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Originally Posted by dead_battery

i am somewhat skeptical about the supposed "lesson" of venezeula.

the poors took power and started redistributing wealth from the oil profits.

the oil profits shrank and now they have chaos.

well, ok, you think if they had done what - let that money stay in the hands of the tiny upper stratum who hated them and tried to kill chavez - that the country wouldn't be collapsing now because they'd have - uh - more private industry or something?

the problem is that "wealth" doesn't work that way. it's not a finite quantity and needs constant creation.

what chavez redistributed instead was... poverty. they basically annihilated every wealth-creating concern in venezuela. seized, mismanaged, and pushed to exile property and systems and talent.

free market and free enterprise are a really good way to create wealth. really. we have ample empirical proof of this. it's actually the wealth-producing societies that can afford the social safety nets. the worker's paradise didn't come to russia but to germany.

the problem is when oligarchies develop and hijack their societies while foregoing their civic responsibilities. this is what's happening in the USA now. it's lunacy.