Is America Sliding Towards Socialism?

Is America sliding towards socialism? That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." Glenn Beck says we are. He's convinced the USA will soon be the United Socialist States.

Now, I don't think we are there yet, but there are certainly people who want the government to control the economy and control how much money you have. Leading that charge is this man, "New York Times" columnist and Princeton professor Paul Krugman. For years, he has been promoting massive government spending, income redistribution, and the Socialist buzz words “economic justice.”

Here is Krugman's latest.

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PAUL KRUGMAN: The chances of your being able to do this without nationalizing at least a couple of the really troubled banks are not too good.

So we got maybe $600, $650 billion of actual stimulus, trying to fill a $2 trillion plus hole. It's going to need more.

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Now, a few years ago, I confronted Krugman on the late Tim Russert's program.

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KRUGMAN: The United States is the lowest taxed advanced country by far.

O'REILLY: Yeah, because we're not a Socialist country. And …

KRUGMAN: Oh, gosh.

O'REILLY: …when did the R and B blow and get into the `90s, the go-go 90's? It happened when Reagan cut taxes. All right?

KRUGMAN: I love this.

O'REILLY: All the corporations started R and D. I don't care whether you believe it or not. You are a quasi-Socialist. You want a big government creating jobs. I want the private sector to create jobs.

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Now that is the crux of President Obama's dilemma right now, whether the government should take over the economy or whether we ride out a painful chapter in and let the private sector deal with it. Of course, there has to be federal oversight, which was lacking during the Bush administration.

Now, a brand new FOX News poll says 51 percent of Americans support the stimulus package. That's down from 58 percent last month. 40 percent oppose it. The rest have no clue. One of those against the stimulus package is actor Kelsey Grammer, who spoke about it to CNSnews.com.

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GRAMMER: The only problem I see with the stimulus package is it is a rule - it awards all the people who are evildoers, all of them. And that's a problem for me personally. The bill is fraught with the idea that those who did the most damage to our country from the bottom up and the top down are the ones that are actually going to get the most reward.

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Now, millions of Americans agree with Mr. Grammer. The problem is there's so many danger in the air that there's not a cohesive alternative to stimulating the economy at this moment. President Obama could have followed Ronald Reagan's lead and drastically cut taxes, but that is not the liberal vision. And so we have a struggle between traditional conservative Americans, who want the private economy to continue its dominance and the liberal socialist crew, who want the government to run the show. It's a dual track. We've got to defeat the recession which is causing immense pain. But in doing so, do we really want to change America into Sweden?

And that's “The Memo.”

Pinheads & Patriots

Time now for "Pinheads & Patriots."

Model Heidi Klum getting a lot of exposure these days. Here she is on the cover of the German edition of G.Q. magazine. Not a lot of clothing involved here, but Ms. Klum is now the spokesperson, ironically, for the Oxfam campaign to recycle clothing and give it to poor people all over the world. That is a very worthy cause, and we're making Ms. Klum a patriot, and we hope she wasn't cold in that G.Q. shoot.

On the pinhead front, say hello to our pal, Ludacris.

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LUDACRIS, RAPPER: White people make some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) noise! It's OK. If it wasn't for the white people, I wouldn't be selling two or three million records and (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I love y'all.

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Well, we're glad Ludacris is warming up to white people, but he is still a pinhead.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com