This article was originally published by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com
Venezuela: Dictatorship, Collapse And Consequence
By Brandon Smith
If you want to outline the numerous failures of ideological and economic socialism, just name any socialist nation and you are sure to uncover an endless supply of examples. In fact, many countries where socialism is not total but making considerable inroads often suffer from severe decline — the U.S. being one of them. Whatever socialism touches it destroys, because forced interdependency does not work. It is a broken concept with no large scale successes (this includes China, which suffers from considerable poverty and a totalitarian government despite it being the most successful garbage economy out of a host of other garbage economies). Yet, proponents of socialism keep trying again and again claiming that “this time is different.”
So ample have been socialism’s failures in the past several years that socialists have resorted to a classic blame game in order to maintain the delusion. You see, when you bring up nations at the very end of the socialist cycle on the verge of extinction — nations like Venezuela, all you are going to hear is the argument that it was “the evil western capitalists that sabotaged the experiment.”
This is a fascinating journey into cognitive dissonance. Because in order to believe this nonsense, you have to first ignore the cold hard reality that socialist policies and politics have permeated every aspect of most western nations to the point that they can no longer be called free market societies. The fact is, IFÂ sabotage of Venezuela can be proven as the cause of its economic ills rather than the inherent pitfalls of socialism, it would merely be a group of socialist nations sabotaging another socialist nation. “Capitalism” plays no part in this mess whatsoever.
In fact, it has been international banks like Goldman Sachs that continue to fund failed socialist projects like Venezuela through bond investment. If anything, the banks have been artificially keeping the government afloat when it should be allowed to fail so that it can be replaced.
Venezuela is perhaps the easiest of modern examples of socialist collapse, and maybe it is lazy to pull the Venezuela card when discussing these issues, but consider for a moment that the country is important exactly because it is a cautionary tale. Venezuela as a disaster state is at the end of the path ALLÂ other socialist nations are traveling down. Venezuela is the future, and the future is bleak.
Here is the problem: Human beings need some structure to function as a group, this is true. But, human beings also need participation in a structure to be voluntary, otherwise, they are unlikely to find meaning or happiness within that structure. Without productive and inventive individuals striving to improve a structure, the structure will eventually stagnate or implode. Without individuals to support it, the system is nothing; it does not exist.
Socialists tend to suffer from severe mental blockage when contemplating the idea of “voluntarism.” They just can’t seem to grasp it. I believe this stems from a core assumption — the assumption that other people need to be forced to do “necessary” things, otherwise they will not do them. So, for example, socialists and big government champions will consistently argue that infrastructure like roads and fire fighting and police and schools could not exist without taxation; taxation being the stealing of other people’s money to pay for services that are supposedly vital to everyone. However, all of these services and more can and have been built and maintained in the past through free markets as well as through voluntary efforts. Force and taxation was not required back then, but for some reason it is required today.
What changed? Nothing. We have only strayed so far down the path of interdependency and government interference that most people can’t imagine life without it.
Another argument I hear often from pro-socialism types is the argument that interconnectivity is its own rationale. That is, they argue that the community requires dependency, because if you are independent then you are not supporting others and are thus harming the system. “We all have to live together within a society and if you are not helping us then you are hurting us,” they state.
See how that works? You MUST participate, because if you don’t you are harming everyone else. It is not a victimless crime to walk away or to build a competing structure like those “selfish” libertarians claim. You are a part of the machine and if you stop serving your function then the whole machine may break and then we all suffer. Therefore, the application of force and coercion becomes morally acceptable because the “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
This is the horrifying perpetual circle that is collectivism; we all stand together or we all fall together, toe the line or else!
Well, as we have seen many times this ideology is not very practical or successful. If human beings were bugs with a central hive mind then maybe socialism would have some merit. But thankfully, most of us are not bugs and we do not thrive in environments that treat us like drones. We might tolerate them for a while, but we certainly do not thrive in them. Frankly, such systems should be allowed to collapse because they are a hindrance to mankind, not a beacon of progress.
When examining Venezuela, we see the classic big government collapse in motion. First comes economic strife as the inability of the system to provide “equality” becomes apparent. All high minded socialist and communist (same difference) structures end up with an oligarchy. As long as big government is present, the power mongers will flourish.
Beyond the massive gap that inevitably develops between the power elite and everyone else, socialism is actually highly effective at creating wealth equality; in that it makes all other people equally poor. In Venezuela, the government has hiked the minimum wage three times this year, and surprise surprise, this has done nothing to alleviate the problem. Try explaining this to the leftists in the U.S. demanding a mandatory $15/hr minimum wage and they will dismiss the comparison outright. Explain to them how, just like in Venezuela, hiking minimum wage requirements results in more poverty rather than less, and they’ll start talking about what is socially “correct” rather than what is mathematically evident.
At bottom, wage increases and social welfare measures are meaningless in the face of severe currency devaluation. Venezuela has seen its currency value disintegrate by 93% in the past two years. So terrible are the conditions now that starvation is becoming normalized. In Venezuela, they call it the “Maduro Diet”.
The next phase of the socialist breakdown is usually dictatorship. When the fantasy of pure equality dies and people are left with very little to show for their faith in the system, they start to become disillusioned and angry. Some citizens will decide to try the peaceful method and walk away from the broken structure so that they can build their own. Ultimately though, this is nothing more than a stopgap.
The Venezuelan government has been cracking down on alternative markets (often called “black markets“) for years in order to force the population to remain as cogs within the socialist system. You see, in a socialist framework, people are property to be used for promotion of the system. They are not allowed to leave while the system is in dire straights, because the simple act of leaving stands as a damning indictment of the system itself. Leaving the system or peacefully competing with the system is treated as an act of war on the system.
The mode of dictatorship eventually meets with political opposition. People are only tolerant of tyranny for so long, and they will act. But, being generally moral, the average person will first seek out non-violent strategies to counter overt oppression. Again, this is nothing more than a stopgap. Venezuela has followed the same battle plan multiple dictatorships have followed in the past; namely the imprisonment of political opponents and activists.
This is usually a signal that the subject nation is on the verge of full spectrum collapse or civil war. Within months of any political cleansing, most totalitarian governments either start a war with another country to unify the public through fear, or, they destabilize into civil unrest. It is clear that Venezuela is going to fracture completely in the near term.
In previous articles I have warned about this process within Venezuela in terms of the consequences that will erupt throughout South and Central America. With a breakdown in Venezuela, Donald Trump’s border wall will be looking like a rather fantastic idea as millions rush from the ground zero turmoil that will be created when the region melts into factional war and refugees flee. My first suspicion though is that no such border controls will exist and we will be caught completely unprepared.
My second suspicion is that this turmoil will provide some attractive opportunities to the establishment elites within the U.S. Remember how Europeans were goaded into accepting millions of immigrants from the Middle East in the name of “atoning” for the war crimes of the West? Parts of Europe are now slowly but surely crumbling under the stress of a completely incompatible culture overrunning the existing value structure. Remember how critics of the policy were told that “we created the mess in the Middle East and now had to pay for it?”
Expect the same exact rhetoric if and when the crisis in Venezuela spills over its borders and disrupts the southern hemisphere. American policies such as sanctions will be blamed. Socialists will chide the American public that they should feel guilty and leave the border open as penance for creating the mess in the first place. And, being that there are still no legitimate border controls, many of these refugees will enter the U.S. unimpeded.
At that point, we will perhaps see the next phase of collapse within the American socialist experiment as we are seeing the dismal results of socialist experiments in Europe overwhelmed by too many immigrants with no intention of assimilation. To make a “new world order”, as establishment globalists sometimes refer to it, the old world order has to be destroyed. Socialism is in itself a very effective weapon for undermining the coherent structure of nations and cultures, leaving disaster and ashes in its wake.
With the slate wiped clean, as it were, international financiers and other elitists always seem to be in the right place and time to build the next system; a system even more centralized and more oppressive than the one before. What we see in Venezuela is a potential nexus for greater calamity in the western hemisphere. And, what we also see is a microcosm of the socialist cancer in action. It is not some self-contained rarity, it is the common and predictable outcome of a society based on collectivist servitude and false promises of equality.
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Its happening because the people allowed it to. As it will happen here. Reminds me of the Pink Floyd song, “Comfortably Numb”. And the children these days will be like lost balls in the high weeds cause very few have or receive little guidance. today for the first time I heard a term called ‘Gender Fluid’. I asked the wife WTH is that all about. Its the left and the lefts parents telling their kids “It doesn’t matter what you may have between your legs you can be Mr. America by day or Miss America in the evening. Unbelievable… Waiter, Check Please!
What is happening in Venezuela is the same thing that happened in Detroit, only difference is the refugees moved to California
Gandhi, how about we send the lefties from cali to Venezuela so they can see for themselves what their state will look like one day if it continues down the same path. Venezuela makes Cali look GOOD. Now THAT is something scary!
The Deplorable Braveheart
Its cause is corrupt government regardless of economic system.
If it wasn’t for America, China would be on their knees. Not only the buying we do, but we still have a good many factories over there!
PO’d Patriot, that sounds like LGBT [FREAK] propaganda.
If I get in trouble at work, I plan to use gender fluidity.
“How dare you assume my gender! I may appear to be a White male, but I identify as a Native American Muslim Lesbian. It’s not my fault I’m not very far along in my transition.”
Whats happening is a real deal genuine full blown SHTF. And it will likely turn into a SHTF WROL prolonged decline. In a country that has good land ,plenty of water and a climate that is perfect for growing food. Starving folks in what could and should be a land of plenty?
I wonder why no one takes into consideration the effects of the crippling sanctions against Venezuela? But they nationalized personal property. So that’s stealing. Only the little people suffer ?
TH, that’s correct. When he was still alive, Hugo Chavez stole all of the privately-owned farms and shut them down. Not one of them has been productive since they were closed so they’ve had to import all of their food. Chavez was already screwing up everything when he was alive. After his death and Maduro took over, it seems the decline has only accelerated. Sanctions? The only sanctions that have hurt Venezuela have come from brown-skinned commies like Chavez and Maduro.
Growing up in ISSR, my wife’s family had a Dacha (shack) and small plot of land in a nearby village where they grew a garden for food. The Soviet government knew the collective farms would never produce enough, and hungry people are difficult to control.
Their dacha was quite different from those held by the party bosses.
If they hadn’t been able to disarm the people, Venezuela’s government would have already been replaced.
** Pro socialism types say Community requires dependency**
So if you’re independent, you’re harming the system. Just another example of control…..
WED, I’M independent so I’m harming a socialist system? WOOHOO!
Mr. Brandon Smith, you say that “Capitalism plays no part in this mess whatsoever” because international banks, the sponsors of Venezuela, are socialist organizations in the opposite field of freemarket economy, so a group of socialist nations sabotaging another socialist nation.
Sorry, but you’ve a wrong concept of capitalism. Capitalism is not defined by free market economy. You have a capitalistic production system when you have: market, wage work (exploited surplus work), surplus value, money, capital, banks. So your “socialist nations” are simply state capitalistic economies, including – with different dosages – soviet-like regimes, China, USA, etc.
The problems you point out are simply structural to capitalism. And, to survive, capitalism had a key evolution at the beginning of XX century, switching to imperialism, where the usual capitalistic factors are declined in monopolism, financiarization, capital export, battles to conquer world market shares, fight for the geoplitical sphere influence.
Capitalism is a term made up by communists; their definition doesn’t mean anything. There are no free markets or so-called capitalism anymore. Everything is becoming more socialist by the day, meaning government interference with small business and the cooperation of big business and big government. What we have is socialism, not free markets. You’ve been drinking the koolaid, orsobubu. Time to shut up now and learn something.
I think the capitalist cancer is far worse…
Brandon, this is one of the best articles I’ve ever seen about socialism anywhere. Maduro is blaming everyone but himself and his late buddy Chavez for Venezuela’s problems. Castro’s Cuba still figures somewhere in this. So far they seem to be staying out of it. There are supposedly still Cubans in senior positions in the regime and military ‘advisers’ too. I can’t believe Raul Castro would simply let Maduro and Company fall. Castro still depends on Venezuelan oil to some degree to keep Cuba’s economy afloat. At some point Castro’s bunch will come out of the woodwork.
I agree Braveheart, this is an outstanding article.
Rhetorical question. Why is it EVERY socialist dystopia MUST always have a “Dear Leader who holds on to power FOREVER??” Stalin, the NK Kim dynasty, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe, who has to be approaching 100, Mao, Chavez, Castro, Hitler (yep, Nazi STILL stands for National *Socialist* Workers’ Party). Heck, even in Canada we have the disgusting “Free Marijuana for Everyone” Trudeau cult (along with his Ramadan socks at a gay parade) , following his disgusting father. Of course, Obama is yet another cult leader.
Jacob Zuma in South Africa is the latest fraud leftist. Check out his net worth at http://www.richestlifestyle.com/networth/jacob-zuma-net-worth/ and his presidential plane was worth about $370 million. Oh yeah – Castro’s net worth, before he went to stand before Maker and explain all his murders, was just under $1 billion. https://www.forbes.com/sites/keithflamer/2016/11/26/10-surprises-about-castros-extravagant-life/#12f0dc356d76
I won’t start on our other Dear Leaders, all the Hollywierd Learjet leftist cult leaders.
L’Etat c’est la grande fiction à travers laquelle tout le monde s’efforce de vivre aux dépens de tout le monde.
The state (here meaning socialism) is the great fiction through which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else.
– Frederic Bastiat, 1801-1850. Didn’t work then, still isn’t working, will never work, and CAN never work… but that won’t stop the fascist left from stealing your money to keep trying and trying and trying. Or as Einstein purportedly said (I don’t think this is actually a quote from him, but still works) “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
If it takes a $15 minimum wage to afford the cost of living then let that be the pay working people are entitled to receive. Either that or put food price and rent controls in place to meet existing wage levels for those employed for less. Wealthy people are the greediest and their take only expands, that is accelerating and is not a system of, by and for the people. The current system is ass backwards, rip rip rip and damn the rest.
Listen idiot commie, if you raise the minimum wage that much most business owners can’t afford to hire people, meaning you’ve just lost millions of jobs. Small business is the biggest employer in America and they get hurt the most by this, not the super wealthy. That’s what happened in Seattle. All these experiments in artificial wage increases fail. The only answer is to get government and central banks out of business completely and let the free market determine prices and wages. What you are suggesting always always makes things worse. Always.
Rent controlled apartments in NYC are always well maintained.
Aljamo, I can agree with your principle of bringing the cost of living more in line with current wages so people have a better chance of survival. But Nixon tried wage and price controls back in the 70s and that was a failure. It would be nice to see greed brought under control but I know that won’t happen.
The Deplorable Braveheart
“But Nixon tried wage and price controls back in the 70s”
Inflation by definition is too many dollars chasing too few goods. Nixon abandoned the Bretton Woods agreement which made the USD transferable to gold at $35/oz. Too many US dollars were being produced since the late 1950s but it took until the late 60s for it to be impossible to ignore. The first “shot across the bow” was taking silver out of coinage in 1965. The US spent like a drunken sailor (no disparaging intent to either drunks or sailors). The Marshall Plan, Korea, Vietnam and last but not least “The Great Society” sealed the demise of the USD.
The US no longer produces adequate wealth. Its survival is directly linked to the USD being the worlds reserve currency. That is intrinsically linked to the oil peg. New sources of oil through technological advances in discovery and drilling are putting that in jeopardy. If that goes, regardless if the system is capitalist, communist, socialist, fascist, monarchy, dictatorship, democracy or republic the US is toast.
The sad truth is that the US in real terms is getting poorer while the sub fraction of 1% are grabbing as much as what remains for themselves. The concentration of wealth in this grab is destabilizing. You can’t mandate wealth creation but you can erect regulations to prevent excess wealth concentration. In the great 1950s, the hay day of the US the top tax rate was 90%. We not only survived, we thrived and the power elite de-facto robber barons held far less political power.
The greatest destructor of the US was the “Free Trade Agreements” that eviscerated US wealth creating (and by wages) wealth in the hands on the majority. Welfare recipients tripled since 2008. This increase of people were primarily once very productive tax payers.
Socialism is a symptom that redistributes wealth when capitalism becomes crony capitalism destroying the public. The US was financially gutted by neoconservatives that pushed financial sector deregulation with the demise of Glass-Steagall making Wall Street a casino and the Free Trade Agreements forcing Americans to compete with virtual slave labor. Bill Clinton, a “leftist in name only” was the smooth talking salesman who put these economic cancers in the middle class economics. He did not think them up, that was a crony capitalist / neoconservative plan. He just sold it to a very gullible ignorant public.
Americans are maggots, living off the corpse of USA, and don’t even realize it.
I’ve seen car rims for sale with offers of financing. Best buy will finance a $299 purchase.
Over 90% of new cars sold in USA are financed.
Aljamo is a moron. No one is “entitled” to any wage. If you aren’t making enough money working at McDonalds, then get a better job or start your own business. Socialist wage hikes always end in economic trouble.
Without labor laws the policy’s of Henry Clay Frick at US steel would be instituted.
“Socialist wage hikes always end in economic trouble.”
Capitalist run wild “Free Trade” forcing Americans to compete with third world slave labor in what becomes a race to the bottom has done more damage than any increase in minimum wage. One just need to look at the US manufacturing cities in 1960 verses today. Socialism takes off when capitalism eats itself.
It will and actually has already started in this country. But when it really hits the fan you will want to avoid or leave all-together cities such as Miami, Houston, Philadelphia or other 3rd world type ‘US’ cities and areas.
You mean third worlders don’t become civilized just by setting foot on American soil?
Impossible! All people are the same!
The third world is NOT a geographic location. Anyplace the non-Whites inhabit becomes the third world.
Big mistake to follow the thinking of Naomi Klein. She has the nerve to write of ‘disaster capitalism’ when in fact the disaster throughout the world and history has been ‘disaster socialism’. Venezuela made the mistake of using the rents it made off the selling of oil and gas to hand out welfare and goodies to the poor, without actually expecting them to work or improve themselves. A large-scale version of America’s EBT program.
If Venezuela had instead used the oil and gas wealth to set up a fund they could have used that money to smooth out the ups and downs of the global economy. Giving the poor free money and food never solves their problems long-term. They should only ever receive help in return for working and saving and studying.
The only good legacy of this disasterous system will be cheap poon tang, just as happened in Russia: “Mother and daughter both working for the Yankee dollar”.