[QUOTE=powerclown]He's not addressing the long-term implications of poverty, he's perpetuating them. He's not generating real solutions and opportunities for poor people in Venezuela, he's soothing them into tranquility and obedience. He's exploiting the poor, not helping them. He's overturned legislation in favor of perpetuating his presidency indefinitely. He controls the Legislature, the Supreme Court, 2 Armed Forces, the only relevant source of state revenue (oil), and the institution that monitors electoral rules.
Rather than mending the country's catastrophic healthcare system, he opens a few military hospitals for selected patients and brings in Cuban doctors to run ad hoc clinics. Rather than addressing the economy's lack of competitiveness, he offers subsidies and protection to economic agents in trouble. Rather than killing inflation, which is crucial to alleviating poverty, Chavez sets price controls and creates local grocery stores with subsidized prices. Rather than promoting stable property rights to boost investment and employment, he expands state employment.[\QUOTE]
Oh dear, things do sound so dreadfully horrid! It's so very much like the muddle we have here at home, what with the failing health care system and visas for Cuban doctors, exploitation of the poor, authoritarian dunderheads running amok, etc...
One thing is missing, though: the Commie bits. Where's the Communism?
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This is nothing new in the historical narrative of real-world socialism/communism, and it always ends badly.
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Well, yeah, given the definition of communism and socialism as Something Very Bad, it's only a Matter of Time before the predetermined end is reached.