Posted on 09/25/2017 6:37:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
“From the Soviet Union to Cuba, Venezuela, wherever socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish, devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems…”– President Donald Trump, Sept. 19.
A big takeaway from my prior years in ministry is that things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes people hide dark secrets behind nice smiles and happy faces.
Here in the U.S., gobs of sorely misinformed people fantasize about the pie-in-the-sky idea of socialism, having no idea all it does is make everyone except those in charge poor and miserable.
Even so, socialism barkers put on happy faces and try to sell socialism like snake oil salesmen.
And then there is President Trump, who told it like it is during his U.N. General Assembly speech, which will likely go down in history as one for the ages.
Trump said, “The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.”
You could almost hear all the air being sucked out of the room by horrorstruck socialist world leaders forced to face the truth head-on: Everywhere socialism is implemented it eventually fails.
Venezuela, the weight loss capital of the world, is falling apart.
Socialist policies picked this oil rich country bone-dry.
Former president Hugo Chavez justified stealing businesses from private citizens in the name of spreading the wealth around. He nationalized just about every industry to supposedly level the playing field and create financial equality.
Then he went spend-happy.
For a short while, Venezuelans enjoyed freebies like the single payer healthcare system that Congressional Democrats here in the U.S. want so bad they would probably be willing to sell everything you own to get it, if that’s what it would take.
The government became Venezuelans’ sole provider. Along with free healthcare, they also received subsidies for energy and food.
Then the healthcare system collapsed and the economy went kaput.
Devoid of basic necessities like food, medications, or even toilet paper, Venezuelans now forage through trash like wild animals and even eat dogs and cats to survive.
All that, while current president Nicolas Madura and Chavez family members live in the lap of luxury.
Yes, folks, socialism works.
It works for leaders who steal it from the folks at the top, bottom and middle.
They’ll tell you every time they are doing it to share the wealth. Chavez talked the socialism talk while he was lining his pockets. When he died, he left his daughter Maria Gabriela Chavez around $4 billion, Miami-based newspaper Diario Las Americas reports.
Americans should be very leery of Democrat Party politicians whose eyes light up like blow torches at the mention of the childishly romantic idea of socialism. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is a multi-millionaire who lives in a $2 million mansion. Bernie Sanders has three homes, including a $600,000 lake house. Former President Obama is worth tens of millions and rakes in $400,000 per speech from the Wall Street folks he once rail against.
Like Chavez, Democrats tend to blame much of the inequities in the world on capitalism.
Greedy capitalists didn’t rape Venezuela, greedy socialists did.
The Economist reports Chavez “expropriated and redistributed wealth to weaken enemies and woo allies” and “undercut the oil wealth that funded Venezuelan socialism.” Then, the inevitable happened, Venezuela ran “out of other people’s money,” just like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said.
Apparently, her wisdom is far too yesteryear for current Prime Minister Theresa May, who issued President Trump a stiff-lipped smackdown for “pursuing protectionism” during her UN speech. May said protectionism might “undermine support for the forces of liberalism and free trade that have done so much to propel global growth.”
Meanwhile, malnourished Venezuelans are fleeing in droves to escape the death throes of a socialist nightmare.
You'll never cut the red tape to equal the legal cost of operating in China, Vietnam or Mexico. Ever. Even if you did, with a 35% domestic tax on earnings here and 10% over there, it'll still never work out. I would actually have business income tax on earnings in the US at 0% and have a tariff of 20% to make up for the business income tax. Why start with US earners (business and earners)
It depends. Some countries, like Canada, play a shakedown game with intellectual rights. They essentially threaten to steal the patents forcing companies to sell below cost. I don’t believe in the trade of stolen goods.
So no. You do realize patents are not capitalistic, right? Patents are inherently anti-capitalistic as it creates a legal monopoly. Patent reform is one of the most badly needed things in the entire system, and not in favor of big business.
Even if this was true because America lacks the political will to make those changes Tariffs are still just another layer of pain inflicted. Capitalism by it’s very nature is dynamic. Companies are going to rise and fall as the markets change. We get focused on the change induced from overseas because it’s inflicted by “THEM!” , yet we see tariffs as OK because the pain is inflicted by “US”. It’s like curing a sore throat by dropping a brick on your foot. At the very least the pain caused by foreign competitors should be used politically to change our own laws that handicap our side, not impose the further handicap of another tax!
You do realize patents are not capitalistic, right?
I could not disagree more! I’ll let Ayn Rand answer this one for me.
BLah, blah blah. We spend $4 trillion a year at the federal government level. It makes 0 sense that 99% is paid by US citizens and 1% is paid by foreign citizens with ~12% of our GDP is imports.
I could not disagree more! I’ll let Ayn Rand answer this one for me.
Do you understand the difference between IP and patents? They aren't the same thing. Do you think patents should be forever? If not, you do agree, you are simply arguing for longer time lengths. IP is the name Disney or Tylenol. Patent is the Tylenol pill formula vs the Walmart branded version. The supermarket company I used to work for was the very first one to sell premade gourmet hamburger patties with a variety of "stuffed" items in the burger (eg: bacon, mushrooms, cheeses, etc). Does that give that supermarket company the right to forever be the only company to sell "stuffed" burgers?
No extradition treaty with C.R., IIRC.
“Teach a man to fish...” and he stands a better chance of survival in Venezuela.
Grass.
In that time Venezuela went from plenty to starvation, literally. Not even a generation. Given the surplus present in Venezuela in 1999, enough to make Chavez's speeches about inequality popular (sound familiar?) they managed not only to squander the surplus but put a wrecking ball to established wealth-producing industries. That's actually pretty difficult to do. Details tend to be a bit repetitive, but when "redistribution" meant expropriation of the means of production and its placement into the hands of those who saw it only as a source of personal wealth, the systemic rot was incredibly rapid. Socialism does the first and brags about it. Marx insisted the excision of the class running the factories would result in increased productivity. Marx was an idiot about so many things.
In fact, socialism is theft, about which Marx was correct, but it isn't really on the behalf of the people, to which any Venezuelan can attest. The New Boss isn't really the same as the Old Boss, he's a thief, not a producer accused of being a thief. The difference is now shown in the pinched faces of the Venezuelans.
Still, to ruin the thing in only 18 years is something of a dark accomplishment. You'd have to be systematically wrong about nearly every economic decision during that time in order for that to happen. The media are pompously proclaiming lower oil prices and drought as the culprits because they can't or won't face the truth. Neither was the case. Human stupidity and greed were the case.
Grass.
Only if he is out of sight from any government functionary AND can fish successfully with a line attached to a cane pole from a stream bank! Boats are few and falling apart, nylon fishing line and most modern tackle is too expensive and marks the user as a class enemy (unless fishing with Maduro!)
Greed is normal but it is incorrect to imply that Capitalist greed competes with Socialist greed.
Capitalism and greed exists in all forms of government. The major difference lies in who owns or controls the capital.
One of the post suggest, “Teach a man to fish” … but only in Americanism can the individual control who owns the fish and dispose of it as he wishes.
Bkmk
No. The link I provided had the answer for that. To get a drug past the FDA now costs 2.5 billion dollars. How is a company going to recover that cost if someone else can sell the same chemical under a different name? This gigantic hurtle is getting people killed. Maladies with small markets have to be ignored. If ever there was a need for deregulation this is it. It should be noted the giant companies like it this way: it makes new competitors all but impossible.
3) The US cannot shoulder the cost of pharma's profit entirely. Right now the USA is 90% to 110% of Pharma's entire profits depending on which source you believe. By allowing importation of drugs, pharma will be forced to deal with other governments. As long as they can just charge ridiculous prices to US consumer, they have little incentive to rock the boat overseas.
I’m almost with you on this point. Since it’s the same human body if a drug is already working overseas then let the company that owns the patent sell it here. With billions at stake you can bet big pharmaceutical would fight a simple change like this tooth and nail. Big business is often the enemy of free enterprise. I’m not surprised at the lack of real progress given the incredible costs incurred for getting official approval . By the way this is why I think Obamacare is clinging to life . With Uncle Sam footing the bill medical companies can charge gigantic amounts with our collective deep pocket paying. Our Senators did not get rich by their good looks!
Self Ping.
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