Quote:
Originally Posted by strelnik
Separate from the topic, I disagree with your cited assessment on Venezuela, having visited and lived there. I'm not a friend of past or current regimes, but their problems come from bad decisions and corruption, which can happen anywhere there are stupid and greedy people.
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Margaret Thatcher said it best, "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”. I guess you could say the Venezuelans are "feeling the bern".
What society or system of government is free from greed and corruption? We've witnessed proof that the American style democratic republic, with its regulated capitalism and system of checks and balances is quite resilient to greed and corruption. The excesses of the previous administration sure tested this. Socialism (and the next two stops on that train, communism and fascism) provides a petri dish where greed and corruption flourish unchecked. Hitler and Mussolini both started out as ardent Socialists, for example.
The phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely" comes to mind. If your assertion "
bad decisions and corruption, which can happen anywhere there are stupid and greedy people" is true, and I believe that it is, then the only truly good solution is small government; the smaller the better. Fun fact: Capitalism is the *only* economic system which has lifted mass numbers of people out of poverty.