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Pi 
Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Location: SA
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| Post subject: Venezuela |  |
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Another socialist failure:
Once again socialist government ends up with the usual bred lines and gulags.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36319877
http://time.com/venezuela-brink/
Considering the historical failures of socialist / Marxist government you have to wonder why people persist in trying it, and why it survives as a viable theory on just about every university campus.
Crony corporatism and corruption may well be a root cause of malcontent but socialism and socialist economics are definitely not the answer.
It wont end well, it never does.
_________________
Pi = Infinite = Collingwood = Always
Floreat Pica |
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thesoretoothsayer
Joined: 26 Apr 2017
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| I think now is about the time the "but it wasn't really socialism..." chorus starts up. |
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Mugwump
Joined: 28 Jul 2007
Location: Between London and Melbourne
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^ nobody who reads anything I write will expect me to defend socialism, but in truth Venezuela is really a corrupt oil state where military populists have used the people's oil wealth to buy loyalty. I think the verdict of history is pretty clear that good societies need a little socialism to moderate the malign effects of an essentially capitalist model of allocation. I think it is also clear that primitive capitalism can make a society relatively well off as long as competition is assured by government, whereas primitive socialism is always the road to serfdom and poverty.
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Two more flags before I die! |
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npalm
Joined: 01 May 2005
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The worse thing about socialism\communism is that it gives capitalism a good name.
I always wonder what kind of economic systems are employed by the universe's intelligent species.
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Side by side. |
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Pies4shaw 
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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| Singing it all together: "Tomorrow Belongs to Me ...." |
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Wokko 
Come and take it.
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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| Capitalism, really just the free trade of goods and services between consenting individuals has raised more people out of poverty than any other system ever devised. The only people against it are brainwashed lefty kids and those who consider themselves academics or intellectuals. Socialism has been thoroughly and totally discredited, time and time and time again but something about our empathy and bizarre need for equality seems to bring this evil back to life again and again. |
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Pies4shaw
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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| Because all academics and intellectuals are deluded and stupid and need to be sent to reeducation camp forthwith? |
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thesoretoothsayer
Joined: 26 Apr 2017
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| Pies4shaw wrote: | | Because all academics and intellectuals are deluded and stupid and need to be sent to reeducation camp forthwith? |
Sounds reasonable. |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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| thesoretoothsayer wrote: | | Pies4shaw wrote: | | Because all academics and intellectuals are deluded and stupid and need to be sent to reeducation camp forthwith? |
Sounds reasonable. |
or just send them to work as a brickies labourer for 6 months and make them live off the wage
_________________
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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Pies4shaw
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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| Why? |
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David 
I dare you to try
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Location: Andromeda
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| Mugwump wrote: | | ^ nobody who reads anything I write will expect me to defend socialism, but in truth Venezuela is really a corrupt oil state where military populists have used the people's oil wealth to buy loyalty. I think the verdict of history is pretty clear that good societies need a little socialism to moderate the malign effects of an essentially capitalist model of allocation. |
I think this is more or less correct, though I'd disagree on the balance of socialism and capitalism in most liberal democracies. Welfare, Medicare, government-funded infrastructure, government-funded media, enterprise agreements, progressive taxation and many other fundamental aspects of our society that we take for granted are all essentially socialist concepts, and this is in a society that took a fairly radical shift towards capitalism thirty years ago – successful European social democracies have even more socialist policies in place.
So, when I look at a corrupt authoritarian autocracy like Venezuela, it doesn't suggest to me that socialism has failed. It certainly suggests that authoritarianism and dictatorships don't work. Give me a broad socialist policy platform within a democratic system and I'll generally support it. I think that's the view of many leftists, many of whom rejected Venezuela as any kind of progressive state years ago. Its only real support on the left comes from Tankies and rabid 'anti-imperialists' (read: Putinists).
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All watched over by machines of loving grace |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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real world work experience
_________________
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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pietillidie
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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Ah, Venezuela; a chance to panic over the revolutionary intentions of all 116 infuriating Facebook posters who voted for the Communist Party of Australia, and glory in the brilliant decision of being born in a high-income, low-authority country whose economy is not distorted by a single, dominant resource.
_________________
In the end the rain comes down, washes clean the streets of a blue sky town.
Help Nick's: http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/fundraising.htm |
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Pies4shaw
pies4shaw
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
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| stui magpie wrote: |
real world work experience |
Why? |
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stui magpie
Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
Joined: 03 May 2005
Location: In flagrante delicto
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| pietillidie wrote: | | Ah, Venezuela; a chance to panic over the revolutionary intentions of all 116 infuriating Facebook posters who voted for the Communist Party of Australia, and glory in the brilliant decision of being born in a high-income, low-authority country whose economy is not distorted by a single, dominant resource. |
Dunno if it counts as dominating or a resource, but they put out some damn fine looking women, as attested by their performance over the years at international beauty contests.
_________________
Every dead body on Mt Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe just calm the **** down. |
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