Guest Post by John Stossel
Venezuela is a disaster.
Yet 20 years ago, it was the wealthiest country in Latin America. It still has the world’s biggest oil reserves. It should be a happy and prosperous nation.
But then Venezuela went socialist. Democratic socialist to be exact. They voted for it. Hugo Chavez promised the poor “social and economic reforms.” The majority of voters believed him.
So did many American leftists.
Model Naomi Campbell traveled to Venezuela to give Chavez a hug. She called him “a rebel angel.”
Michael Moore said that Chavez used oil money to “eliminate 75 percent of extreme poverty.”
But now that the socialists created much more extreme poverty, I would think that progressives would realize that democratic socialism is not the route to paradise.
But no, nothing convinces a dedicated socialist — or much of the media.
A popular Vox video titled “The collapse of Venezuela, explained” never once mentions socialism. Instead, it says Venezuela collapsed because “oil prices plummeted in 2014 and Maduro failed to adjust.”
“Blaming socialism for Venezuela’s riches to rags story is grossly misleading,” said Al Jazeera anchor Ryan Kohls.
Venezuela didn’t collapse because of socialism, added comedian John Oliver. “It’s a story about epic mismanagement.”
But mismanagement is what happens under socialist governments. It always happens.
That’s because no group of central planners is wise enough to manage an entire economy. Even if they have good intentions, socialists eventually run out of other people’s money.
In Venezuela, the solution was to print more money. That caused massive inflation.
When businesses raised prices to try to keep up with inflation, Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro called that “profiteering” and punished many by confiscating their businesses.
The socialists claimed they would run those businesses better than greedy capitalists could because they weren’t obsessed with profits. Without the “excess” profits, prices would be lower and more money would go to the poor.
But pursuit of profit is what makes an economy work! I’d think the collapse of nations such as Venezuela, China, Russia, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Cuba would have taught the socialists that. But no.
In America, progressives claim that socialism is succeeding in much of Europe. John Oliver claims, “There are plenty of socialist countries that look nothing like Venezuela.”
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders agrees, saying: “When I talk about democratic socialism, I am not looking at Venezuela. I’m not looking at Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark, like Sweden.”
But those countries are not socialist!
Yes, they have big welfare programs, but their economies are more capitalist than America’s.
They set no national minimum wage. They impose fewer regulations on businesses. Their leaders even go out of their way to point out that they are not socialist. Denmark’s prime minister went on TV to respond Sanders’ comments by saying: “Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.”
Not only are Scandinavian countries not socialist, lately they’ve reduced government control of their economies. Denmark privatized the national phone system and the railroads — and sold the Copenhagen airport to a private company.
Swedish economic historian Johan Norberg points out: “We did have a period in the 1970s and 1980s when we had something that resembled socialism, big government that taxed and spent heavily. (But) that’s the period in Swedish history when our economy was going south.”
So Sweden reduced government’s role, too. They privatized businesses and even instituted school choice.
The progressives are just wrong. Scandinavian countries that they call “socialist successes” are not socialist, and they’re moving toward more capitalism. It’s astounding that the progressives keep winning votes peddling economic nonsense.
At least Venezuelans who escaped their country’s socialism understand now that socialism creates poverty.
I asked Stossel TV’s Gloria Alvarez to go to Florida to interview recent Venezuelan immigrants about socialism. Most gave answers like “I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone” and “It’s never gonna work!”
It never will. Never.
As libertarian economist Ludwig von Mises wrote: “The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement… They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office, every man but one a subordinate clerk.”
Until progressives learn that, tragedies like Venezuela will happen again and again.
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The Socialist Democrats Communist will never learn from the past . They don’t want to learn because in reality they are nothing but envious thieves who use government power to steal. But stealing is not the real goal. The real motivation is to use government power to commit mass Murder. That’s the real goal.
To each his own I say. I’ll take capitalism and keep what I make and you can have socialism and you give me half of what you make. Problem solved and everyone is happy.
Have not heard much from Moore,Penn ,Campbell or those other leftist idiots. They once touted Venezuela as what they were hoping America to be. Did they move there? (sarc.)
Revelation 18 : The end of Babylon
v1
After these things I saw another angel who was coming down from heaven. He had great authority. The bright light that shone from him made the whole world bright.
v2
He shouted with a strong voice:
‘It is the end!
It is the end for powerful Babylon!
She has become a place where bad spirits live.
She has become a home for every bad and dirty spirit.
She is a home for every bad bird.
God hates those birds because they are not clean.
v3
The people of all countries have done very wrong things because of that city.
They have copied her people, like those who have drunk the same strong wine.
The rulers on the earth did wrong things because of her.
They were like those who have sex with other people.
They forget their husband or their wife.
And the people on earth who buy and sell things have become rich.
They have become rich because she bought so many expensive things from them.
I could go on. The point is that it is written because every empire dies the same way and USA is no different. Read and study your history and hopefully, learn from it. But I expect you won’t. And I’m not even a Christian!
It takes 2 legs to walk. Pursuit of profit is one leg. The second leg is consumption. If one cannot afford the goods, then one isn’t buying anything. Pursuit of profit goes out the window and one will sell at cost before ones tomato rots on the vine. Here is a chicken or the egg question. Which came first consumption or the pursuit of profit?
How many depression has the USA suffered? Capitalism is not some magic system that guarantees prosperity. People make me laugh sometimes. They really think they have some flawless ideal that could never fail. Look at the constitution. With all of its checks and balances we still end up with tyrants ruling over us. I don’t want to use fowl language, but sometimes the weoponization of stupidity busts my nut so hard I have to cry out FUCK!