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Venezuela was fine during the oil boom, Russia was fine in the 1960s. The issue is sustainability. Besides pensions at the local level, nothing to worry about
by 1996 8y ago
Venezuela was fine during the oil boom, Russia was fine in the 1960s.
The issue is sustainability. Besides pensions at the local level, nothing to worry about for us in the US.
Those in France, Germany, Sweden must deal with major issue, including homegrown terrorists, low economic activity, decline in population, lack of control of their monetary policy. They will crash, as all socialistic country do, when their ressources are exhausted or when their population stops believing the dream their government sells them.
How many of the top internet companies are located there? Which of the top blockchain comparies are located there? Unless you think it will be different for the next technology, they will keep missing the boat and falling more and more behind.
Average income in Mississipi, the poorest US state, is higher than in these countries- look at the price of gas and electronics here vs there - and so on. Here buying a tiny car, without AC or automatic transmission would be weird. People did that a long time ago, but we can afford better now. There, it is still the norm.
It is just a question of when they fail
- mikeash 8y agoSo, the proof that the Soviet lessons of socialism apply to Western Europe is that all socialist countries eventually suffer from it. The proof of that is that all of them have. If they haven’t, they will. That’s just circular reasoning! All socialist countries fail because all of them will fail if they haven’t already. What? What’s the deal with your Mississippi statement? A quick search shows Mississippi with a median income of about $20,000, and France (for example) at over $30,000.
- 1996 8y agoIt is based on physical reality: over promising limited resources can't work. Socialism is based on this premise. Unfortunately, it can't work in the long term. I would be happy if I am wrong on this one example: I do not wish anyone to be poor. However, wikipedia says median income for MS is 40k now, cf https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_incom... While for France, it is 20k according to http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_di04&lang=en http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_... My numbers may be wrong, as other sources say it would just be above the 12 poorest, see https://mises.org/wire/if-sweden-and-germany-became-us-states-they-would-be-among-poorest-states https://mises.org/wire/if-sweden-and-germany-became-us-state... If France median income is not lower than the poorest US state, but on par with the bottom 1/5 of the states, that still speaks volume. It's burdened by a system that can't work.
- mikeash 8y agoI don’t see why socialism must overpromise. You appear to be comparing Mississippi’s median household income with France’s median individual income. The former is of course much higher.
- 1996 8y agoMy mistake, and I am happy I made it. France is only in the 20% poorest US states, instead of being poorer than the poorest. However I'm not sure you should celebrate that.