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Sowell: Socialism for the Uninformed
Creators Syndicate ^ | May 31, 2016 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 05/30/2016 3:46:50 PM PDT by jazusamo

Socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.

While throngs of young people are cheering loudly for avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, socialism has turned oil-rich Venezuela into a place where there are shortages of everything from toilet paper to beer, where electricity keeps shutting down, and where there are long lines of people hoping to get food, people complaining that they cannot feed their families.

With national income going down, and prices going up under triple-digit inflation in Venezuela, these complaints are by no means frivolous. But it is doubtful if the young people cheering for Bernie Sanders have even heard of such things, whether in Venezuela or in other countries around the world that have turned their economies over to politicians and bureaucrats to run.

The anti-capitalist policies in Venezuela have worked so well that the number of companies in Venezuela is now a fraction of what it once was. That should certainly reduce capitalist "exploitation," shouldn't it?

But people who attribute income inequality to capitalists exploiting workers, as Karl Marx claimed, never seem to get around to testing that belief against facts — such as the fact that none of the Marxist regimes around the world has ever had as high a standard of living for working people as there is in many capitalist countries.

Facts are seldom allowed to contaminate the beautiful vision of the left. What matters to the true believers are the ringing slogans, endlessly repeated.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: minimumwage; sanders; socialism; sowell; thomassowell; venezuela
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To: T-Bird45

You stated that very well! :)


21 posted on 05/30/2016 4:34:58 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

Bernie’s head is soft, like all socialists


22 posted on 05/30/2016 4:36:20 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: jazusamo

“Democracy seeks equality in LIBERTY, while Socialism seeks equality in SERVITUDE.”

It’s that simple...


23 posted on 05/30/2016 4:42:48 PM PDT by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
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To: jazusamo

Yeah, but obozo and hildabeast and bernie will make sure it works this time!


24 posted on 05/30/2016 4:44:08 PM PDT by dynachrome (When an empire dies, you are left with vast monuments in front of which peasants squat to defecate)
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To: jazusamo

AHA! Great to hear from Dr. Sowell again. Been awhile. I’m guessing he’s kicking back, and doing more with his interest in photography.

Thanks for the ping jaz. Appreciate it.


25 posted on 05/30/2016 4:50:48 PM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists Call 'em what you will, they all have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: jazusamo
Sowell: Socialism for the Uninformed

Is there any other kind?

26 posted on 05/30/2016 4:54:17 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: rockinqsranch

I hope so, FRiend. Most welcome. :-)


27 posted on 05/30/2016 4:55:43 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: TigersEye

Good one Bump!


28 posted on 05/30/2016 4:56:28 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo; Anoreth

Anoreth said they wouldn’t even give her a free hamburger at the Bernie Sanders rally, to which I assume she went only in the hope of free hamburgers and beer.


29 posted on 05/30/2016 4:58:48 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("We like us the way we are. That makes us real, true friends." ~ The Undead Thread)
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To: all the best

That’s only when you look at the consequences and the descendant corollaries.

Who does that?

Take rent control. That’s got to make housing for the masses more available and affordable, right? Of course it tends to mean buildings are not kept up, no new housing for a growing population except with exempted categories, which - having little to no competition in a high-demand environment - increases exponentially. Thus you get a small protected ‘elite’ who benefit from being in on the ground floor, and a decreasing supply of genuinely affordable housing.

Obvious, but one has to look at more than the side of the greedy and covetous that think wealth comes from dark magic.


30 posted on 05/30/2016 4:59:31 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: jazusamo

I really wish articles such as this would break it down into pieces that the non-economic types could clearly understand. This led to this which led to this. Simply saying state controlled policies created shortages isn’t enough.


31 posted on 05/30/2016 5:00:15 PM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: Tax-chick; Anoreth

LOL! Thanks, that’s funny and I’d bet the farm that’s the only reason she went. :)


32 posted on 05/30/2016 5:03:11 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo; Anoreth

Either that or a political journalism project.


33 posted on 05/30/2016 5:05:31 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("We like us the way we are. That makes us real, true friends." ~ The Undead Thread)
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To: Tax-chick; Anoreth

Okay :-)


34 posted on 05/30/2016 5:18:54 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Tax-chick

It was in the street in front of my apartment. There was no way to avoid going.


35 posted on 05/30/2016 5:25:00 PM PDT by Anoreth (It is not moth eaten. It is superb.)
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To: Tax-chick

Wimpy ate them all.


36 posted on 05/30/2016 5:27:10 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: jazusamo

On paper socialism is always a successful utopia.

In real life practice, it is death, starvation, lack of everything, and chaos.


37 posted on 05/30/2016 5:46:06 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Bump!


38 posted on 05/30/2016 6:02:56 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

And i forgot, two other thing in reality - people sell each other out, and the way you get what you need, bribes and the black market.


39 posted on 05/30/2016 6:06:50 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: all the best
Ayn Rand called it: "The Age of Envy."
40 posted on 05/30/2016 6:40:17 PM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
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