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It’s nothing like Norway, no matter how many smiley faces you put over the citizens killed by the Venezuelan government. Price controls are a socialist measure
by andrenth 8y ago
It’s nothing like Norway, no matter how many smiley faces you put over the citizens killed by the Venezuelan government.
Price controls are a socialist measure. Name a country that has impelemented Venezuela-style price control, where business owners either sell at government-defined prices of face imprisonment, and you’ll spot a socialist leader doing it “for the people”.
- RugnirViking 8y agoThe UK. You cannot sell alchohol too cheaply. We have price controls per unit. There are literally thousands of such controls in most contries. California. They control the price of electricity in the state. And yes, these are laws. If you break them, you go to prison.
- andrenth 8y agoAre you being purposefully dense? I’m not talking about isolated price controls in a few products. I’m talking about generalized price controls that cause shortages and hunger. I’m talking about going to jail for trying to sell food above the price you bought it from a producer. Do you honestly believe Norway, the UK and California are anything like that?
- RugnirViking 8y agoBut I am objecting to the idea that doing these things makes a country communist. I will refer again to the generalised food price controls during wartime in the USA and beyond - were these countries communist at that time? For another example of a country that has wide-ranging price controls on basic foodstuffs, look to the 2008 situation in mexico.
- andrenth 8y agoNo, price controls are always counterproductive, but they don’t automatically make a country communist. I never said they did. In fact I never used the word communist in this discussion until now. Venezuela is socialist because it combines destructive economic measures with collectivist ideology, takeover of institutions like the Supreme Court by Party supporters, violent government-backed militias, fraudulent elections, cult of personality, etc. In summary, all the usual traits of a totalitarian left wing government.
- RugnirViking 8y agoEvery single one of the things that you just listed are present in a many parts of the developing world. Most of these places are not considered communist. In fact I would say those things you said perfectly describe a country that is a Dictatorship - but there are lots of those that are not socialist. I assumed that you thought they were communist because you disagreed with my original post which claimed that they were not.
- andrenth 8y agoThe term “dictatorship of the proletariat” is not a coincidence.
- RugnirViking 8y agoYou seem to be making the argument that all dictatorships are communist. I can assure you this is not true, and would be surprised if you cannot think of any examples of non-communist dictators.
- andrenth 8y agoI'm making the argument in the opposite direction. Communism and socialism end up as dictatorships, when not already bootstrapped as one.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> Venezuela is socialist because it combines destructive economic measures with collectivist ideology, takeover of institutions like the Supreme Court by Party supporters, violent government-backed militias, fraudulent elections, cult of personality, etc. Except for the phrase “collectivist ideology”, none of that has anything to do with socialism at all.
- andrenth 8y agoIn theory? Maybe. In the real world those traits have been present every time.
- tomp 8y agoThere’s a difference between min price control and max price control.
- RugnirViking 8y agoThat's why I gave two examples. One with a min control and one of a max price control.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoFDR during WW2? What about the USA during the 70s, by that famous socialist named Nixon.