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.
Well said. I especially like the sentence “Venezuela, the weight loss capital of the world.”
Correct. Look at what happened to Venezuela’s economy within a few years of Hugo Chavez’s takeover of the country.
Protectionism is taxes on other people’s stuff. It’s not free trade or capitalism. It belongs in the socialism catagory.
Bump
The socialists convinced the people of Venezuela to starve so that the socialists could ride in the government limousines.
If you are going to put massive regulatory, environmental and wage requirements on US product, you have to have a tariff to level the playing field, otherwise you are just permanently destroying US production as we'll always have a massive handicap. PS do you support importation of prescription drugs?
That is true, but it is also true that we can’t allow other countries to wage a one-sided trade war against us.
If they put tariffs on our goods, we need to put tariffs on theirs.
Urban Agriculture Minister Freddy Bernal reminds the serfs; "A rabbit is not a pet; it’s two and a half kilos (5.5 pounds) of meat that is high in protein, with no cholesterol." The critics wonder where the cages, food and breeding stock are coming from. The government has yet to respond but with the average Venezuelan losing 19 pounds in the last year alone, desperate measures are on the rise!
While the 'leadership' parties hearty behind walled enclaves guarded by the military, the International Monetary Fund (The IMF) forecasts that prices will rise (inflation) 720% in Venezuela this year. Can any statement more clearly illustrate the 'pie in the sky' vision of socialism than this statement from their non-elected President, Nicholas Maduro; "We're looking for creative solutions in the socialist vision,"?
That is true, rabbits are not pets and there is nothing wrong with eating them.
When we see socialists in the United States - like Bernie's nuts - we should treat them like the KKK or Nazis... After all Stalin killed 7 million people in Ukraine by starving them to death.
Each Socialist in the United State is a potential Stalin and could starve us to death.
It's the same rational democrats use when they act like the KKK of today ( powerless losers ) are the same as the KKK from the past ( an arm of the Democrat Establishment at the time).
Two can play identity politics - two can play all of these liberal games... it'll be fun.
When we see socialists in the United States - like Bernie's nuts - we should treat them like the KKK or Nazis... After all Stalin killed 7 million people in Ukraine by starving them to death.
Each Socialist in the United State is a potential Stalin and could starve us to death.
Susan Stamper Brown is right...
It's the same rational democrats use when they act like the KKK of today ( powerless losers ) are the same as the KKK from the past ( an arm of the Democrat Establishment at the time).
Two can play identity politics - two can play all of these liberal games... it'll be fun.
Rabbit meat is low in protein and has virtually no fat.
Not sustainable, unless you want to continue to lose weight.
Rabbit meat is low in protein
Just because you hear something doesn’t make it true.
I can see using tariffs as a bargaining tool but keep in mind most "temporary" taxes have a nasty habit of becoming permanent. Even if the trade is one way you still get the benefit of a better deal or the trade would not happen. Since the money going out is not burned it has to make it's way back eventually.That's why I like to call it an "import surplus" rather than "trade deficit" to counter the negative image generated by rent seeking special interests.
Rabbit starvation is a real thing.
If we take your chart at face value, it would also be true that a chicken-only diet is as bad as a rabbit-only one. (See: eating only chicken to survive)
People need fat in their diet for long-term survival.
Venezuela was a classic instance of kleptocracy. Socialism provides the easiest ideology with which to get away with it.
You still have the handicap, you just end up with another tax that makes you pay more for something you want. The solution is what our President is actually doing: He’s cutting the red tape.
PS do you support importation of prescription drugs?
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.
Great idea. Now, what are they going to feed the tens of millions of rabbits needed to keep the people of Venezuela from starving?
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