under approving eyes and with the full knowledge of politicians, policemen, lawyers, judges, doctors, teachers, church leaders and everyday citizens.

Millions knew of the slaughter too. How could this happen?

Hitler convinced his people that Germany's troubles were caused by just 1% of the population: the Jews.

In reality, of course, German Jews were a tremendous asset. They were hardworking and successful, particularly in business and finance. They were more highly educated, more affluent and more law-abiding than most, committing few crimes in relation to their numbers.

Yet Hitler projected every fear, anxiety and frustration onto them. He scapegoated them so successfully, in fact, that ordinary Germans began to detest them, even those who had never met a Jew.

(If any of this surprises you, read Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen. And keep a stiff drink handy.)

Hitler was a monster. But his fundamental flaw was that he was a deluded and unrepentant bigot.

So is Bernie Sanders.

Sanders does not scapegoat an ethnic or religious minority, however. He scapegoats a financial one. He dislikes rich people.

Listen to a Sanders stump speech, and you'll discover that folks with money are the bane of our existence. They have "fixed" the economy, corrupted politics, denied healthcare to millions, cheated the working class, shirked taxes, created shocking inequality and hoarded the wealth for themselves.

I must live in an alternate universe.

Most of the rich people I know stayed in school, studied hard, worked diligently, lived beneath their means, took big risks and often failed many times before they succeeded. They hire most of the workers and pay most of the taxes. The vast majority have never hired a lobbyist or bought a politician.

Moreover, every transaction I've ever had with a rich person was entirely voluntary.

My family and friends were happy to trade our money for billionaire Bill Gates' operating system, billionaire Steve Jobs' iPhone, billionaire Jeff Bezos' one-click ordering, billionaire Oprah Winfrey's books and TV shows, billionaire Larry Page's search engine, billionaire Mark Zuckerberg's social media, and billionaire Warren Buffett's money management, to name just a few.

Yet Sanders insists that economically successful people -- that detestable 1% -- are leading the country to rack and ruin.

And he likes to make it personal. On the campaign trail, he regularly brags, "I do not have millionaire and billionaire friends."

Wow.

Most of us don't have billionaire friends. After all, according to Forbes there are only 536 of them in a nation of 319 million people.

But millionaires?

According to market research and consulting firm Spectrem Group, there are 10.1 million households in the U.S. with $1 million in net assets, excluding the value of their homes. (Include real estate equity and the number jumps by several million.)

Yet Sanders spits out "millionaires and billionaires" the way most of us throw around "robbers and thieves."

If this seems alright to you, take a moment and consider a few similar statements:

•    I do not have black or brown friends.
•    I do not have gay or lesbian friends.
•    I do not have fat or ugly friends.
•    I do not have Muslim or Hindu friends.
•    I do not have Baptist or Catholic friends.
•    I do not have conservative or libertarian friends.
•    I do not have liberal or progressive friends.
•    I do not have Jewish or gypsy friends.

So, okay, Sanders is no Hitler. I know that. But he is a demagogue, one who is so intent on demonizing the rich and preaching class hatred that he does not even recognize the flagrant bigotry of his own words.

Nor, apparently, do the cheering crowds at his rallies. (Nor, we can assume, did the cheering crowds at Nuremberg.)

Nazi Germany never appreciated the tremendous value of an economically successful 1%. And Sanders doesn't recognize the value of America's most successful 1%.

Some voters will counter that they are not rich -- and they are for Sanders.

Fine. But if they regularly save, invest and compound their money, they will wake up one day to find that Sanders is no longer for them.

Good investing,

Alex Green, Chief Investment Strategist, The Oxford Club