So You're Considering Socialism? Consider Venezuela First!

Bernie Sanders is a self-professed socialist. Hillary Clinton is a far-left progressive who knows nothing about economics which essentially means she too is a socialist. Before deciding to vote for either of these two candidates based on their promises of free stuff, spreading the wealth, and making "the rich" pay their fair share, one should consider a case study of the most recent experiment with socialism - Venezuela.

When Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999, Venezuela was the richest country in Latin America. Then Chavez set about implementing his program of "Socialism of the 21th Century" which consisted of massive spending on the poor and nationalizing most of the country's industry including its number one source of wealth - the petroleum industry. For a time, Venezuela's economy managed to continue to lumber along mainly due to the inertia of its great oil wealth. Eventually, the effects of the huge increases in social spending and the adverse consequences of the socialist economic policies combined and compounded causing government revenues to plummet. The Chavez government continued to spend (promise everyone everything) even as the ability to pay for it became increasingly impossible. It borrowed and continued to spend in an economic death spiral feedback loop that today has Venezuela on the verge of economic collapse. It has dropped from the number one economy in Latin America to number 6; even below Cuba - this despite still having tremendous oil reserves. As a result of the implementation of socialist policies, the country's petroleum production capability has fallen dramatically as management was taken out of private, profit driven hands and placed under government, crony control.  The government is unable to negotiate deals to get raw materials or conduct international trade so there are chronic shortages of food and consumer goods including that bourgeois commodity - toilet paper. Inflation is running around 720% a year. Does socialism still sound good to you?

To be fair, "Socialism of the 21th Century", did keep one promise. It did redistribute wealth. Today,  Chavez's daughter is a multi-billionaire!

Now there's change you can believe in!

Russia A Regional Power: Yes But What Region Mr. Obama?

At a press conference yesterday at The Hague, Netherlands, ABC White House correspondant, Jonathan Karl, asked "Mr. President, . ... In China, in Syria, in Egypt, and now in Russia we've seen you make strong statements, issue warnings that have been ignored. Are you concerned that America's influence in the world -- that your influence in the world -- is on the decline? And in light of recent developments, do you think Mitt Romney had a point when he said that Russia is America's greatest geopolitical foe, if not Russia, who?" President Obama responded, Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors — not out of strength, but out of weakness. ... Karl's question was a truly good one but he missed a golden opportunity for a follow-up. If Russia is only a 'regional power' then what region would that be? Russia covers 11 time zones and 1/9th of the earth’s land area. It reaches from the North Pole to the Black Sea and from the well into the European continent in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. With 6,592,800 square miles of territory, it is 1.7 times larger than the second largest country, Canada, and its 3,855,100 sq miles of land. Russia has close ties in the western hemisphere with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Columbia. According to RIA Novosti, a leading Russian news outlet, “Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia is looking to build military bases in Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Seychelles, Singapore and several other countries.” So my follow-up question to Mr. Obama would have been, “And what region is that, exactly Mr. President?” The answer to that question would certainly be interesting wouldn’t you agree?