Comments by "" (@shauncameron8390) on "The Economic Failure of Venezuela" video.

  1.  @KavenLeandro  No. It's thanks to internal corruption and ineptitude.
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  2.  @japanesus_  The same Norway with a robust private sector and didn't resort to eating the rich to achieve its prosperity?
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  3. And interestingly, a lot of those same Chavistas moved to the US they claim to so hate.
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  4.  @MistikaManiac  Finland has a free market. Venezuela barely has that anymore due to Chavez and Maduro nationalizing and price-controlling it to ruin.
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  5.  @anuradhajaishankar7903  US blockades didn't cause Venezuela to purge the skilled workforce with regime loyalists. It didn't cause Chavez to seize all the factories and farms killing off its ability to feed itself having to rely on outsiders for food and other basic necessities. It didn't cause Chavez to impose price controls crippling private enterprise and their ability to turn in a profit and stay in business along with the supply chains. US blockades have nothing to do with it as Venezuela's collapse took place 3 years before any blockade was imposed.
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  6. Not really. It's not the US's fault that Venezuela destroyed private enterprise and domestic production and in turn its ability to support itself en route to making itself oil-dependent and reliant on imports.
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  7. Because they happened well after the economy collapsed?
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  8. Not really. Mostly Venezuelan mismanagement and corruption.
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  9. Not really. Venezuelan mismanagement and ineptitude.
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  10.  @martiginebullich8934  No. US sanctions didn't take effect until 2017. Venezuela collapsed in 2014-15.
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  11. He did. The US embargo came well after Venezuela collapsed.
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  12. Step 3: don't use the oil revenues to upgrade and maintain the infrastructure and instead blow it on buying votes to ensure re-election letting said infrastructure deteriorate and collapse.
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  13.  @NeverGoingToGiveYouUp000  Socialism earned its bad rep. And whatever successes it does achieve is often short-lived.
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  14. <The Venezuelan Chavez Regime not only didn't diversify it's economy - they actively seized or 'nationalized' many businesses, setting up the massive economic self-destruction when oil prices dropped.> Exactly. Chavez set Venezuela up for failure.
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  15. Not really. Venezuela imports oil, because it allowed its own oil infrastructure to rot and crumble to the point of uselessness.
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  16. Something a socialist would say.
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  17.  @elliotrather730  And also Norway has a solid private sector. Venezuela hasn't had such a thing since the late 2000's.
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  18.  @ayszhang  And what would those be as public infrastructure and services =/= socialism? Many of those successful countries don't have command economies or make it point to destroy the private sector.
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  19.  @marilucorracini550  <Don't be stupid, sanctions, blockades and embargoes ONLY hurt common people> Namely the ones imposed by the Venezuelan government as basic necessities are seized at the border by the military and border guards.
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  20.  @marilucorracini550  <get some real information> Namely from Maduro and academia? <spend there a few months like I did> With a state-appointed tour guide or a Chavista bootlicker.
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  21.  @kgsniper4850  But either way, they end up collapsing due to complacency once the money runs out to finance that socialism/welfare.
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  22. Typical socialist response.
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  23.  @dimitriwillems8735  <- Every country that works WITH the US get rich and prosper. > South Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Chile, etc. <- Every country that embraces socialism fails and go on blaming the US> Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, etc.
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  24.  @ummmhelp  Not really. Venezuela's lack of economic diversity was due to Chavez nationalizing businesses chasing out the skilled, efficient and productive in the process of reducing Venezuela to an oil-dependent country.
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  25.  @brucethompson2940  And ended up being one of the better off countries in South America.
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  26. <OR IMPORT FOODS> Sanctions are not what's stopping Venezuela from importing food but its own lack of money to buy said imported food.
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  27.  @clueless3120  Be it communist Cuba or socialist Nicaragua. Communist Cambodia or socialist Burma (Myanmar). Communist Ethiopia or socialist Tanzania.
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  28. Every socialist and 3rd-worlder's favorite excuse for their shortcomings and failures.
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  29.  @wellingtonaviationchannel634  Actually, in Venezuela's case, it was a small factor. Sanctions can't destroy what was already destroyed by internal corruption and ineptitude.
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  30. And its politics are even more divisive than the US's
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  31. Not really as foreign sanctions are not responsible for domestic ineptitude and corruption.
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  32. Like in 2015 and 16?
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  33. And is practiced in Angola, the Congo Republic and Equatorial Guinea minus the government throwing money at the poor.
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  34.  @k0mentator507  Like in Zimbabwe.
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  35.  @Stellar_lnsights  Aside from a lower body count and rigged elections, not much really.
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  36. The US sanctions were little more than the final nail in the coffin for Venezuela. The real damage was done by Chavez's policies that Maduro inherited.
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  37. Yet somehow it was when Venezuela was booming under Chavez.
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  38.  @TheGonzedd  They have refineries but due to the lack of maintenance are unusable and have to get the oil extracted and refined abroad.
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  39.  @curtisjones400  <Plus the sanctions on Venezuela also hurt the economy.> Not nearly as much as Venezuela having no real economy for the sanctions to hurt. Venezuela killed off its private industry. It mismanaged and killed off the oil industry.
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  40. Or in the case of Cuba and much of Eastern Europe, until sugar daddy decides to cut off the support and kick you to the curb.
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  41.  @BolshevikCarpetbagger1917  Yes they did. By forcing businesses to sell their merchandise at a loss. Oil was nationalized long before Chavez got elected.
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  42.  @afgor1088  Yes it did. Venezuela collapsed 3 years before any sanction was imposed. It's not the US's fault that Venezuela destroyed most private industry in the process of relying on the oil industry that went on to mismanage to pay its bills.
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  43.  @afgor1088  The sanctions were enacted in 2017. <this is a crisis caused by americans being unable to handle competition and their irrational hatred of socialism.> There's nothing irrational about their hatred of socialism as its 104+ year track record of destruction earned it.
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  44.  @afgor1088  You have no facts for anyone to deny. Lay off the Chavismo propaganda.
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  45. Socialism running its natural course. Next.
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  46. Chavista, please!
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  47. Every socialist's favorite excuse for their own incompetence and corruption.
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  48.  @XxLIVRAxX  And definitely a lot better off than they are now.
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  49.  @YaroLord  <- more gun related crimes than any other country in the world but YALL AINT TAKIN MAH GUNS MHHMM *waves confederate flag> Yet Venezuela has the world's highest crime rate while the US barely cracks the top 50. There's probably more than a few Venezuelans right now who wish they still have the right to own a gun as Venezuela happily gave it up to Chavez to their own peril around 2009-10. Most of the gun crimes in the US are committed in the cities largely run by left-leaning Democrats. Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, etc. <excessive military spending while there are areas where the water is undrinkable> Which also goes to providing defence to South Korea, Taiwan, the Gulf countries, Scandinavia etc. which is why they are able to have a welfare state as opposed to fearing getting messed with by China, Iran and Russia.
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  50.  @-dwaring285-3  No. Chavez and Maduro did this.
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  51. Exactly.
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  52. In the case of Venezuela, Chavez destroyed all the other baskets to focus on one.
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  53. No. Venezuelan mismanagement, corruption and short-sightedness. THE END!
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  54.  @maxmagnus777  Except Venezuela collapsed long before any US sanction was imposed. Ditto for Yugoslavia after Tito died and the model came undone.
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  55. US sanctions are nothing. Venezuela destroyed its own ability to support itself by killing off the successful and productive seizing their businesses.
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  56.  @Lewis-Legend  <it's having a heavy humanitarian impact> Not nearly as much as Chavez and Maduro's policies destroying private enterprise and in turn Venezuela's ability to support itself should the oil industry go bust. Never mind the fact that Chavez chased out all the skilled and productive personnel from said industry in favor of his political friends who went on to mismanage it and he blew the oil revenues on buying votes from the poor letting infrastructure deteriorate and crumble. What you're seeing now is their policies coming full circle with shortages, a struggling economy, etc. Food and medicine are not subject to sanctions. Maduro just refuses to accept aid and they're denied entry.
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  57. Sanctions don't cause mismanagement and corruption. Iran is under the very same sanctions yet it isn't suffering like this.
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  58.  @ssach7  With the world's highest crime rate.
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  59. And?
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  60.  @skipy2.0  <The video also talks a lot about how oil was it's only source of income.> Only after Chavez destroyed every other source of income with price controls and property-confiscation.
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  61. And the richest person in the country.
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  62. Literally speaking.
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  63.  @vic8695  Very much.
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  64. Venezuela is functionally socialist as it barely has any private economy anymore.
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  65.  @wrathofgrothendieck  And then what happens when the robots break down?
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  66. Also, Norway has a free market. Venezuela does not.
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  67.  @earnthis1  Social services =/= socialism. China became the 2nd largest economy in the world due the Deng's capitalist reforms. Most of China's rich people are CCP lackeys and the well-connected by the way.
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  68. As long as it's a a state one.
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  69.  @marilucorracini550  Follow your own advice.
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  70.  @truthseeker4280  <This will continue for a while it has been 61 years for Cuba. And yet they have survived for many years .> Thanks to US food aid and remittances. Before that, it was Soviet aid, Canadian tourism and free Venezuelan oil.
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  71.  @truthseeker4280  So is Iran. And yet Iran is nowhere nearly as poor.
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  72. No. The US sanctions didn't start until 2017 and Venezuela's economy was already on the way out.
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  73.  @SamSpade2010  But they are which is why they managed to stay rich and contribute the most to the country's coffers hence the tax breaks. And any country caring about long-term prosperity would be wise to let them keep a solid amount of what they earned. Anyone can have money, but not everyone can manage it or make it last. <And a large proportion of the remainder are basically lottery winners -- celebrities, bitcoin billionaires, literal lottery winners, etc.> Lottery-winners don't stay rich for long as their inability to manage money and cut off the leeches (including family members and friends) from their lives does them in. Celebrities are little more than really well-paid workers in the sports/entertainment industry.
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  74.  @SamSpade2010  Like Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Sam Walton, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs?
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  75.  @kromyzal238  Plus, he became a millionaire and property-owner from the very same capitalist system he rails against.
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  76.  A Fels  Sanders is a left-winger and a champagne socialist.
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  77.  A Fels  No. He's left-wing. What kind of right-winger praises Hugo Chavez or Daniel Ortega?
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  78.  @kromyzal238  Exactly.
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  79. Exactly.
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  80. Which in turn destroyed whatever capacity it had to support itself having to rely on imports.
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  81. Except in Venezuela's case, the oil industry was already nationalized long before Chavez came to power. The difference is it was much better run until Chavez fired all the skilled workforce in favor of political loyalists and used the revenues to buy votes from the poor helping his re-election chances and also imports after decimating the private sector and local production.
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  82. They were indeed minor things in the grand scheme as most of Venezuela's miseries were of its own making.
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  83. Well, these are the results that socialism/communism have consistently produced. And Greece is a good example of an otherwise capitalist country getting ran into the ground by (democratic) socialism courtesy of PASOK.
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  84. LOL. Chavez set Venezuela up for failure.
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  85. Exactly.
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  86.  @_tablearmy_  Yet the results are the same. Tyranny, poverty, genocide, economic stagnation and ruin, dependency, etc.
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  87. By any means necessary.
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  88. And also have a robust private sector that Venezuela decimated in the early 2010's.
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  89. Exactly.
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  90. Or toilet paper.
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  91. Like Eastern Europe?
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  92. That's how Chavez killed the private sector and local production.
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  93.  @grayishcolors  Socialism = command economy.
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  94. Yes. But there's one problem. Chavez crippled local business with price control.
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  95. Especially with Democrats in charge.
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  96.  @Hypnopotimus27  Socialism destroyed Africa far more than colonialism did.
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  97.  @NeverGoingToGiveYouUp000  Chavez died a hero as Venezuela was raking in oil money. It collapsed months after Maduro took over.
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  98. Venezuela killed them off with its wholesale nationalization of private enterprise.
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  99. Socialism is even more evil. And besides, didn't socialism bankrupt your country in the 1970's?
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  100.  @ulfljung4630  Whatever, commie!
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  101. <Hire a bleeding heart liberal to run your company. U won't have a company very long.> Or country as in the case of Jamaica under Michael Manley.
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  102. What local economy? Venezuela decimated that in 2010 on its way to being an oil-dependent nation.
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  103. Exactly.
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  104.  eres  Not they don't and they all produced similar dismal results. And it's not like Stalin's predecessor was any better.
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  105. Venezuela was already the richest country in South America in spite of the US in the 50's and 60's.
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  106. <Chavez brought the poverty rate WAY down,> By throwing money at it destroying local business in the process.
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  107. But Venezuela hardly had much of an economy to blockade.
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  108. Maybe because the sanctions had little impact therefore irrelevant compared to Chavez and Maduro's seizing of private enterprise, the oil prices hitting rock-bottom, price controls, blowing the state treasury on free stuff for the poor, etc.
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  109.  @jondoe406  Maybe because it was a minor factor as Venezuela already collapsed 3 years prior to any sanction imposed? It's not the sanctions fault Chavez and Maduro killed off the local economy with price controls, expropriations and free oil money to buy votes and imports while letting the oil industry infrastructure crumble beyond repair.
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  110. <Ontario & Quebec are much resented in Alberta the #NorthKoreaOfNorthAmerica.> Because Ontario (who just recently became a have-not province after years of McGuinty/Wynne Liberal rule) and especially Quebec's equalization payments come from Alberta.
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  111.  @Mel-jc7lt  Yet the results are more or less the same. Just like Zimbabwe. Tyranny, poverty, famine, genocide, economic ruin, etc.
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  112. Not really as the US sanctions were of little consequence compared to Chavez and Maduro's wholesale decimation of the private sector and local industry rendering Venezuela unable to support itself. Chasing out the skilled and productive oil industry workers in favor of political lackeys and not re-investing in said industry opting to throw money at the poor to help further their political ambitions didn't do them any favors.
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  113. Venezuela's inability to recover is due to Chavez and Maduro destroying the local economy on its way to being oil-dependent with price controls, property-seizures, etc.
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  114.  @TruckStopLayby  Because it was imposed well after the Venezuelan economy collapsed.
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  115. Chavez whatever diversification Venezuela had taxing and regulating the private sector to oblivion.
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  116.  @davidbach7003  Since when was Haiti capitalist? Argentina is one example of a country that got destroyed by socialist and populist politics. <every country in central Africa?> Like Rwanda that adopted capitalism to become one of the better off countries in Africa? The ROC, the other Congo, has been run by socialists since independence and is nothing much to write home about.
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  117.  @davidbach7003  <The richest 20 percent of its population holds more than 64 percent of its total wealth,> And how many of that 20% are not friends and relatives of the government?
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  118. It did not. And Venezuela have long destroyed any ability it had to support itself on its own.
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  119.  A Fels  Exactly. Actually the sanctions were imposed in 2017.
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  120. Nope.
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  121. Norway has no minimum wage, though.
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  122.  @succsucc6270  <not only is the majority of Venezuela economy in private hands> And how many of them are thriving now after the price controls and supply disruptions?
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  123.  @Sparticulous  Yet Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Americas and is socialist. Poorer than even Guatemala, and Honduras. Socialism has done more to set Africa back than colonialism did.
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  124.  @Sparticulous  <you mean the cia backed coups have done great damage to Africa> Not in the cases of Tanzania, Ethiopia, Benin, Madagascar or even Somalia that managed to get CIA support. <The contras backed by the cia were fascists, not socialist and their massacres and destruction of Nicaragua got them where they are today> That hasn't been a thing since the 80's. And Daniel Ortega has run the country unopposed from that point on.
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  125.  @Sparticulous  But it was in 70's and 80's under Mengistu to become the perennial poster boy for famine. Ditto for Somalia under Barre.
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  126.  @juniorleslie4804  Exactly.
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  127. And US/NATO protection.
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  128.  Anonymer Nutzer  Yes it was as the means of production was under the control of "the people." Namely PSUV elites and bootlickers.
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  129. Just ask Greece.
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  130. Exactly.
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  131.  @BolshevikCarpetbagger1917  LOL. How come none of the other oil-rich countries collapsed like Venezuela did despite taking a hit themselves?
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  132.  @BolshevikCarpetbagger1917  <None of the other oil rich countries are being starved by U.S sanctions.> Because none of the other oil-rich countries are run by US-hating communists or theocrats.
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  133. In other words, socialism can only work when capitalism is present and at the forefront.
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  134. And left behind plenty of bankrupted countries in its wake.
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  135.  @CoolChris-vn8hz  Just ask the average Romanian when Ceausescu ran the show.
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  136.  @succsucc6270  <That is incredibly unstable...> So is welfare especially when there are more freeloaders than contributors. And there's only so many rich people you can tax. <Or be forced to dig through the trash, rob someone, or loads of other acts that dig away at your dignity.> Or live off of money stolen from those who actually earn a living on top of gradually killing off any ability or desire to stand on your own two feet and do likewise never mind voting for politicians who advocate policies to rob your neighbors legally to fund this newfound lifestyle choice. Just because food is necessity doesn't mean you are owed it.
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  137. No. Socialism destroyed Venezuela.
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  138.  @juanmam.2113  Namely the Chavez family among other affiliated with the ruling PSUV party.
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  139. Along with populist politics.
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  140. And eventually become the every rich you stole from.
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  141. <This is proof that politicians who only think about the next elections are the first cause of economic and social downfall in a country. > Reaffirming the Founding Fathers' disdain for democracy.
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  142. Actually, it was left wing politics that did Venezuela in.
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  143. Ditto for Trinidad & Tobago.
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  144. Nope.
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  145. Nope. Try the other "S" word. Socialism.
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  146. And Costa Rica.
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  147. Or benevolent ones as their benevolence is for personal gain.
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  148. Just like it doesn't matter how much oil you have if the infrastructure to extract, refine and put out to market crumbles due to mismanagement and neglect as Chavez and Maduro blew the funds on buying votes hardly bothering to reinvest.
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  149. <The Venezuelan government's only mistake was to decide to take care of all of it's people > By buying votes and loyalty with money stolen from the middle class.
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  150. Not even the socialist disaster that plagued Russia and Eastern Europe.
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  151.  @noahramsey  Equality, maybe. But happiness and prosperity? LOL.
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  152.  @noahramsey  Equality, happiness and prosperity. Venezuela has none of the 3. Venezuela is functionally socialist.
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  153.  @jojinkang2779  And whatever successes it does achieve is often short-lived.
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  154.  @stephenc2481  Especially once the free stuff (namely stuff stolen from people who work and produce for a living) runs out.
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  155.  @MistikaManiac  Only Venezuela is functionally speaking. Finland is a capitalist welfare state.
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  156.  @TheMagnificentGman  With many of the rich being Trump-haters and Democrats.
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  157. And their love for big government.
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  158. Yes it due to the Chavez, Maduro and socialism.
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  159. And Venezuela killed it off in its all-out war on private enterprise.
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  160. A failed South American dictatorship that just happened to be socialist as Chavez and Maduro ran the country like such. The decimation of the private sector and domestic production with price controls, expropriations, the killing off of the successful, skilled and productive or should I say the bourgeoisie in favor of political stooges, vote-buying and rigging, etc.
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  161. Left wing politicians already did that even without nationalizing private enterprise thanks to the PASOK.
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  162. France scrapped it as it didn't generate the revenue it thought it would and lost a lot of productive people.
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  163. I didn't know Norway goes around seizing private property it could get its hands on and chase out its successful and productive among them.
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  164.  @davidbach7003  <and a government that cares for it's citizens.> This is when we humans don't have the same needs. Not everyone needs a government micromanaging their lives 24/7.
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  165. Actually the US sanctions contributed little to Venezuela's decline as Venezuela collapsed 3 years before any sanction was imposed. And how exactly is Scandinavia socialist as it doesn't operate on a command economy like Venezuela does?
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  166. A prime example of why America's Founding Fathers didn't want a democracy.
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  167.  @Lewis-Legend  No it is right. Chavez and Maduro are the main culprits. The sanctions are of little consequence. Most of Venezuela's difficulties were self-inflicted. And where were you in 2015 when Venezuela collapsed and it wasn't under sanctions yet?
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