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Venezuela Isn't Looking Too Hot
Submitted by Caleb McMillan via Mises Canada,
If anarcho-capitalists should move to Somalia, then socialists – especially, “social democrats” — should move to Venezuela. The country is a complete disaster. But don’t take my word for it, read what a Caracas homemaker said after she tried to buy three cans of sardines and was ordered to put one back due to food rationing: “This is a disaster.”
Food shortages, rising prices, inflation, corrupted incentives, and rampant crime are all symptoms of a primordial problem: socialism. Just because the Socialist Party was democratically elected does not mean that the economic calculation problem has been solved. It’s as if the gods needed one more example to shove down the throats of Western leftists. Economic chaos, food rationing and a complete break down of the social order aren’t lessons of a misguided dictatorship of the proletariat, but a fundamental reality of socialism, whether democratic or not.
Democracy is just an insidious form of communism and the Venezuelan December 6th legislative elections won’t likely loosen the power the Socialists hold over the judiciary and government watchdog agencies. But since street protests led to more state violence, the Venezuelan people have retreated to a electoral solution.
Like Canada, where government workers prefer to vote for the party that offers more tax-funded goods, it’s assumed that in Venezuela, the government-controlled TV and radio stations will convince enough people to vote for the Socialists.
Pollster Luis Vicente Leon said that over 16 years in power, first Chavez and now [President Nicolas] Maduro have mastered the electoral arts.
“They fiercely control the institutions and the money which allow them to become stronger through electoral engineering even when their support is flagging,” Leon wrote in the Caracas daily El Universal.
And like Cubans who blame their economic plight on the US Embargo, Maduro and the Socialists are blaming their economic woes on smugglers who take cheap food, gas and other items across the border to sell for profit. Never-mind that “smugglers” have always existed, and that all these problems (and more) can be traced to a statist grip on power and an undermining of price signals and rules of law. Maduro seems quite serious about his cross-border smuggling accusation, so serious that he closed Venezuela’s border with Columbia and declared a state of emergency. Meanwhile, a Venezuelan Governor is telling the people to eat “fried rocks.”
Indeed, what a disaster.
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A mix of Socialism and a cult of personality, are we talking about President Zippy?
Consitutions just delay democracy.
Monarchy or no government.
Regardless of what happens in Venezuela, the girls will always be hot!
Venezuelan naked news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62gPHU2LjuA
Yeah, and it's a shame that some of the most beautiful women live in some of the worst countries....
It's strange isn't it?
Boy, that's some appendectomy scar on that Babe in the pink bikini. But I can overlook that since she otherwise looks very ... healthy.
Oh please, tell you can find better in the US for less, unless you are into fat shaming. No shortage of Walmart Whales in Amerika.
Given the current exchange rate USD/Bolivar, the cost of pussy trades at a major discount to the US. No feminazi's , no maximum entitlement/minimum output, just smoking hot chicks who like gringos.
https://www.rooshvforum.com/thread-1692.htm
The monthly minimum wage in Venezuela is below Seattle's hourly minimum
Hard to believe but true
Wow, so the Global NeoCon financial instability economic warfare has nothing to do with Venezuela's economic problems?
Obama will not finish his second term! Current Events Linked to Ancient Biblical Prophecy!
http://motivationdose.com/is-america-babylon/
Another country under US atack.
Where else can you find girls who will trade favors for toilet paper?
Not to mention antibiotics.
That's not my definition of naked.....but still a decent interpretation!
Thank you! Me gusto las RACKS! Que bonita chichis.
Skanks
So that's how they get them to watch.
Prince Charles: tanned, rested and ready.
He'll know what to do.
They'll never run out of toilet paper, there is plenty of money to use for that.
In Jamaica, Danny Glover demands Britain pay reparations for slavery
http://tinyurl.com/p4nl54n
While he's at it, he should demand reparations from Moslems for 14 centuries of enslavement of Africans and Europeans...more than the Europeans enslaved by far.
President chicken head?
+1 for the androids dreaming of electric sheep ref
OH THOSE EVIL BLACK MARKETS!!! THEY ALWAYS DISRUPT OUR PLANS WHEN WE DON'T CONTROL THEM OURSELVES!!!!
Fucking commies need to die.
Bring back impalement for Marxists and Maoists.
EVIL
The Marxists are, and if you doubt it, expalin why socialism has killed more people in peace time than all world wars combined. Marxism leads to genocide. Not much evil than that except for PlannedOrganHarvestingHood
Holodomor wasn't evil?
The sad fact is that for many of us, killing a Marxist is a legitimate act of self-defense, because the core of Marxism, as so ably demonstrated by Lenin and his many accomplices, is the murder of your class enemies, as a class. You too, might be one of the first against the wall.
You are confused, perhaps its all the Gary Allen you've imbibed
Kropotkin was a Marxist to the core. And as far as I know he was a gentle soul who never had anybody lined up against any walls; before or after he shunned his elitist birthright.
Lenin was a Leninist, and Stalin was even more of a Stalinist.
These are differences you might want to explore prior to regurgitating programmed rote.
Hillary should run for president there.
I would guess Clinton would certainly invite Maduro into the White House to compare notes and swap electoral ideas as one of her first State Dinners.
We are capable of eating a stick, or instead of frying two eggs, fry two rocks, and we will eat fried rocks said Francisco Rangel, Venezuelan Dept. of Dentistry....
I'll take Scandinavian style socialism, thanks bro. I've lived in Europe and Canada and frankly the argument is already won. The world knows as well. Jokes on you if you believe this sh1t in 2015.
Maybe a future world can have 'freedom zones' for libertarians and anarcho-capitalists, where they can exist free from both the Pros and the Cons of the social benefits that (I think) most people want.
If too many people opt for the Freedom Zones, Moochdom will become less appealing.
Edit - Remind me again as to the pros of scocial benefits. I mean the pros for a net contributor as opposed to a net mooch.
Yeah I live in Canada now and it's not the socialist paradise it's cracked out to be. Canada is FULL of stupid sheep that will kiss the ass of any politician that will promise them rainbows and butterflies.
They deserve the slaughter that is fast approaching this nation of sheep.
The reason that works there is because a mostly homogenous society exists, or at least did until they started importing a bunch of third worlders into their counties. It won't work in the United States. Those countries don't have 40 million blacks to take care of, feed, cloth, attempt to educate, etc, that are by and large a net drain on society. Many of those blacks that aren't on welfare work for the government in some capacity, typically at agencies that constitutionally shouldn't even exist. They work there in disproportionate numbers, thanks to affirmative action, which is done to create the illusion of a prosperous black middle class, but they too mooch off the system. Again, a huge net drain on society. Add to that the 15 million or so illegal immigrants who have flooded our borders. Those countries and their mostly white populations can get away with a welfare state, the US can't. Those places will see what happens after importing so many of them from MENA in a couple generations.
The ancestors of today's blacks "donated" trillions of man-hours of free labor to the United States and Western Europe. We white folk don't get to bitch about mooching until we've paid their descendants back.
Please give $1000 to the next black person you see, then post the photo back here. Thanks!
Pretty sure the trillions spent on welfare and affirmative action more than cover it. It isn't like Africa has a record of massive productivity on its own. To the extent those hours contributed to the welath of the US their descendants have benefitted much more than if their forbears had stayed in africa.
Aye yi yi! (Or however it's spelled.) Such a student of history you are, being all so smart about slavery and all that.
Too bad you put the book down before you finished it, though. 'Cause if you had read it through to the end, you would have discovered that any and all wealth attributable to slavery was utterly destroyed by The War of Northern Aggression and, especially, its aftermath.
Maybe, just maybe, there might somewhere be some trust baby still living large off the proceeds of slavery. I dunno. Most likely it would be someone in Amsterdam or the like, rather than any American.
Don't know if you follow soccer, but we ARE letting Toronto finally make the playoffs.
Hospitals, roads, schools, law enforcement, subsidized agriculture to prevent feast-and-famine farming; all the things which formed the basis of the post-WWII era and which are made possible by government spending.
If you are referring to EBT cards -- then you receive the benefit of not having 20 million poor people turning into roving marauders, because there option is to do that or starve. People starving becomes a political question immediately, because they are very, very, very motivated to get food. You and your family, and your business, receive shelter from the humanitarian crisis that would unfold from these people starving, via the EBT card. It is definitely something that benefits the rich as well as the poor, because once enough people can't eat, the cost of business goes up astronomically, because war breaks out basically. Most revolutions and armed revolts throughout history are linked to increases in food prices. That's just one dimension and I think there are many others we could come up with.
Hospitals, roads, schools, law enforcement - Better private.
Subsidized agriculture - I think you just argued on my behalf. You must be from Nebraska or Iowa.
Your 20 million band of tit suckers is a bit on the low side if your are talking about the USA. I will be fair and call it 150 million. How did that happen? People buying into something for nothing meme. When the something has a a cost people tend to be more....wise/intelligent/informed about their purchase/benefit.
I'd argue that FDR played a highly significant role in expanding the number of citizens firmly attached to the government tit. The "greatest" generation had a fairly high number of members that felt that they were owed something from the government, and passed that along to the Baby Boomers, who fully embraced it. I think 150 Million may even be too small a number. Obama was elected twice! HAHAHAHAHA! We are soooo screwed.
WTF dude.
I would really like to see the private roads accross USA, that would make them cheaper :D. As Borat would say NOOOT. Currently all drivers in US are subsidized by the general population. Private roads have been tried here and there, but always at a steep cost. Right now I know of a problem Croatians have with their ability to pay the private roads as required by the financier party. Oh BTW you your .gov 1000 USD for using your car every year just for roads. Extra.
Private law enforcement, I mean where to start. Who does the police answer to? Is the police owner/funder or his family or acquaintances able to commit crimes and be put in jail. Can they act as a private army, how trained, what arms do they carry? How about courts, also private or Socialistic. TPP will soon show how private courts are awsome for those who fund them (as we already know).
For hospitals, I agree somewhat. Still there needs to be hospitals which will cure most of basic ills low charge/free. Or would we prefer to have people die of appendicitis or allergy because their mommy comes from Venecuela and cleans floors for living.
Private schools are generaly a joke. Harvard and a few others however show that you can get quality from it, but I would say 90% of students in private coleges will get shitty education. Same applies to highschools. Profits beat education, hence an army of students with questionable knowledge will pass the exams to enter the lifestyle of jobless college McDonalds workers.
Liberterian capitalism can only create a sort of India cast system where the lowest do not dare fight the order. I guess that is the path of thought of Hunger games.
The "I'm a net producer who shouldn't have to contribute" crowd have normalcy bias. They live in a society full of socialist advantages like public roads, airports, a military, police, firemen, schools, etc., and also benefit in a more intangible sense from the economy that would not exist if we lived in their "eat what you kill or die" nirvana. I notice that the Mises Institute of Canada never runs stories about how bad the Scandavian countries are, which are highly socialist (still not pure socialist by any means). And Mises always omits the role of oligarchs, the IMF, and bankers in the plight of Venezuela when they make their broad conclusions that all problems there are from "socialism."
You are correct. I will contribute to help my fellow man in time of need. However, the current load is a bit burdensome. How can half the fucking country...or more...be in such dire need? 10 percent taxes...OK...20%....maybe....30%....you are shitting me...40%....that is fucked up!....50%....adios!
Most of our taxes do not go to anything that benefits society. We have an extremely bloated MIC for example that sucks up a huge amount of national wealth. Same with the prison industrial complex fed by the pointless and very expensive war on drugs. And don't get me started on the Fed, bank bailouts, and numerous other examples of crony capitalism and outright corruption being a huge part of the reason for the high taxes.
Rand, all of it is shit. Do you think I want to support the bullshit expenditures you mentioned above? Of course not. I also do not want to pay for a bunch of fucking mooches either. Kid who needs cancer treatment....yes. Single mom who lost her job and dickhead husband who left her holding the bag...yes...but with limits. Old fuckers who did not save for retirement and now have Alpo on the table....ok...a bit...but they better not be eating better than my family.
I 100% agree that we need a major overhaul. My issue is with sweeping condemnation of any system that involves charging taxes for public services, or organization of society through elected government, which pretty much sums up the position of Mises of Canada. But it's all academic anyway. Nothing is going to change except for the worse. The oligarchs own the US and I see no reason to believe that they are going to do anything but continue to tighten their grip.
What you are describing is Anarchy, no government at all. That is not what Mises Institute, or Ludwig Von Mises advocated for.
The limited "success", and I hate to use that term but let's do so for argument purposes, of Socialism has only been possible when built on top of decades of capital accumulation under a frree-market system. Without continued vast freedom of economic activity, your sytem will die - like it did in the Soviet Union.
Higher taxes don't necessarily mean less cash in your pocket Phil
Eg.
Norwegians pay, on average, around 49% of their income to taxes, while Canadians pay ~30%.
Except that Norwegians gross around 89,000 USD/year in pay, while Canucks average around 45,000 USD/year.
Take home for Norwegians: 89,000-43,610= 45,390 USD/year (net)
Take home for Canucks : 45,000-13,500= 31,500 USD/year (net)
So even though Norwegians pay a higher rate, they have more take home pay (14,000 USD); or roughly 44% more than Canadians, after taxes.
Hunh, I guess rate of taxation isn't everything after all.
ps
I see LTER is settling into the 'conciliatory foil' role; you'll have him 180 degrees in no time.
I see LTER is settling into the 'conciliatory foil' role; you'll have him 180 degrees in no time.
Not really, he posted a comment that I could reply to. Yours was riddled with too many implicit holes/factual misrepresentations. For example, you failed to mention cost of living, marginal tax rates for the incomes you noted, vats/sales taxes, tax credtis....this list is endless.
Fair point; for simplicity's sake I did fail to include the wide array of publicly funded, expensive services available to all Norwegians that Canadians have to pay for out of that lesser net income.
My bad.
Point still stands tall though: Tax rate isn't everything.
I see GoinFawr 'conciliatory foil' role now.
Sorry, you walked right into that one.
You are corect tax rates are not everything. Just one sympton of the overall illness. Shit....I am the 'concillatory foil' now.
"Norwegians pay, on average, around 49% of their income to taxes, while Canadians pay ~30%."
Can't speak for Norway, but when you add it all up for Canada it's a good deal more than 30%. Income is taxed twice here. Once on your paycheck and again at the cash register, not to mention any post-tax earnings you invest in income bearing paper - that "income" gets taxed as well, so that's thrice. Next add in all the ridiculous user fees, transit levies, gas tax etc. and you're pushing well over 50%.
As a thought experiment, consider all the inputs that go towards a restaurant meal, from the farm and all its inputs to transportation to the distributor to the retailer and his overhead and ask yourself, what's the total tax component, when you finally pay the waiter, who also gets taxed on that tip you left.
I can't answer that exactly because we stopped going out to eat, the bottom line being for us a no-value equation.
Same goes for our automobiles, which are 15 and 17 years old, both maintained by me, not a mechanic in a licensed garage because again, no-value compared to my own tax-free labor if I do it myself.
We are not a low-income household - we've just decided that the "value proposition" of our socialist paradise doesn't make sense for us, so we do anything we can off the radar, as do most people we know.
The FSA is alive and well and growing in this country. As someone once said, socialism works until you run out of other people's money. Well, we're just about there if the people I know are any indication.
And please, don't talk to me about roads, schools and hospitals - that's NOT where the bulk of it goes. Govt. largess, waste and endemic corruption take far more than any road I ever drove on.
To summarize - we're just as fucked as the USA. Were just not as far along as they are, but give it time.
Don't believe me? Talk to any small business owner in this country. They'll tell you the same thing - if you can get to them before they go under.
here's a simple metric to determine whether or not a nation is 'fucked': do they carry a national debt?
If 'yes', then that nation is fucked,
"Which means, you're in his pocket. And once you're in that, you ain't ever coming out." -Turkish
It sure doesn't help that Canucks repeatedly elect politicians who flat out tell them,
“And we cannot be effective at major economic matters any longer unless we work with our economic partners around the world and work with them closely and intimately. That is essential. I know some people don’t like it. It is a loss of National Sovereignty but it is a simple reality. It is a simple reality.”
- PM Stephen Harper
“We’re gonna have to give up a little bit of our sovereignty to make the world work”
- Former PM Paul Martin
I mean, even the US wouldn't elect such treasonous assholes; here is the only reason Canada’s loss of sovereignty is a "simple reality" as Mr. Harper has said: because the Canadian federal Liberal and Conservative governments, both, have realized that loss through the expansion of the national debt owed to foreign entities.
"We never should have privatized our debt and turned it over to the private banks, we should have kept it with the Bank of Canada; at least a major part of it because then we would have been paying interest back to ourselves. And unfortunately the Liberal and the Conservative governments, both, are too 'close' to the banks. The banks wanted the business and they managed to convince the government to privatize that debt; of course now they're the ones getting the benefits." Jack Layton (and he's the one that's dead)
153 million CAD/day in interest payments to line foreign banqusters' yachts with your hard labour. That's, what, 50 loonies/day each?
Now that's why the Canucked are fucked.
ps
The Iron Maiden said,
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
If that is so, from whom exactly are Norwegians stealing their oil wealth from then, themselves? Because i sure as fuck know precisely who is stealing wealth from Canucks.
And I suppose those aren't some of the marvelous socialist, elitist thing we are enjoying? Let me guess. Mercantilistic crony capitalism isn't an attribute of socialism, is it?
certainly not by definition
Socialism seeks to empower labour through ownership of the means of production.
Eg Statoil
Fascism seeks to entrench a plutocracy (elites) by any means available
Eg. you guessed it
It occurs to me that Mussolini, Mr. Fascism, if you will, might have a problem with your definition cuz he said he was a socialist. For that matter, so did Hitler.
There, you've isolated your own misconception 'Mr.Fascism liked to refer to himself as a socialist'
Some turd may call himself a rose, that doesn't mean he smells like one.
It's called 'lip service': words; action speaks much louder than them.
Eg.
"I do not believe that people should be allowed to have a lot of money unless they have earned it; being the son of a rich man is not a good enough reason..."-Lord Rothschild 3rd
...immediately followed by hails of smarmy, derisive laughter?
Still, he sounds like more of a meritocrat than you think you are.
I mean, as if those two would have gotten anywhere had they been honest and said,
"Stand with us, we want to entrench a plutocracy at your expense!"
Capiche?
I am so glad I had a chance to visit Canada while it was still mostly English and French peeples. Seems like now it's being divided between the Moslims, Indians and Chinese. Great restaurants, however.
How's that working out for Sweden who is leaving their borders open for Syrian invasion force? Five days and nights of rioting and looting, and still counting.
Misrepresentation and disingenuous conflation of vastly differing political systems and the circumstances that facilitate or hinder their successes is the meat and potatos of self-purported 'anarcho-capaitalists'
Eg this article conveniently ignores that Venezuela is being attacked by the full force of international economic hitmen, and has been for quite some time.
Not to mention that at least 'social democrats' actually do have real world, existing success stories to hold up as models, unlike the supposed 'anarcho capitalists'
Then it must be socialists attacking marxists!
Name a "social democrat" society that was built as such.
All this time and you couldn't source a single example of 'anarcho capitalism' that could bear the slightest scrutiny, hey?
Call me Jack's complete and utter lack of surprise.
Anyway, what the hell does "built as such" mean, exactly?
There are examples of currently functioning, socially and fiscally responsible, constitutionally mitigated democracies with profitable 'mixed' economies mentioned all over this thread, if those are of any use to you.
If an historical example is what you were after, how about T. Douglas' and the CCF? They fulfilled their mandate, which included introducing single-payer health care with 'universal' coverage, and still managed a budgetary surplus for 17 consecutive years, despite inheriting a large debt load from the previous, banquster backed gov't. And they accomplished this in one of the most culturally diverse environments in North America at the time.
Then go be a stupid socialist in Scandinavia. BTW, socialism doens't work there either. It seems successful because it is parasitic on the rest of Europe.
what a great argument, can I try?
Then go be a stupid anarcho capitalist in Equatorial Guinea. BTW, anarcho capitalism doesn't work there either. It seems successful because... oh wait, there's absolutely no way to rationalize that one, at all.
ps
parasitic on the rest of europe? How, by having national balance sheets in the black? If anyone is 'parasitic' in that relationship it sure as hell isn't Scandinavia
So it turns out that a democracy of stupid people that want free shit is no better than a dictatorship of one dumbass. Go figure. People are so fucking stupid. They deserve what they get. They hate capitalism, they hate free markets, now they starve. The world needs less stupid people so, good riddance, die!
Milton Churchill
" Meanwhile, a Venezuelan Governor is telling the people to eat “fried rocks.”
Gives new meaning to shitting bricks.
The newest industry for construction after it all burns to the ground.
Venezuela was a great country to visit before the socialist parasites took over, then crime skyrocketed and quality of services cratered.
Isn't there an avowed socialist running for president in the USA ?
Don't we already have an avowed socialist/Marxist as president?
From which party?
Funny thing is, if they are eating Sardines they are probably much healthier than the average 'Murican.
Can someone please spare me a roll of toilet paper.
Meanwhile... Obama Admin Tried to Convince US to Sell Nuclear Fuel to Iran
Israel doesn't want Iran to manufacture nuclear energy to supply electricity. The technology has to be purchased through a monopoly. If you don't comply, your building nuclear weapons to unilaterally destroy the Zionist Hebrew pigs of the world.
We better hide under our beds. The kikes will be full blown goebbels to market their story.
ZH has such a hard-on for every socialist failure, yet its raison d'etre is to serve as a testament to the failure of capitalism. Irony much?
It's raison d'etre is the failure of crony capitalism and central planning. Not da same bro.
100% correct, we do not have laissez-faire capitalism in this country. It is all about bribing the politicians. A fucking disgrace in other words.
According to the dude who coined the term, that is exactly what has happened. As predicted:
'laissez-faire' capitalism
"money talks" has always been a basic tenet of unmitigated capitalism
is this a commerical for Obama's third or forth term? Democrats love these socialist countries
Socialism can work , it just needs a shitload of oil continously trading at $200 , a steady supply of high net worth individuals waiting to be taxed into oblivion , zero immigration , , a central bureaucracy capable of knowing what everybody needs before they think about it , no corrupted politicians ...
I could go on.
...but it can work. waaaait for it..waaaa...
I'd be more careful if I were you. With comments like that you might win a Nobel prize. :)
Norway is in chaos since oil crashed?
Maybe you should let them know.
Norway is not , i repeat , not , a socialist country. As a matter of fact they are probably much cleaner than the us of a from a capitalistic perspective.
Nevertheless , they are indeed suffering from oil prices and had to cut their interest rate to an all time low , unemployment is making new highs, and they went through a $900 billion emergency package to save the ship. Once again , they are not a socialist economy.
I would say they are as fucked as anybody else.
they 'went through' 900 billion (USD?) ? Citation please.
While I am inclined to agree, your opinion that Norway is 'not (wholly) socialist' is hardly the consensus here on ZH.
Norway has a 'mixed-economy'; which basically means they nationalized a key industry to pay the bills, outside of which private enterprise is encouraged.
The public owning any means of production is plenty 'socialist' enough for Mises and the resident ZH Osh Kosch B Goch echochambermaiden squad, I assure you; and that's without even mentioning their less expensive, higher quality health care system.
"going through" was not the most accurate statement - nor was my number (ho dear) - i guess i tried to push the argument.
They basically liquidated a (more or less) significant part of their mining portfolio from their (significantly large) sovereign fund. Officially to follow a "green agenda". But there is little doubt they are not experiencing a constant stream of sunshine and bunnies , at least with oil at these prices.
That said , on a more personal note , i respect mises but do not agree with everything he said. I think we can all agree that things are more complicated than they where when he published human action in 69.
I was there in 1979 and 1980. Was a great democracy and a strong US ally. such a shame how far it has fallen. very sad.
Shit, if there wasn't this thing called the Darien Gap, I'd drive a refrigerated truckload full of sardines directly to Caracas, sell them and then retire early. Socialists are polite people who don't loot and riot, right?
Disaster? Why, not at all. What you see are the inevitable results of Marxism, it eventually will happen every time it is implemented. Why people around the world are so incredibly stupid when it comes to voting for socialists promising a utopian paradise all paid for by other peoples money I will never know...
Another fucking inane argument. Why is that you morons always cite Venezuela, Zimbabwe, or Greece as examples of countries with failed "socialist" policies (as if Zimbabwe is anything more than just a dictatorship), but conveniently forget to mention the best places to live on earth, such as Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, and so on.
Seriously, go take all of your guns and gold move your white trash ass to Somalia. You'll have a great time
All of the Nordic countries have very favorable conditions for commerce. Even with those high taxes they're not making the life of normal companies owner's that miserable. Private person can start a business very easily and will not be subjected to a ton of problems. If it grows than there's some Union fun to be had, but that's that. So, while they levy very hight income tax, it's not that bad place to be a businessman. Probably a leftover of the protestant times when just robbing the guys with money seemed wrong. Plus, there's just not that much centralization. Government's power is blocked not by a restrictive constitution but by small size of country and strong local authority (I mean - who is spending money? can the parliament move billions in pork, or does the money go lower and cities and regions actually parcel it out).
While these factors won't be the first thing that a capitalist say about a perfect utopia, they are very conducive to capitalism.
USA may have lower taxes, but it sucks huge percantage of GDP out of the economy by various other means (43% GPD at this moment). Nordics are no more capitalist than USA is fascist. They are mixed economies and except for Norway hand-outs are not THAT generous (for example Sweden cut them off significanty a few decades ago, now they're only very generous to people with brown skin).
Also - Nordic amount of socialism in an economy will work quite differently in non-Nordic countries. So it is very reasonable to expect Cuban style results in USA. This country has such gutter level culture that even a few hour black-out leads to looting shops. Those people were exceptionally moral in sphere of property rights, connection with local community, public duty etc. Were - it does not apply so much to these days. While capitalism produces the wealth that enables socialism and is than voted out, socialism corrupts until people are to corrupt for the amount of socialism they could previously tolerate.
I am an ardent capitalist...
You know what, forget about it.
You what I do love? You can reference Venezuela or greece, I can give you 10 times the amount of countries who do it well.
When I reference somalia, pakistan, Afghanistan, etc...you cant name ONE low tax, limited govt place that you would ever want to live in.
And if you seriously say Switzerland or Singapore then you clearly have not been to either.
And I meant it. All of you white trash , losers can pack up your bibles, guns, and gold and move to Somalia (enter shit hole, low taxed country here) when Bernie, or someone like him, is in the White House.
You are an idiot.
How long would your socialist utopias last if they weren't next to the rest of Europe? They're parasites.
Unfortunately this is PURE BULLSHIT.
Venezuela went from 10 million people in 1970 to 34 million today. Per capita resources are shrinking (oil revenue).
Societal collapse is a result of diminishing returns in energy flows. The USSR worked quite well while they could sell oil and buy food.
The same fate awaits most of the world regardless of economic system.
If Venezuela oil production kept pace with the population growth, they would still live happily.
Vinniezoowhaleya's problem isn't socialism, it's corruption left over from years ago when they were a republic. They just don't have the right people managing things, I'm sure if we were to loan them Bernie Sanders and Mayor deBlasio, things would get turned around in no time.
Socialism and corruption are pretty much the same thing. Yes, socialism is the problem.
free advice for a cheap vacation in Venezuela:
take very new US dollar notes, fly from Miami to Caracas
don't forget to get a visa for Venezuela
arrange for a bodyguard to meet you at the airport
exchange your dollars at the black rate with a local upper class person
If you run out of cash dollars take your ATM card to Colombia get pesos then convert to Bolivars
have a good time!
The question not asked; should price discovery exist?
Many want profits to be subsidized so products do not show their costs.
The true cost to bring a new product or pay the debt on any existing product is many many times higher then the listed price.
Even those government services have costs, as you need to pay the continous expanding debt funded by debt not taxes. Taxes pay nothing they are no more then hooks in the greater con.
No matter how many promoses are made there will never be more value added to the pool then chips on the table.
Only one poisoned planet, no matter what price you place on it, it can never exceed the value of one.
Socialism is intellectual syphilis. Rather than admit the disease and seek a cure, socialists would rather sicken and die.
How's that for the power of pride and ego?
They'd rather die than admit their shit stinks. I say we give 'em death, where ever we find them. Given their propensity for mass muder, we can legitimately call it self defense.
Mis-guided (bad, heavy handed) Socialism
Food shortages are a real sign of a failed government.. This has gone on too long. Tha ationalguard needs to make rice paddies and plant & prepare to harvest them. Buy Thai rice.. they have over produced and have good rice.