[ad_1]
At least, Grandin could implicitly admit that socialism finally requires constraint to achieve its political goals; otherwise, it is human nature for people to find loopholes and workarounds to keep their property as much as possible.
This is more than one can say the same to some of Chávez's former supporters, who would rather forget how closely Venezuela has followed the orthodox socialist scenario. Public spending on social programs? Control: From 2000 to 2013, spending went from 28% to 40% of GDP. Increase the minimum wage? Check. Nicolás Maduro, the current president, has raised it not less than six times last year (although that makes no difference to hyperinflation). An economy based on cooperatives, not businesses? Recheck. As Naomi Klein wrote in her 2007 book: "The Shock Doctrine", "Chávez made cooperatives a major political priority … In 2006, there were about 100,000 cooperatives in the country, employing more than 700,000 workers ".
And, not to forget, all this has been done, Chavez winning the elections one after the other during the oil boom years. Indeed, one of Chavismo's main selling points to his Western fans was not only that it was an example of socialism, but also of democratic socialism.
If the policy prescriptions were familiar, the consequences were predictable.
Excessive government spending created catastrophic deficits when oil prices fell. Worker co-ops ended up in the hands of incompetent and corrupt political friends. The government responded to its budget problems by printing money, which resulted in inflation. Inflation has led to price controls, resulting in shortages. Shortages led to demonstrations, leading to repression and the destruction of democracy. Hence a widespread famine, a serious shortage of drugs, an explosion of crime and a refugee crisis comparable to that of Syria.
All this was pretty obvious before, but in the time of Alexandria, Ocasio-Cortez, you have to explain everything again. Why does socialism never work? Because, as Margaret Thatcher explained, "you end up running out of other people's money."
Source link
