Contrary to all the bad Yankee press, Socialism has succeeded spectacularly in bringing abundance to Venezuela.
¡Viva la Revolución!
¡Viva la Revolución!
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¡Socalism Success in Venezuela!
- Thread starter Trausti
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Derec
Contributor
Future fate for Mr. and Mrs. Maduro?
Btw, what kind of gay Brazilian steakhouse is that? Whose picture is on that bib?
Btw, what kind of gay Brazilian steakhouse is that? Whose picture is on that bib?
Jarhyn
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"Quick, people are criticizing my support of racism and the appointment of an avowed racist, perjurer to the highest court, let's post a thread about not-even-Marxism failing after they tried to base their economy on a single export"
Jarhyn
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Wow, Trausti failing at reading comprehension, didn't see that coming! /s
SimpleDon
Veteran Member
I read Jarhyn's post as not a defense of Maduro but an observation that we see these bash Venezuela's socialism threads when a particular segment of our discussion board tires of defending the indefensible.
For my part, the Supreme Court nomination debate is a purely partisan one without any hint of rationally on either side, so there isn't much that I can add to it. So I am staying away from it.
My problem with these recurring let's bash Venezuela's socialism threads is that there is nothing in them except the anticipation that we should viscerally react to the evil in socialism without any analysis of the problems that plague Venezuela, much less even a hint at a solution.
I suppose that we are to assume that the solution to socialism is capitalism. But capitalism also failed in Venezuela, because it was an oligarchy with a very few becoming extremely wealthy while leaving a large part of the population in poverty. Chavez was elected as a reaction to the oligarchy and its far-right brand of government helped in no small part by the revelation that the US was interfering in the election in support of the oligarchy.
What should they do to avoid swinging between the two extremes?
Should Venezuela follow the example of the US and support the oligarchy by convincing a bare majority of the voters that oligarchy and its income inequality are good and that the poor are responsible for their poverty?
Is the solution to Venezuela's problems its own Fox News and support for the oligarchy from the US interfering in Venezuela's elections yet again?
Quit pretending that the capitalism was a problem in the first place. Venezuela's problem was it's government--oligarchy. Don't blame capitalism for failings caused by it not being allowed to function.
False. The solution to Venezuela's problems is easy: stop fucking things up.
When a government is actively fucking everything up, doing nothing helps tremendously. When your problem is hyperinflation because you are printing money out the wazoo, the solution is stop printing money out the wazoo. When the problem is dislocations in market prices because you're fixing prices at non-market levels, the solution is stop fixing prices at non market levels. When the problem is businesses not producing because of fear of nationalization, the solution is stop threatening and carrying out nationalizations. When the problem is foreign investment fleeing the country due to fear of expropriation, the solution is stop expropriating foreign business. When the problem is businesses shedding workers due to 3000% increases in minimum wage, the solution is stop dictating 3000% increases in minimum wage. When the problem is inability to import due to unrealistic foreign currency exchange rates dictated by government, the solution is stop dictating unrealistic foreign exchange rates. Etc, etc.
This government is reaping exactly the consequences an economics textbook tells you to expect when they implement the policies they have implemented. The solution is to stop, not double down.
untermensche
Contributor
Why did none of these Americans care about Venezuela when it was an apartheid capitalist state with millions of indigenous citizens oppressed?
Why was that not a failed state?
Why was that not a failed state?
Harry Bosch
Contributor
How was it a failed state before?
untermensche
Contributor
How is millions oppressed based on ethnicity not a failed state for them?
Wat?
Why do you apologize for this?
Venezuela food shortage: One image that tells you about the crisis
It wasn't a very good state but the current situation is far worse. As normal, lots of socialism is worse than any disease it's ever been applied to.
untermensche
Contributor
Wat?
Why do you apologize for this?
Venezuela food shortage: One image that tells you about the crisis
Who's apologizing?
But millions of Venezuelans went hungry before Chavez too.
It was a sick apartheid state.
Why are you defending it?
Ford
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Wow. You've just solved all of Venezuela's problems. Hopefully someone in Caracas is reading this and sees your undeniable wisdom. They'll then run to the Presidential Palace and somehow get a meeting with Maduro, and explain "you see, Mr. President, we need to stop fucking things up."
Then Maduro - as if struck by lightning - will suddenly realize "wow...we need to stop fucking things up."
Within short order, the government will issue a statement. "As of this moment, we're going to stop fucking things up." For a time, the people of Venezuela will be confused. What specifics are there? What's the plan? We've got so many problems there must be more to it than that.
Then the person who read your advice will say "I saw it on an internet forum, so it's obviously written by someone who has a deep knowledge of our history, our economy, and a full grasp of everything wrong, and when he says 'stop fucking things up' that's all the advice we need."
The people will rally behind your words, and six or eight months from now Venezuela's problems will all be fixed because it was so easy and they just didn't realize it until you told them.
How many other countries will you rescue from disaster with such wise words? When Venezuela is fixed, will you please go to Somalia and straighten them out as well?
Thanks, in advance.
Wat?
Why do you apologize for this?
Venezuela food shortage: One image that tells you about the crisis
Who's apologizing?
But millions of Venezuelans went hungry before Chavez too.
It was a sick apartheid state.
Why are you defending it?
That's kinda bullshit. The Maduro diet didn't begin until after socialism.
untermensche
Contributor
There was the apartheid capitalist diet for the indigenous population long before that and it lasted a lot longer too.
You need to learn a little history.
You need to learn a little history.
Plenty of economists would tell him the same thing.
And while it wouldn't solve all of the problems it would go a long way towards solving them.
What it wouldn't do is produce payoffs for the cronies and thus would mean he would lose power.