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'World of Warcraft' Game Currency Now Worth More Than Venezuelan Money (theblaze.com)
schwit1 quotes TheBlaze:
Digital gold from Blizzard's massive multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" is worth more than actual Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, according to new data. Venezuelan resident and Twitter user @KalebPrime first made the discovery July 14 and tweeted at the time that on the Venezuela's black market -- now the most-used method of currency exchange within Venezuela according to NPR -- you can get $1 for 8493.97 bolivars. Meanwhile, a "WoW" token, which can be bought for $20 from the in-game auction house, is worth 8385 gold per dollar. According to sites that track the value of both currencies, KalebPrime's math is outdated, and WoW gold is now worth even more than the bolivar.
That tweet has since gone viral, prompting @KalebPrime to joke that "At this rate when I publish my novel the quotes will read 'FROM THE GUY THAT MADE THE WOW GOLD > VENEZUELAN BOLIVAR TWEET.'"
That tweet has since gone viral, prompting @KalebPrime to joke that "At this rate when I publish my novel the quotes will read 'FROM THE GUY THAT MADE THE WOW GOLD > VENEZUELAN BOLIVAR TWEET.'"
Really? I know the old saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day. But you couldn't come up with a more legit source than glen beck's propaganda rag?
Try:
http://fortune.com/2017/08/01/...
Imagine all the people...
Widespread desperation and misery in the country with the richest oil reserves in Latin America. Everyone is poor (except the leaders) and it's all the fault of the CIA (or whoever it's convenient to blame this time). And yet, no matter how many times it brings disaster, some people keep believing stories about how spending others' money instead of earning their own will work out good for them.
Blame capitalism and corporations all you want. The reality, however, is that there's an extraordinarily high correlation between leftism and failed economies. We shouldn't be surprised by this. Leftism is inherently incompatible with the efficient allocation of resources. When resources are inefficiently allocated then we see a partial or total collapse of the economy in question. This isn't even something that can be fixed. The leftist ideology of taking from the capable and giving to the inept will always lead to disaster. Sometimes it's a quick economic disaster. Sometimes it's a long, drawn out economic disaster. But whatever the timeline, the end result when leftism is involved is economic disaster.
We can add Venezuela to the list of many other failed leftist economies, including that of the USSR, those of the former Eastern Bloc, those of most other South and Central American countries, Greece, Spain, and now even countries like Italy and France. Once the economies of Italy and France eventually fail, the economies of Germany and Sweden likely won't be far behind.
Unless you can then resell the token for real world currency, good, or services (not limited to some video game which most of the world does not value at all) then the headline is only true for a very small subset of people.
Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
Insert socialist, communist, or dictatorial regime and you got yourself articles for YEARS!
Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
This 'news' means absolutely nothing.
The CIA has been working hard for decades to destabilize the remaining socialist/communist governments in South America. Looks like they've succeeded in this country at least. Of course, it will ultimately backfire and produce horrific results, as it always does when the CIA goes fucking around with South America or the Middle East. But that's just more fun from the three-letter agency that never, ever learns.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
For anyone interested, here's a good read on the subject. A little out of date now, but as timely as ever.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The individual UNITS are worth more. But the units are arbitrary and a comparison between units has nothing to do with the value of the currency itself. You can say a single WoW gold is worth more than a Peso, or a cent, or a Rupee, or a Yuan, or whatever you want. It means nothing.
I don't think anyone is happy about what is happening. More blood will flow in the streets of Caracas, and things will get worse before they get better. Totalitarian socialism doesn't just cause economic damage. It also tears apart the fabric of society, as people stop trusting each other. Venezuela has a murder rate many times that of America. When change finally comes, it will be messy and violent, and the problems will likely spill over the border into Colombia.
It is easy to blame the Venezuelan people, since they voted for this. But they didn't have any good alternative. The pre-Chavas government was corrupt and much of the oil revenue went to the wealthy, who moved it offshore. For the first decade, most Venezuelans were probably better off under socialism ... but they finally ran out of other people's money.
The opposition has no leader, and no coherent plan besides getting rid of Maduro. They spend a lot of time squabbling among themselves. What a mess.
Can you define "leftism"? Some of the most successful economies in the world could be defined as "leftists" if you include social Democrat nations like Sweden and Germany.
The Chavista regime certainly can be defined as leftist, but a more accurate description would be a kleptocracy.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Right, the CIA. I am Venezuelan. I know how this came to be. I saw it happen. If it wasn't for your signature I would have accused you of being a communism apologist coming up with another explanation that excuses the Venezuelan people for repeatedly and obstinately choosing an administration hell-bent on turning the the country into a communist utopia.
Are you saying the CIA convinced Venezuela to ditch capitalism and embrace socialism as a means to destabilize itself?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I blame a governing system that essential created anemic checks to the presidency. The Presidential system works in the US because Congress and the courts have enjoyed considerable prestige and legitimacy, and have been since the beginning very willing to challenge the executive. Sadly in other republics in the Americas, the legislative and judicial branches have all too often become little more than vestigial appendages. I firmly believe these countries would be better served by a parliamentary style of government, where the executive is marshalled from the legislature and remains directly accountable via parliamentary confidence.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
36 retweets is now considered "viral"?
How a basically rich country can be driven utterly into the ground by massive mismanagement. Leads me to believe that it all comes down to the people and who they put in charge. As long as people do not start to wise up, we will continue have catastrophes like that. Not that what is going on in the US, the UK or the eastern parts of the EU is any better: Stupid people that believe stupid promises by utterly evil politicians.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
It's amazing how every socialist paradise always gets poorer and poorer and it's always the fault of the CIA, even while Obama was president.
You guys should just give it up. The CIA will always be there making your utopian plans fail, no matter what. Every leader everywhere is powerless against the CIA's efforts, and clearly always will be.
If you stick with free markets, the CIA might let you prosper. Otherwise you have no chance. How many disasters is it going to take to learn?
I thought the target was Saudi Arabia. Drive down the price of oil, so that they are forced to dip into their savings and rainy day funds. It might take a few years but eventually they will be living hand-to-mouth in terms of bringing money into the country.
The side effect was that Venezuela also suffered a loss of earnings from the oil industry. There was a national strike, the government punished those oil workers that supported the strike, froze wages and fired experienced workers like geologists. Now with that knowledge lost, the replacements make mistakes when drilling which causes damage to machinery. which causes further loss of productivity. So oil production is in decline.
An international web site called Oil Pro is actually shutting down: www.oilpro.com
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
I didn't say the administration was a good one. But if you think the CIA hasn't played a very active role in this situation (as it has in MANY, MANY other coups and economic crashes in the region), you're being very naive. Regardless of the competence or incompetence of the regime, they can make it almost impossible for a socialist/communist government to survive. Cuba is one of the very rare exceptions, and they were only able to do it because they were so stringently isolated and resilient.
It's a leftover Cold War mentality, but the ultimate goal is still to serve the interests of the U.S. dollar and U.S. corporations.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
There was an article a while back about Ultima Online gold being worth more than the Viatnamese Dong. Of course, that was more about an increase in the value of fantasy currency, whereas this is about the bolivar becoming a fantasy currency. Also everyone says the Dong has been performing well. It has consistently grown as it matures.
"Venezuelan Money Now Worth Less Than 'World of Warcraft' Game Currency".
I also blame outside negative interference, it always makes things worse, and radicalizes society at all levels.
However neither Germany nor Sweden or other Scandinavian countries would consider themselves "left".
That is just a stupid american label.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Leftism is the idea that government can be used to solve practically any problem. Are there people who are hungry and can't get food? Create a government food stamp program. Are there people who can't afford housing? Create a government Housing and Urban Development department to build a government housing project. The list goes on and on, from electricity, phones, communications, medical care, schools, jobs, transportation, and almost anything else of which you can think. Most always, Leftism does not involve any free market solution. Instead, the preferred method is to tax those who are working, and then redistribute it to Leftists' constituents, thus weakening any opposition to the left, and creating a voting base dependent on politicians for.... everything!
Neither Sweden, nor Germany became prosperous prior to instituting a Leftist agenda. As a reminder, East Germany collapsed, while capitalist West Germany was the prosperous nation.
Almost all Leftists are Klepotocrats. Very few have ideas other than "tax and spend". Of the few which are not, most of them focus instead on regulation because they realize that they have reached the upper limits of taxation without collapsing their economies. However, at its core is still the idea of a government solution, for which high taxes are a prerequisite.
Trump has stopped the CIA mess in Syria, I hope he also stops the waste of resources and lives in Venezuela.
It keeps happening over and over. How does "hoping" it might work out differently make sense? It seems like the only choices that work out at all are the ones the CIA bogeyman won't mess up: free markets and elected governments.
Yet another socialist economy down the tubes. Even worse because they are resource rich. This will put the kibosh on the socialist "revolutionaries" that infest capitalist economies for a generation or two. Venezuelans have taken one for the team (mankind). Sean Penn and Danny Glover are, I hope, over-medicated due to being in a severe depression.
I also blame outside negative interference, it always makes things worse, and radicalizes society at all levels.
Who interfered? There are Cubans in Venezuela, but they were invited in, and aren't in control. Venezuela has bad relations with Colombia, but that is because of Chavez interfering in Colombia by supporting the FARC. Both Chavez and Maduro have blamed their problems on American interference, but that is mostly fabrication. Venezuela was kicked out of Mercosur, but their economy was already in the toilet when that finally happened.
Perhaps you should review a little history as to why the kinds of redistribution in place today came about.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Why would they waste their time in doing so when Venezuela government did that job perfectly on it's own. The problem here is that the economy of Venezuela was gutter from the inside by its own leader that is now in the process turning him self into a dictator over the country. That was dune by removing private industry that the country needed when the government took it over and handed it over to people that had no idea what they where doing and they still don't know what they are doing when it comes to those companies.
This is what happened in Zimbabwe in Africa. If you think your inflation is bad now, just wait until it reaches the trillion number levels.
CIA angle is a propaganda that your own government uses to hide the truth from you. That truth is that the government of Venuzeula are incompetent idiots that have damaged country to such extent that repairing it is going to take the rest of this century and good while into the 22nd century too.
Days if CIA getting involved into governments of other countries are over (mostly, but completely in South America). It ended when the cold war stopped.
Germany? "leftist"?
By European standards, Germany is economically conservative. But compared to America, Germany is "leftist". Like most people, Americans use themselves as the reference point. Plenty of Americans believe their own government to be leftist.
Neither Sweden, nor Germany became prosperous prior to instituting a Leftist agenda.
Germany was the first country to implement modern state socialism, including healthcare, pensions, disability, and support for families with children, beginning in 1883 under the guidance of that bleeding heart liberal Chancellor Otto von Bismark. At the time, German per capita income was a tiny fraction of what it is today.
An example of "leftism" you forgot to list would be taxing the citizens to bail out failed investments by corporations. Oh wait!
Wonder who is the "kleptocrat".
The Roman empire failed because the productive minority were being taxed to death to give bread to the lazy.
Actually, it was the productive majority who were being forced off their land so that the wealthy could have wine and olives.
See the Latifunda.
Add in corruption, a lack of other civilizations to plunder, and plagues, and you have problems.
Leftism is the idea that government can be used to solve practically any problem.
That's not correct, but let's go with this for now. By extension then, "rightism" would be the idea that the free market can be used to solve practically any problem. Let's see how this solves the problems you posted:
Are there people who are hungry and can't get food?
They have to offer something to the free market; otherwise they can't buy food for themselves or their children. If they can't offer something (maybe they're sick, too young, lack skills, or maybe the market isn't in a great state) they starve and the problem solves itself - no more hungry people!
Are there people who can't afford housing?
The free market solves this problem easily: homeless people can either die or, as an alternative be jailed in for-profit prisons for loitering, sleeping under bridges, and so on. Either solution solves the homeless problem in a nice market-driven way.
Do you really think the free-market solutions to your problems are better?
Almost all Leftists are Klepotocrats.
That's... rather silly. You may as well say almost all rightists are oligarchists, and they long to be led by a handful of billionaires - who are obviously their betters, or else they wouldn't be billionaires, now would they?
To be fair, von Bismarck (it's an old name and predates the modern "mark" spelling) intended to suppress socialists that way.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Socialism sucks. No matter how it's tried, no matter when, no matter where. There is no perfect form of socialism, or communism, or any form of leftism. Ever. It all sucks and it all falls apart at the seams.
You can hate free markets and capitalism all you want. But it's the least worst system of economics that we know. You haven't yet figured out a better system.
... by now my toenails are probably more worth than Venezuelan money. No surprise here to be honest.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
To be fair, von Bismarck (it's an old name and predates the modern "mark" spelling) intended to suppress socialists that way.
Of course. I was being sarcastic when I called him a liberal. But the reasons for his policies are not what is important. What is important is that they worked. Germany was socially stable and prospered. In fact, they did so well that by 1914 the Germans felt they could fight the whole world and win.
I have a wallet full of peso bills from the Republic of the Philippines. I can't take them to a store here in CA and buy anything, but I can convert them into USD and buy stuff in CA with the USD. This is how currency works.
"It keeps happening over and over. How does "hoping" it might work out differently make sense?"
It seems the CIA interference in Syria has stopped since Trump is in power. When I used the word hope for Venezuela I meant I hoped Trump would curb that too (if he was the one responsible for the CIA exit from Syria but I'm not holding my breath and the CIA exit from Syria may have simply been because it's become obvious to enough people that they were a liability).
"It seems like the only choices that work out at all are the ones the CIA bogeyman won't mess up: free markets and elected governments"
They've messed up elected governments and markets, when you have access to weapons and funding it's easy to mess up the free ness of markets, and when you add to that 'economic sanctions' you can cause serious harm.
It was a mess before Chavez, but whatever, how are the overt US economic sanctions supposed to do anything other than make things worse.
"blamed their problems on American interference, but that is mostly fabrication"
Is it? Mostly? The hooligans and terrorists are getting their backing from somewhere (and I'm assuming they didn't mean only the Americans).
It's important to remember that "socialism" (public ownership of resources and the means of production) is not NECESSARILY synonymous with "leftism" (belief in equality of outcome, etc).
There IS one scenario where non-leftist socialism can (and does) work: when the country
a) Has substantial, valuable natural resources with a large, robust international market, and
b) Is willing and able to limit the ability of "outsiders" to become citizens with an equal right to their share of those resources.
By almost any observational definition, Saudi Arabi is a de-facto socialist state... every Saudi citizen, as a matter of birthright, is eligible to receive tens of thousands of dollars per year from the Saudi government. Free money. With bonuses for things like giving birth to a Saudi child, getting married, etc. Ditto, for countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, and other oil-rich countries.
Norway is similar. Norwegians pay high taxes, but they also get a metric crap-ton of free services (on top of a generous social welfare system) to make up for it. Just check out the new road tunnels that have gotten built throughout Oslo (and elsewhere in Norway) over the past 20 years or so. Those roads were STAGGERINGLY expensive to build, but are really awesome if you're living in Norway. By American standards, even *poor* Norwegian citizens are pretty damn affluent. HOWEVER... the need to limit eligibility for social welfare services is a major reason why Norway can't join the EU. If it joined the EU and retained the same social welfare system it has now, two things would happen within 20 years: a) Norway's population would explode to 100 million, and b) Norway wouldn't be able to profitably extract and sell enough oil to maintain those benefits, and its ability to fund them would eventually collapse.
Imagine, for a moment, if the US Government, which currently owns most of the land in Alaska, were to go into overdrive and start profitably drilling for oil everywhere in Alaska it could. It might destroy Alaska's natural environment, but it would also mean that anyone who was born or naturalized as a US citizen would get a few thousand dollars per month for free... augmented by a veritable army of guestworkers who could never become American citizens, but would end up doing the jobs Americans had no incentive to do themselves. Imagine an America where even a (relatively) poor (but American) family could afford to own a house, pay immigrants to do their yardwork, and live in a neighborhood with the look & feel of a wealthy gated community... a gated community that NEEDED those gates, to keep them safe from the shantytown packed with dirt-poor immigrant guestworkers on the other side (kind of like any big city in Latin America, where you have skyscrapers with million-dollar residences that LITERALLY have tin-roofed shacks sprawling for 5 miles behind them on the other side of the parking garage).
In this case, "socialism" != "leftism" -- Saudis might be de-facto SOCIALIST, but there's little public support for expanding the number of Saudi citizens, or improving the lives of Saudi Arabia's guest workers. An average Saudi might feel a bit of distaste for treating foreigners like shit, but would instantly draw the line at doing anything that might reduce THEIR OWN way of life and standard of living.
It's no less valid than your labels.
It doesn't matter how you define yourself because you'll always perceive yourself as more perfect than the next guy. That's just how humans are.
Days if CIA getting involved into governments of other countries are over (mostly, but completely in South America). It ended when the cold war stopped.
LOL. You just keep telling yourself that.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I KNow! Since Obama was elected look at what happened to the USA!!! ... oh wait a minute?
Sorry enough right wing rhetoric. All of scary and evil socialist Europe is not turning into Venezuela either so your argument is mute
http://saveie6.com/
Which "overt US economic sanctions"?
US buys a large part of their oil and the fact that their oil production have fallen to half of what it used to be, due to political appointments in the oil production is not really the fault of that stupid government which gives socialists a bad name.
People won't die. They stay with family and do what they can to help out. Only the most abusive people will not receive help from friends and family.
...World of Warcraft is far more stable than Venezuela today.
-Styopa
Math really doesn't care whether the country is "right" or "left". If you spectacularly over-spend, stifle economic activity, actively undermine private economic activity, and on top of that fail to diversify your economy while constantly pocketing money for yourself and your cronies, your economy and country is going to have a bad day. Using a "right" or "left" style of politics doesn't make you immune to corruption and gross mismanagement of that sort.
There's nothing obviously wrong with a little socialism. That's why most countries in the world have "socialized" government-funded militaries, emergency services, judiciary, and many other services. Compared to the 18th or 19th century, supposed "right wing" governments of today are flagrantly "socialist". The bar for what's in the middle has shifted greatly. On the other hand, you're right that taken to the extreme, socialist policies become self-destructive and are prone to the same kind of abuses as the worst of the right-wing "free market" governments ignoring all but the concerns of the very wealthy. Once you cross that line from merely taxing and supporting services for the common good into actively taking personal property and stifling any investment that isn't government, you're on the road to economic ruin.
You might even be correct that "leftism" is more correlated with failed economies than extreme laissez-faire economies, but would people actually want to live in the latter if 99% of people are almost slaves? There's more to measure here than merely the strength of the economy. If most people aren't benefiting from it and are barely able to subsist, I don't think they care if it is because of "leftist" or "rightist" mismanagement and lack of compassion.
Nobody wants to go back to the 18th or 19th century when child labor, literal slavery, and unsafe work conditions were the norm because the economic powers-that-be could get away with it without strong government regulation placing some limits. A sensible evaluation acknowledges that a balance between these extremes is best, and saving your derision purely for one "side" of those political extremes is silly. Fact is, the worst right-wing, laissez-faire type economies simply went extinct historically because they treated most people like crap so people changed them. Those sorts of economies only truly persist mainly in what is commonly referred to as the "developing world", yet there are people today who for some strange reason want to turn the clock back a century or two by forced "deregulation". No, there's a balance to strike. You can argue about where it should be, but placing all the blame and concern on the "left" side of things is neglecting the well-known dangers of robber-barons and the like.
Remember who you're talking to, MM.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Mostly when oil collapsed from $100/bbl to $35/bbl countries like Venezuela and, to some extent, Russia who were dependent on that income to prop-up social services suddenly had problems.
As far as OilPro shutting down - The price of oil has nothing to do with it. The CEO was corrupt and stole data from a company he started and sold to NY bankers. See http://www.chron.com/business/...
-T
I'm normally good with understanding markets when they are free, but not so good with manipulated ones. Can someone explain how this relates to the official exchange rate:
http://www.xe.com/currencychar...
The official exchange rate appears to be pegged to the USD. How is it then that people are spending so many bolivars for $1. Do people not honour the exchange rate? Does the government refuse to cover the value of it?
How can this "official" exchange rate not reflect what the currency is actually worth, with the subquestion of how can an official exchange rate be official if it isn't honoured?
Which "overt US economic sanctions"?
The US has put sanctions on specific individuals involved in abuses and political violence. Of course these did nothing whatsoever to cause Venezuela's problems, because they are not on the country or government, but only on individuals ... and they were only put in place a few weeks ago.
Can you define "leftism"? Some of the most successful economies in the world could be defined as "leftists" if you include social Democrat nations like Sweden and Germany.
Don't be ridiculous - of course someone who throws around the term "leftism" in that manner can't adequately articulate what it means. Present day Venezuela is no more an evolved and truly Marxist state than were the Soviet "socialist" republics, which were also more like the a "kleptocracy." "Leftism" is typically used to refer to ill-fated attempts to institute communism, which has never existed in the pure, altruistic, governmental end state that itself evolves into a mutually beneficial pseudo-anarchy.
The Soviets may have cited Marx as an inspiration but they did not follow his guidance, and what we have now in Venezuela is just a chaotic, budding dictatorship. I'd argue that Sweden is further left than is Maduro, though the Swedes have thus far been able to maintain control of their government and made it work for them, and they are generally happy because their socialistic ways are working for them. Maduro is not instituting socialism or so-called communism, he's a crook in way over his head, plain and simple.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Because, as we know, every poor person has well-to-do friends or family whose only purpose in life is to help them. To give them shelter if they're homeless, feed them of they're hungry and perform surgery on them if they're sick. And if they die, it's proof positive they were abusive people and didn't deserve to live anyway. Thus the free market saves society the cost of judging and executing those abusers! Is there anything the free market can't do?
You mean those two places with Rape numbers higher than their GDP? GREAT examples...
No mate, this is all conspiracy theory. Venezuela is walking the same worn path that all communisms have walked. First it starts with the idea that you will create a new sort of man: the socialist man, a mythical human that is no longer interested in its own well-being or individual achievement. This is accompanied by mass expropriation of private companies, you know, to give them to the people. Then officials start shouting accusations of economic conspiracy when a large chunk of people with wealth and businesses decide that this project clashes with their values and interests, and leave. Capital controls are subsequently enforced to prevent the remaining wealth from leaving the country. Price controls are put in place for staples and other basic products because the unemployed population has become so impoverished that they can no longer afford them at market prices. Scarcity ensues. People who complain and blame the communist regime for the deteriorating situation are accused of working with the enemy to destabilise the country, prosecuted, imprisoned or killed because they are not walking the Party line. I was there, I saw all of this happen. You blaming the CIA is just regular American conspiracy paranoia, nothing more.
I think you mean:"Spend and let the Democrats do the taxation bit twice; before and after the spending".
Disclaimer: I have no preference as history later only shows an alternation of spending and taxation anyway.
Point is they are in no way left. Germany us right now ruled by a big coalation, CDU, a conservative right party and SPD, a slightly left from the center party.
The countries you mention have strong social nets, that does not make them left.
It is just your label and in comparission to countries that have 'left' parties or even governments completely missleading.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
A good part of agreement. I also thought the US had gone ahead with oil sanctions but they didn't.
"Of course these did nothing whatsoever to cause Venezuela's problems"
Of course. They are only meant to cause more problems.
"because they are not on the country or government, but only on individuals"
Only individuals?? The sanctions are on "13 senior officials of Venezuela's government, military and state oil company PDVSA".
"and they were only put in place a few weeks ago."
Yes. I also thought the US had imposed oil sanctions, but they seem to have changed their mind.
I know this will engender rage from these forums, but something is generally overlooked when talking about the unusual success of leftist European countries compared to what is generally observed. The socialist countries work where the others in say, South America, fail because they are able to piggy back off of the United States.
These countries have to pay abnormally low amounts of the GDP for defense, despite having large and potentially hostile neighbors. It is easy to be a Swedish pacisifist when someone else's blood and treasure is ensuring that you do not speak Russian.
The technology that gives these countries a better standard of living is usually paid and developed by other nations. For example, by shifting the cost of developing new medicines and procedures elsewhere, more money is available to raise the internal standards. The United States alone pays for about 44% of the world's medical research cost.
https://www.usnews.com/news/ar...
If you read the article, there is a subtle warning not made by the authors. Before the disastrous affordable care act, the U.S. proportion of medical research was 57% in 2007. As more socialist policies were adopted, an incredible decline in activity soon followed. It should be noted this was not accidental, as can be clearly understood by anyone who actually read the law. There are several policies inherent in the bill that create this as an expected outcome.
This is important to note because this is not only true in medicine but many other areas of science. For all its failings, the capitalist model in the U.S. has been the engine that has been driving the success of Western Civilization for the last 70 years. As this engine slows down, the benefits it provided will decrease too.
Another interesting allegory can be found in the article. As China becomes more capitalistic, it's proportion of R.D spending has increased dramatically. While China likes to style itself as socialist country, this is mostly lip-service used to keep continuity in governance. Any casual visit to the country or even cursory reading shows abundant signs that China is quickly becoming the center of capitalism in the world. They have learned the lessons that we have lost and are benefiting immensely from it.
In any case, this also does not bode well for the European socialist countries. The United States due to tradition, heritage, and world view has generally lead to favorably treaties when dealing with trade, defense, and the sharing of technology. However, China is not burdened with any such preconceptions. China is very willing to keep core technology to itself for the benefits of its citizens. It is very willing to make sure that dealings with outside nations lead to its direct benefit. Or, to put it in a way more in tune with the slashdot mind, a country that bans youtube and limits the number of foreign movies that are released in a year to bolster its own film industry is not going to share its biotech.
I guess I am trying to say is be careful of what you wish for. Enlightened socialism is by far the best way to live. We all know this because we have ALL lived under such a system. It's called childhood. The parents provide for all our needs. Sure, we do some chores to give back, but overall someone else is paying the bills. The problem with socialism is that, so far, no one has figured out a way to make it truly pay for itself.
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
If the CIA is really meddling in the affairs of as many countries as you lot seem to think, where are the success stories then?
Well, you usually don't hear about them until many decades later of course. But, in fairness, the CIA has been pretty successful at defending the value of the Dollar and representing U.S. business interests (including defending the Dollar against anyone stupid enough to challenge it). But their attempts at regime change have been a series of disasters with often horrific unintended consequences. Here, read all about it.
But here's is a question for you. What do you think the CIA does all day? You don't seem to think they ever have a hand in anything, so what exactly do you think they *do* with their $15 billion every year? Do you think it costs $15 billion to produce a world factbook each year? Do they just hire a shit-ton of people to sit around their offices to stare at the walls all day? Are they using it to buy blackjack and hookers for the world's largest office party?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
All Raids in Venezuela are canceled because it's nothing but trash drops?
Well, we do know for a fact that it was the CIA, not the Air Force, that commissioned the development and production, and was the primary early operator of, the U-2 and A-12 (predecessor of the SR-71). The NRO, which designs and operates reconnoissance satellites is a joint CIA/Air Force endeavor. And rumors have been abounding since its retirement about a manned SR-71 replacement. Aircraft and spacecraft development eat up a lot of money, especially if it's done in secret. It's a bit more reasonable, I would think, to extrapolate that past behavior forward and assume that technological projects like the above are ongoing and expensive; rather than to engage in conspiracy theory.
Chavez was a profoundly unqualified and incompetent president and ultimately proved to be more into ego, authoritarianism, cronyism, and blaming his every failure on anyone but himself, than in his espoused political ideology. Maduro is more of the same, but stepped up a notch. I, for one, have seen and RCA'd more than enough engineering failures in my time to be pretty well inclined not to blame on malice that which can be explained by incompetence. And I see no reason to believe that your average geopolitical type is any more competent than your average engineer (Actually, I'd evaluate them as LESS competent, overall.)
Imagine all the people...
Leftism is the idea that government can be used to solve practically any problem. Are there people who are hungry and can't get food? Create a government food stamp program. Are there people who can't afford housing? Create a government Housing and Urban Development department to build a government housing project. The list goes on and on, from electricity, phones, communications, medical care, schools, jobs, transportation, and almost anything else of which you can think. Most always, Leftism does not involve any free market solution. Instead, the preferred method is to tax those who are working, and then redistribute it to Leftists' constituents, thus weakening any opposition to the left, and creating a voting base dependent on politicians for.... everything!
Neither Sweden, nor Germany became prosperous prior to instituting a Leftist agenda. As a reminder, East Germany collapsed, while capitalist West Germany was the prosperous nation.
Almost all Leftists are Klepotocrats. Very few have ideas other than "tax and spend". Of the few which are not, most of them focus instead on regulation because they realize that they have reached the upper limits of taxation without collapsing their economies. However, at its core is still the idea of a government solution, for which high taxes are a prerequisite.
This idea that businesses are just collapsing under the burden of taxes and regulation is a ridiculous fiction. Businesses wield stupendous power here in the US - we have an extreme, obscene concentration of wealth.. What we have NOW is a kleptocracy, fully supported by both parties.
We, the electorate, have very real power to address this issue, and many others - issues that, despite appearances, the nation is pretty much unified in its opinion on.
To counteract this, we see propaganda... the stuff your spouting here in your comments, to 1. destroy faith in government, and 2. turn voters on each other.
No mate, this is all conspiracy theory. Venezuela is walking the same worn path that all communisms have walked. First it starts with the idea that you will create a new sort of man: the socialist man, a mythical human that is no longer interested in its own well-being or individual achievement.
No, first it starts with the existing system collapsing and the people losing confidence in them enough they are willing to drastically try something else.
Interesting metric there. Most every country's economy has improved since the 19th century.
US economic growth is much, much lower than it was before it instituted social welfare reforms under TR and FDR and the Johnson expansions.