What Destroyed Venezuela?
A very common misconception about what the cause for Venezuela's destruction is oil prices. This is so far from the truth we would need the warp drive on the star ship Discovery to get there. The truth, it was socialism, it's always socialism and governments. The downfall of Venezuela had nothing to do with the price of oil, it's the only OPEC country that has fallen into default, depression, and hyperinflation. Apart from the fact that Venezuela has the largest reserves of crude oil in the world, the state-owned oil company has started importing oil. You obviously see the problem here right? As the cash cow for the state, the company was plundered for all it's cash to pay for state subsidies and social programs. This saw the sate owned company, PdVSA go from being one of the most profitable companies in the world, to where it has had to borrow more than 43 billion US dollars. Hyperinflation under the regime of president Maduro , has exceeded more than 2000% and a 80% shortage in basic goods, food being one of those.
"For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for." - Marco Rubio
The advocates of socialism would like to blame the global falling price of oil as the cause to all of Venezuela's problems. Which is pretty much like arguing with a 5 year old about where money comes from, and that it does not grow on trees. Even the most basic economics would explain that you can't spend more than you earn. Why were they spending more than they were earning? Yes, because socialism. When you tax the highest earners, as well as private corporations to death, they eventually leave or close down. When people are given money by the government, they eventually stop woking, factories close down, companies close, why do they need to work when everything is free. More importantly why would people who work be incentivised to work for only 10%-30% of their salary? These basic principals seem to be oblivious to those in favour of socialism.
The lesson of this new example of socialist failure is because it is a system based on lies, that ignores the most basic principles of the economy and destroys even the richest countries. There is no justice or morality in stealing from one person to give to another, both end up poorer or dead.
"Socialism states that you owe me something simply because I exist. Capitalism, by contrast, results in a sort of reality-forced altruism: I may not want to help you, I may dislike you, but if I don't give you a product or service you want, I will starve. Voluntary exchange is more moral than forced redistribution." - Ben Shapiro
