Venezuela is the latest in a long line of Socialist failures but still people around the world keep falling for its ideology. One of creating victims, dividing society into minority groups and promising to give everyone the free and easy life for nothing.
Peoples stupidity of voting for this failed doctrine would be amusing only when Socialism is implemented it's no laughing matter. Children are dying in hospitals where simple procedures are being neglected as the country has become so poor it has chronic shortages in all areas of the economy. This is the reality of free healthcare with no capitalist sidecar to prop it up. No doctors. No medicine. No healthcare. Instead its citizens are given empty promises of its "free for all"; the catch being there is no healthcare.
Bernie Sanders was recently asked by South American journalists to talk about Venezuela, a country that he once praised yet he had no comment instead going completely mute on the topic. Jeremy Corbyn in the UK who once held up Venezuela as an example for Britain has also remained silent on the issue like so many other left wing commentators. Its no surprise, these people always rely on the public having a short term memory. Back in the 1980's Bernie Sanders was praising Socialist regimes at the time and stating that bread lines were a good thing in the video below. Now of course we know the truth. Boris Yeltsin once visited America and took a trip to a supermarket. It was off the cuff so he could see an "unstaged" normal shop (the Russians were infamous for staging citizens lives for Western visitors to cover the grim reality). What he saw amazed him, he couldn't believe the choice of products that were available, remarking that many of the products available to the normal American was not even available to the political elite in Communist Russia. Yeltsin spent the plane ride home with his head in his hands. He told his advisers we have failed the Russian people in creating such poverty, indeed this became his Eureka moment when he Realised Central Planning wasn't working by simply observing Capitalism in action.
All of Venezuela's problems were avoidable. Yet Socialism is labelled as compassionate. Its labelled anti-greed and anti-corruption. Its falsely believed to be morally superior to Capitalism and more rational. Some even falsely believe it to be more productive, peddling the discredited notion that under a single monopoly provider its more efficient.
Socialism will always have an appeal to people for a number of reasons. Compared with Capitalism its simple to explain meaning it can be understood on all intellectual levels. To solve problems you only need to spend other peoples money. It gives "free" stuff to the majority. It contains fluffy language - togetherness, unity, peoples will - distilling complex economics into simple slogans. However Socialism will never succeed in the long run as actions are always louder than words. While Socialists talk about solving problems Capitalism just gets on and does it. Socialists talk about poverty while Capitalism elevates us all to prosperity that was unimaginable 100 years ago. While Socialists talk about "free" this and "free" that, Capitalism brings down the costs of many goods and services to next to nothing.
Indeed Socialists only actions are creating misery and hardship for all, eventually bankrupting nations. Then who do people call to fix the mess? Thats right; Capitalism. Capitalism will always win out because while most people will never be able to comprehend prices, supply and demand, entrepreneurship, capital goods or a whole host of other market theories they will understand who brings home the bacon. Look at the past 50 years. China has turned to the market, India has never been more market driven, most of Asia 50 years ago was a mess and now its people are warming to Capitalism like never before. Europe was half Communist, even the other half in countries like Britain we had most things under the states control. People no longer have open support of Socialism so new phrases are used, "democratic socialism" or "progressive politics" as the general public have rejected Socialism. Communism was the first discredited term, now Socialism conjures up images of misery and poverty for many here in the West. We are now at the juncture of blurred economics, mixed on a knife edge between capitalism and socialism. If we tip too much towards Socialist policies then it tips back to Capitalism in order to try solve the ideologies previous ills. Sweden bankrupt itself by embracing too much Socialism during the 1960's and 70's and when they went broke during the early 90's they moved the pendulum back to Capitalism. Many of the Scandinavian countries are now rolling back the state to try and solve various issues that have been created by Statism. When Bernie Sanders claimed Denmark was a Socialist Country the Danish Prime Minister promptly came back and said no, Denmark is a market economy. On many measures it is more Capitalist than America (looser employment laws, lower levels of corporation tax, a more robust legal system of private property and a culture more open towards foreign investment to name a few).
Pro-capitalists are supposed to feel guilty yet Capitalism is the very system that has created a historic unknown wealth for us all. The norm of human history was absolute grinding poverty, plagued by starvation at every turn. Now the free market has given us food in such abundance that we have all become obsessed with diets and recreational exercises in order to burn off our excess fat. Our ancestors would not have been able to comprehend such a concept where food has become so varied, so plentiful that we now have to take actions to restrain from over eating. Yet for Venezuela who took the Socialist path, a lack of food is a Socialist reality. Queues, rations, no choice and fighting or stealing for basic necessities. Its estimated that people spend over a day a week queuing for any food they can get which isn't much. Meanwhile I can get food 24x7, order it from the comfort of my armchair and get it delivered to my door and buy far more than I can possibly eat. Socialist Compassion? There is no such thing just the inevitable humanitarian crisis. Capitalism's actions offers genuine compassion rather than Socialism's empty promises of it.
