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So, your claim is that the global price of oil is being manipulated lower solely to punish Venezuela for having a Chavista-style government? Allow me to indulg

So, your claim is that the global price of oil is being manipulated lower solely to punish Venezuela for having a Chavista-style government? Allow me to indulge in some counter-prognostication. Shale technology will cap the oil price at $50-$60 per barrel in perpetuity. Since the Chavistas rely on a price far higher than this to fund their theft and largesse, their system will be revealed to be no more economically sustainable than the dozens of other socialist revolutions that have been tried.

m0skit0 11y ago
I'm not defending reliance on high oil price as a good long-term strategy. In any case the money was used to improve the living standard of a lot of people, and that's something I cannot disagree with. Still I would have used that money to diversify the economy reliance on oil and make sure we had funds for the future, but that doesn't make the same political impact. And the dozens of other socialist revolutions that have been tried all failed because they have been all boycotted by capitalist nations, with war, arms race, space races, illegal embargoes, and whatnot, not because the socialist system is not sustainable. Socialism cannot compete with capitalism in term of generating huge amount of capital and growth because it is not the goal of the socialist system. Still, examples like Cuba with a 50-year embargo from the world superpower manages to have the best health of all latinamerica, and even a lower children mortality than the USA. I totally disagree that this is a failure. The USSR also went from a absolute monarchy slavery behind-time empire to a world economic and military superpower with one of the best health and education systems in ~30 years, which is an unparalleled impressive feat.