Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Is Maduro blaming the lack of toilet paper on US policies ?
He's blamed everything else wrong with Venezuela on our policies towards them, namely that our CIA has infiltrated the country and are causing all these shortages.
Actually under socialism the government would control the means of production. Thus, this is not a demonstration of socialism failing. It demonstrates that unrealistic price controls fail.
Would socialism do any better controlling the availability and pricing of toilet paper? No idea. But this is not an example of socialism.
Just another example of people labeling things without any actual relationship to the meaning of the words used.
Whether they have actually nationalized production of TP in Venezuela I have no idea, but since Chavez they have nationalized many parts of their economy--everything from energy, rice, telecom, tourism, mining, and agriculture. They even nationalized fertilizer. Factbox: Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez | Reuters
Still you are technically right that price controls are more properly termed 'liberalism' than 'socialism.' But still I think OP is also not off base, insofar as Venezuela is in fact now a socialist nation.
I think that a mix of capitalism and socialism is the ideal system.
Take public utilities for an example. In the vast majority of the United States the utilities are strictly regulated monopolies for logistic/infrastructure reasons. Most of the jobs are unions with good benefits and pay. And your elec/gas bill is the best deal you will ever have as far as value per dollar. Compare what you were paying in 1980 to today adjusted for inflation and you will find it hasn't changed at all and probably has gone down.
Then take these wonderful brainfarts of deregulation and uncontrolled capitalism. Cellular phones, airlines, cable TV, TELEPHONE especially.
I bet you pay more per month for your cellphone plan than you do your utility bills, and what do you really need and what provides you more benefit?
Airline travel? Forget about it. If you get where you're going alive you're lucky and no more perks and the prices are just as high as if they would have let TWA, NW, Delta, American keep their union work forces and the Gov controlled fares.
The thing is, medical could be as good at the utility industry if we would just get the damn capitalists out of it.
Whether they have actually nationalized production of TP in Venezuela I have no idea, but since Chavez they have nationalized many parts of their economy--everything from energy, rice, telecom, tourism, mining, and agriculture. They even nationalized fertilizer. Factbox: Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez | Reuters
Still you are technically right that price controls are more properly termed 'liberalism' than 'socialism.' But still I think OP is also not off base, insofar as Venezuela is in fact now a socialist nation.
Venuezela is nothing like a socialist nation. They're like a parody of one.
Thats not to say I think a 100% socialist nation would be successful, I don't. I also don't think a 100% capitalist nation would be, or really a 100% any ism.
Any intelligent society should pick whats successful. Government run healthcare while socialistic has been demonstrated over and over to work better then what we have. That doesn't mean socialism is the answer any more then Venezuela's idiocies mean it isn't.
Do you have a comment on the OP, or just this deflection?
Of course roads and bridges are generally collectively owned and operated; they are what economists call a "public good," which is something for which demand exists, but not necessarily supply due to transaction cost issues. Other classic examples of this are coastal light-houses in pre-electricity times, and public parks.
Toilet paper does not qualify.
If you are against socialism interstates should be the first thing to go.
I think the issue here is based firmly in unsustainable actions that give little to know thought of what tomorrow will look like so long as it ensure temporary comfort today.
Socialism is not inherently bad. Many good things come from socialism, just as many good things come from capitalism. Both have created problems. The issue most people have is assuming that if it creates a problem, it must be terribly flawed.
Not necessarily. Any plan, if done correctly, will work. This means Communism could work. The problem is getting every detail of a plan to work. If you have a sufficient understanding of Communism (you'd be in the minority), you'd understand that the only possibly way to have communism work is to have every single person 100% on board with the plan. So, a town of 50 people could probably become communist and do alright for itself. But an entire country? Not likely to ever actually happen.
So, socialism, which is a broad term, is not necessarily the problem. It's poor government planning. We see this issue all the time. Obamacare, while a decent idea in theory, was poorly implemented. However, had it done what we wanted it to, few people would really be complaining. That would be an example of socialism that works.
The US Army is the largest socialist organization in the U.S. Works pretty good too.
The Navy, Marines, Air Force...... all socialist organizations.
Think about it.
Actually they're more liberal then socialist according to another poster.
But really the major problems I have with out military are more along the lines of the military industrial complex, the military itself works pretty well.
So um.... what exactly is your thesis? Socialism leads to destruction of a society?
Yes.
Greece is another example with their attempt to extort money from Germany to fund their socialism.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
