Maybe you have seen some of the many reports indicating that a lot of our college students love socialism. They love even Marxism, the seedbed for socialism. Many hate filthy capitalism. 

This is understandable. Many university profs love the two. They preach-teach accordingly.

Carnegie Mellon Institute is openly celebrating Karl Marx’s 200th birthday. Various profs have sung his praises in publicized lectures.

A few matters come to mind. One is that the lecturers sang no dirges for the 100 million Marxian corpses. That is how many folks perished under the savagery of Marxian-Communist dictators. Too small a number to deal with, I guess.

Nor did they note the many experiments with socialism that have crashed miserably. Venezuela is the latest failed experiment.

Another matter is that we are hard-pressed to find universities celebrating capitalism. Instead, they hiss and boo it. Capitalism is an enormous target on campuses and among the academic elite.

This leads to a reminder — universities are giants of capitalism. When they raise their flutes of bubbly to Marxism, they are downing the swill of capitalism.

Carnegie Mellon has more than $2 billion invested in stocks and bonds and income-producing real estate. The institute could not operate without the income from these investments. What filthy capitalists!

Like all schools, they beg for donations to add to their endowment fund. Many of the donations come from filthy capitalists. They donate filthy shares of stock to the school.

The school owes its birth to Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon. Carnegie was one of the wealthiest men of all time. He made his money in that filthy steel industry. Mellon made his in banking and other businesses. Then he turned politician. As Secretary of the Treasury, he famously slashed tax rates for companies and individuals. 

When various pollsters ask students to define capitalism, few can do so. They typically jabber about consumerism or big companies that screw the workers. I’m sure they don’t realize how much their schools rely on capitalism.

In all of this, nobody celebrates the capitalism of the entrepreneurs. Our economy would be nothing without them.

Take the example of Roberto deciding to open a Mexican restaurant. He saves money — capital — to fund it. He also borrows money — capital — from his uncle. From profits, he saves more capital to expand.

Roberto borrows capital again to open a second restaurant. And a third.

He creates shares in the growing business. And sells them to raise more capital to expand. When he hits 100 stores, Roberto sells shares to the public — for a few hundred million in capital. We can all buy the shares on the NASDAQ.

He is a capitalist at every stage of the growth of his business. The woman who borrows money from her mom to start a hair salon is a capitalist. She uses capital as Carnegie did. She invests it in hopes of a return.

Her mom and Roberto’s uncle are participants in capitalism. They invest their capital hoping for returns. They don’t raise their hand at the sound of that word. But they are capitalists.

Roberto sends his daughter to Carnegie Mellon. The school hits him up for big donations for its endowment. He donates millions in valuable stock of his publicly traded company.

The school dumps the stock into its endowment fund. The school draws money from the fund every year. It spends some on the salaries of its professors — those same professors who praise Marxism and condemn capitalism.

The university also gives money from its investments to students — in the form of scholarships. Many of these students fall in love with socialism. They demonstrate against capitalism — on the quads that capitalism built.

Do you ever wonder what Marx would make of all this? He scoffed that, “The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.” I can’t find any quotes of his about bubbly.

From Tom…as in Morgan.                             

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta. Write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. Read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com

Anyone who has turned on a television set in recent years has likely seen state-driven advertising, highlighting various outdoor recreational opportunities, attractions and business incentives. And taxpayers paid a hefty price for those commercials.

 Between 2011 and 2017, New York spent $354 million on tourism and economic development advertisements. The upstate economy has continued to linger and residents have fled in droves during that same period. Despite the governor’s claims, New York was never really “Open for Business.”

 New York State government is facing a $4.4 billion budget deficit, meaning there is absolutely no room for excess, waste, and inefficiency. Unfortunately, those have been the hallmarks of the governor’s job-creation programs and associated promotional efforts.

What’s the return on investment?

It’s important that New York State actively promotes the attractions and unique opportunities it has to offer. But it’s equally as critical to ensure taxpayers are getting a proper return on the money being invested. To date, results have been underwhelming and the lackluster performance begs the question: “Where is your money going?”

 A 2015 audit from New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reviewed $211 million in spending early in the campaign and found “no tangible results.” That’s $211 million that could be applied to reducing out-of-control taxes, or, actually growing the economy.

 Between 2013 and 2015, New York spent $53 million promoting the START-UP NY program. Once touted as a game-changing job-creation program, the governor’s failed initiative only returned a paltry $1.7 million in private investment. 

We must review & eliminate ineffective spending

 Using hard-earned taxpayer dollars to promote ineffective programs is unacceptable, but continuing to do so year after year is madness. With a potential fiscal crisis looming, it’s never been more critical to ensure there is adequate transparency and oversight of the governor’s spending.

 The Assembly Minority Conference has called for greater accountability in the state’s economic-development programs. We have proposed legislation (Assembly bill 5657) that calls for a complete, independent review of all of New York’s job-creation programs. In addition, our proposal would require any lump-sum appropriation of $1 million or more to be reviewed by the budget director, state comptroller, and state attorney general.

 The legislature must do everything in its power to protect taxpayers. In their current form, New York’s promotional campaigns and floundering job programs aren’t doing that. We must take a hard, critical look at the costs and benefits of continuing on our current trajectory. This, of all years, is not one to play fast and loose with taxpayer dollars.    

Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C–Canandaigua), a former small-business owner, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@nyassembly.gov