In the same category

The Pinko Power Elite

IMG Auteur
lewRockwell
Published : June 19th, 2016
753 words - Reading time : 1 - 3 minutes
( 2 votes, 3/5 ) , 5 commentaries
Print article
  Article Comments Comment this article Rating All Articles  
0
Send
5
comment
Our Newsletter...
Category : Editorials

A defining characteristic of socialism in all its forms in all places and at all times is a relatively small political elite (and its “private sector” cronies) that lives lavishly by plundering its population, destroying its economy,  imposing a regime of equality of poverty and misery; and turning almost everyone into a dependent on the state for survival.  Joseph Stalin was the wealthiest man in the world during his time, not the Rockefellers, Morgans, or anyone else, as the de facto “owner” of the entire Soviet Union.  African and Latin American socialist political thugs in the “post-colonial era” have long been notorious for becoming millionaires or billionaires, with Swiss bank accounts galore, while their people starved and begged them for subsistence.  Socialism’s one percenters make today’s Wall Street plutocrats seem impoverished by comparison.

The latest glaring example of the disgusting and immoral corruption of socialism’s one percenters is Venezuela, a country that has “long been the darling of the [socialist] Left,” according to a June 16 article in the Daily Mail.  The article, authored by Jake Wallis Simons, has the headline:  “Super-rich socialists quaff champagne in Venezuelan country clubs while middle-class mothers scavenge for food in the gutter . . . even the dogs are starving.”

Venezuelan socialism, known as “Chavismo,” after the wealthy socialist one percenter Hugo Chavez, has indeed destroyed the country’s economy.  Thanks to government-imposed price controls that hold prices below costs, supermarkets are empty, everything is in short supply or simply unavailable, and middle-class people are literally “rummaging in stinking piles of rubbish for cabbage leaves . . . and fetid meat,” according to the Daily Mail article, which includes dozens of pictures of these pathetic scenes.  Among the most disturbing pictures are those of starving dogs and other animals in this socialist “paradise.”

Nationalization, price controls, and suffocating government regulations have so destroyed the remnants of capitalism that hospitals can’t afford toilet paper, let alone medicine; people wait in queues for ten our twelve hours a day, just like in the old Soviet Union, in hopes of buying something – anything – that might come up for sale in hopes of trading it for things they actually need; there is raging hyperinflation as the government tries to print money like mad to continue paying for its socialist fantasies; and crime is the worst of anywhere on earth.  One middle-class woman is quoted in the article as saying “Chavez’s legacy is people like me looking for food in the garbage.”

Black markets are pervasive, also just like the old Soviet Union, but the wealthy make out the best from this situation because only they can afford to pay the astronomically higher black-market prices or to pay the bribes demanded by black marketeers.  The politically-connected socialist elite lives high on the hog, entertaining themselves quite lavishly at such places as the Caracas Country Club, where the membership fee alone is almost 500 times  the average annual salary of a middle-class Venezuelan worker.  The Daily Mail article is adorned with pictures of “lavish parties and tables groaning with gourmet food.”  It quotes one wealthy Chavez crony as saying, “Should we stop enjoying ourselves just because the country is burning?”  Well, of course not.  (This reminded me of the scene in “History of the World, Part II” where Mel Brooks, portraying the revolutionary-era King of France, is approached by an alarmed aid who says:  “Sire, the peasants are revolting!”  To which the “king” answers:  “They certainly are”).

“Those rich people are thieves,” says the woman quoted by the Daily Mail. “They are government cronies and they stole the country’s money . . . .  We had a socialist revolution and these are the results.”  “I feel cheated.  Our socialist dream is falling apart,” said another pathetically-duped victim of Bernie Sanders/Hugo Chavez-style socialism.

Meanwhile, according to a recent poll, 46 percent of American “millennials” say they could vote for a socialist for president, who they believe would end political cronyism, “get money out of politics,” and redistribute the wealth of the politically-connected one percenters to them.  This, of course, is complete nonsense and an expression of extreme ignorance.  As F.A. Hayek explained in his classic, The Road to Serfdom, the reality is that under socialism, “the only power worth having is political power.”  It is capitalism, private property, and markets that provide the most potential for economic opportunity, economic advance based on merit, hard work, savings, entrepreneurship, and individual initiative.  Who says the government schools are not teaching the kids much these days?

 

Data and Statistics for these countries : France | Venezuela | All
Gold and Silver Prices for these countries : France | Venezuela | All
<< Previous article
Rate : Average note :3 (2 votes)
>> Next article
Thomas DiLorenzo is professor of economics at Loyola College, Maryland, and a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author or co-author of ten books, on subjects such as antitrust, group-interest politics, and interventionism generally
Comments closed
  All Favorites Best Rated  
OK, so we all agree that this article is a very biased, anti-socialist propaganda piece. Whether socialism, capitalism, fascism, or corporatism, when any "ism" is carried to an extreme, bad things happen.
Rate :   0  1Rating :   -1
EmailPermalink
Uh-huh, yeah, maybe; but the impoverishment of the USA (Britain, Greece, etc. You get the idea) has happened under aegis of the capitalist doctrine (although I wouldn't call what's happening out there 'capitalism' ) and its practitioners. What may or may not occur under a socialist government at this time is irrelevant. Nice try, though.
Rate :   2  1Rating :   1
EmailPermalink
although I wouldn't call what's happening out there 'capitalism' --

LOL...that's like saying, "Yes, officer, he's the guy that did it, although he doesn't look anything like the guy I saw do it."

The only thing capitalist about our system anymore is a name. But this is most definitely NOT capitalism. Perhaps "crony capitalism," as many have explained. But that's as fraudulent a "capitalism" as is a "democracy" where everyone gets a ballot, but after collecting them all, the Chief Dog sitting presently in the position being voted on gets to choose the winner.

What we really have is fascism, where govt and big industry and the military complex collude to make each other wealthy at the expense of WeThePeople (and really of the rest of the world's working classes). What we have with the financial/bankster system is legal counterfeiting as it supports the fascist govt with fake money that they get paid (by WeThePeople) to create out of nothing and lend to the govt at interest. That is NOT capitalism by any stretch of the imagination.
Rate :   3  1Rating :   2
EmailPermalink
Exactly, the fascist nature of the society is appallingly obvious, yet so very few even breath a whiff of reality. Every taxpayer grant to a favored university, industry, and other tax incentives from The People (DC, in particular) to churches to toll the line is in plain view, and repeating myself, this is the text book definition of fascism.
Rate :   1  0Rating :   1
EmailPermalink
Exactly right. How ironic and sad that a World War still in living memory was fought precisely against fascism. This toxic mixture of big government and big business, both corrupt and with far too much power inevitably leads to militarism and finally war. Hear the war drums? I wish and hope I am wrong but this current adventure will not be over until more millions (and possibly billions) of lives have been lost.
Rate :   1  0Rating :   1
EmailPermalink
Latest comment posted for this article
Exactly right. How ironic and sad that a World War still in living memory was fought precisely against fascism. This toxic mixture of big government and big business, both corrupt and with far too much power inevitably leads to militarism and finally war  Read more
DRGEORGE - 6/21/2016 at 3:25 AM GMT
Rating :  1  0
Top articles
World PM Newsflow
ALL
GOLD
SILVER
PGM & DIAMONDS
OIL & GAS
OTHER METALS
Take advantage of rising gold stocks
  • Subscribe to our weekly mining market briefing.
  • Receive our research reports on junior mining companies
    with the strongest potential
  • Free service, your email is safe
  • Limited offer, register now !
Go to website.