Posted on 08/12/2021 9:59:18 PM PDT by ammodotcom
As Venezuela falls into the abyss of economic collapse – the economy has halved in five years, a contraction worse than the Great Depression or the Spanish Civil War – a simplistic narrative in the American press has formed, which starts with the Chavez regime seizing control of the country in 1998.
(The charismatic populist Hugo Chavez is, after all, the leader most Americans are familiar with when talking about Venezuela, as he made worldwide headlines with his 2006 UN speech where he called U.S. President Bush "a devil" while celebrities like Sean Penn and Michael Moore cheered him on.)
In the 1950s, Venezuela enjoyed its place among the top 10 richest countries on a per-capita basis. How has it turned into a country where more than 2.3 million of its 30 million citizens have fled since 2015 due to starvation? A toxic mix of creeping interventionism, institutional decay, private property seizures, irresponsible fiat monetary policy, and wide-ranging corruption are the main culprits. But Chavez wasn’t the instigator of this mess; the story goes back much further and should serve as a cautionary tale about one country’s faithful adherence to the tenets of socialism to the bitter end.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
https://ammodotcom.libsyn.com/venezuela-and-the-paradox-of-plenty-a-cautionary-tale-about-oil-envy-and-demagogues
The title was intriguing: It made me want to find out how Venezuela's wealth paradoxically led to its downfall - so I read the entire linked article.
Sadly, I was disappointed. While Venezuela certainly does possess enormous oil resources, the article made no effort to explain how, paradoxically, that wealth actually resulted in its political turmoil.
Regards,
For a short time, courtesy of a rent-a-rig outfit in California, I worked down there in the ‘80s. Flying from Caracas to Puerta la Cruz, we flew over non-stop green wilderness (not jungle).
The guy alongside of me said that the place used to be covered with farms, and that oil ruined Venezuela - the farmers all fled to the oil fields for better paying jobs (can’t blame ‘em). He said now they had to import food because of it and the country was now a one-commodity economy.
My impression then was that the upper class (no middle) seemed intent on grinding the lower classes even lower. No wonder they went Socialist.
Robbers will be drawn to any concentration of wealth. If those robbers are peddling socialism, and the people are stupid enough to buy it (or weak enough to be compelled to accept it), then said wealth goes right down the pishadoo. We’re getting a front row seat to the whole process here in America now.
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