Byker
2015-09-18 20:29:55 UTC
Socialism is an economic failure. International socialism didn’t work in the
Soviet Union. National socialism didn’t work in Germany. And democratic
socialism, while avoiding the horrors of its communist and Nazi cousins,
also has been a flop.
Socialism fails because it attempts to replace market-determined prices
http://tinyurl.com/nbozrx2
with various forms of central planning based on government-dictated prices:
http://tinyurl.com/ofjaqjo
Moreover, socialism channels self-interest in a destructive direction. In a
free market, people get income and improve their lot in life by satisfying
and fulfilling the needs of other people. In a socialist system, by
contrast, people squabble over the re-slicing of a shrinking pie.
There’s a famous Winston Churchill quote that basically says that the
ostensible problem with capitalism is that people aren’t equally rich,
whereas the supposed attractiveness of socialism is that people get to be
equally poor: http://tinyurl.com/otoy33l
A visual version of Churchill’s quote, and it’s definitely worth sharing:
http://tinyurl.com/qgvu42s
Both the Churchill quote and the image are very entertaining. And they
effectively make the point that statism is very bad for ordinary people.
That being said, they’re not actually accurate.
Sure, the masses are equally impoverished by socialist systems, but a
handful of people escape this fate. You probably won’t be surprised to learn
that the government elites have very comfortable lives. And that may be the
understatement of the century, as indicated by this report in the U.K.-based
Daily Mail. Here are some very relevant passages.
“The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared ‘being
rich is bad,’ may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to
evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets. Maria Gabriela
Chavez, 35 … holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost
$4.2 billion. … Others close to Chavez managed to build up great personal
wealth that was kept outside the petrostate. Alejandro Andrade, who served
as Venezuela’s treasury minister from 2007 to 2010 and was reportedly a
close associate of Chavez, was discovered to have $11.2 billion in his
name … During his lifetime, Hugo Chavez denounced wealthy individuals, once
railing against the rich for being ‘lazy.’ ‘The rich don’t work, they’re
lazy,’ he railed in a speech in 2010. ‘Every day they go drinking whiskey –
almost every day – and drugs, cocaine, they travel.’”
http://tinyurl.com/phrdw2t
What a bunch of hypocrites. They denounce successful people who presumably
earn money honestly, yet they amass huge fortunes by pilfering their nation.
And what’s been happening in Venezuela is no different, I’m sure, than what
happened in the past in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and other socialist
regimes.
And I’m sure it’s still happening today in other socialist hell holes such
as North Korea and Cuba: http://tinyurl.com/nf2m632
The elite enjoy undeserved and unearned wealth while ordinary people live
wretched lives of deprivation: http://tinyurl.com/ptd8yo5
Everyone’s equal, but some are more equal than others.
Some wise words about the impact of socialism on ordinary people from Kevin
Williamson of National Review.
“The United Socialist party’s disastrous economic policies have led to acute
shortages of everything: rice, beans, flour, oil, eggs, soap, even toilet
paper. Venezuela is full of state-run stores that are there to provide the
poor with life’s necessities at subsidized prices, but the shelves are
empty. … While Venezuela has endured food riots for years, the capital
recently has been the scene of protests related to medical care. Venezuela
has free universal health care — and a constitutional guarantee of access to
it. That means exactly nothing in a country without enough doctors,
medicine, or facilities. Chemotherapy is available in only three cities,
with patients often traveling hours from the hinterlands to receive
treatment. But the treatment has stopped.”: http://tinyurl.com/psdu2mp
Now ask yourself whether you think the party bosses are suffering like other
citizens http://tinyurl.com/o7ldfyo
because of a lack of food and health care (or toilet paper!):
http://tinyurl.com/nsxvhnf
And that giant gap between the treatment of the elite vs. the peasantry
tells you everything you need to know about socialism, whether it’s the
brutal kind practiced in places such as Venezuela or the kinder, gentler
(but equally hypocritical) versions found elsewhere:
http://tinyurl.com/peghb8e
http://tinyurl.com/pe44rvx
Soviet Union. National socialism didn’t work in Germany. And democratic
socialism, while avoiding the horrors of its communist and Nazi cousins,
also has been a flop.
Socialism fails because it attempts to replace market-determined prices
http://tinyurl.com/nbozrx2
with various forms of central planning based on government-dictated prices:
http://tinyurl.com/ofjaqjo
Moreover, socialism channels self-interest in a destructive direction. In a
free market, people get income and improve their lot in life by satisfying
and fulfilling the needs of other people. In a socialist system, by
contrast, people squabble over the re-slicing of a shrinking pie.
There’s a famous Winston Churchill quote that basically says that the
ostensible problem with capitalism is that people aren’t equally rich,
whereas the supposed attractiveness of socialism is that people get to be
equally poor: http://tinyurl.com/otoy33l
A visual version of Churchill’s quote, and it’s definitely worth sharing:
http://tinyurl.com/qgvu42s
Both the Churchill quote and the image are very entertaining. And they
effectively make the point that statism is very bad for ordinary people.
That being said, they’re not actually accurate.
Sure, the masses are equally impoverished by socialist systems, but a
handful of people escape this fate. You probably won’t be surprised to learn
that the government elites have very comfortable lives. And that may be the
understatement of the century, as indicated by this report in the U.K.-based
Daily Mail. Here are some very relevant passages.
“The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared ‘being
rich is bad,’ may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to
evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets. Maria Gabriela
Chavez, 35 … holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost
$4.2 billion. … Others close to Chavez managed to build up great personal
wealth that was kept outside the petrostate. Alejandro Andrade, who served
as Venezuela’s treasury minister from 2007 to 2010 and was reportedly a
close associate of Chavez, was discovered to have $11.2 billion in his
name … During his lifetime, Hugo Chavez denounced wealthy individuals, once
railing against the rich for being ‘lazy.’ ‘The rich don’t work, they’re
lazy,’ he railed in a speech in 2010. ‘Every day they go drinking whiskey –
almost every day – and drugs, cocaine, they travel.’”
http://tinyurl.com/phrdw2t
What a bunch of hypocrites. They denounce successful people who presumably
earn money honestly, yet they amass huge fortunes by pilfering their nation.
And what’s been happening in Venezuela is no different, I’m sure, than what
happened in the past in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and other socialist
regimes.
And I’m sure it’s still happening today in other socialist hell holes such
as North Korea and Cuba: http://tinyurl.com/nf2m632
The elite enjoy undeserved and unearned wealth while ordinary people live
wretched lives of deprivation: http://tinyurl.com/ptd8yo5
Everyone’s equal, but some are more equal than others.
Some wise words about the impact of socialism on ordinary people from Kevin
Williamson of National Review.
“The United Socialist party’s disastrous economic policies have led to acute
shortages of everything: rice, beans, flour, oil, eggs, soap, even toilet
paper. Venezuela is full of state-run stores that are there to provide the
poor with life’s necessities at subsidized prices, but the shelves are
empty. … While Venezuela has endured food riots for years, the capital
recently has been the scene of protests related to medical care. Venezuela
has free universal health care — and a constitutional guarantee of access to
it. That means exactly nothing in a country without enough doctors,
medicine, or facilities. Chemotherapy is available in only three cities,
with patients often traveling hours from the hinterlands to receive
treatment. But the treatment has stopped.”: http://tinyurl.com/psdu2mp
Now ask yourself whether you think the party bosses are suffering like other
citizens http://tinyurl.com/o7ldfyo
because of a lack of food and health care (or toilet paper!):
http://tinyurl.com/nsxvhnf
And that giant gap between the treatment of the elite vs. the peasantry
tells you everything you need to know about socialism, whether it’s the
brutal kind practiced in places such as Venezuela or the kinder, gentler
(but equally hypocritical) versions found elsewhere:
http://tinyurl.com/peghb8e
http://tinyurl.com/pe44rvx