Socialism Doesn’t Work, But People Keep Trying It
Socialism Doesn’t Work, But People Keep Trying It
By Todd Strandberg
It has been repeatedly proven that socialism is the worst form of government that mankind has ever devised. The Soviet Union tried for decades to create the worker’s paradise. It floundered because socialism thrives on the sins of greed, envy, and laziness. When you have the government handing you the fruit of other people’s labor, there is no need for you to be a productive member of society.
The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, realized the error of socialism when he made a trip to Florida. Gorbachev went into a supermarket and he was shocked by all the food available on the shelves. He was particularly amazed at the variety of puddings. In the USSR, people were generally forced to buy whatever limited items were available at the time.
Even a nation with a wealth of resources can still be hampered by socialism. South Africa has been blessed with many mineral deposits. In 1975 it produced 75 percent of the world’s annual production of gold. Today, it only produces about 7 percent of the world’s gold.
The problem is not that all the gold in South Africa has been mined; the U.S. Geological Survey estimated in that South Africa holds about 40 percent of the world’s gold resources. With 90 percent of the world’s platinum resources, South Africa has precious metal deposits that are worth nearly $3 trillion.
The key reason for the steep decline in South Africa’s gold production has been political. When blacks took over the white-dominated apartheid government, they viewed the wealthy white mining magnates as exploiters of poor black laborers. The Johannesburg government has placed so many taxes, ownership restrictions and wage controls on mines, that there have been very few new investments.
It can take up to 10 years of development before a mine is ready to go into production. To justify the risk, a mining company needs strong assurances that its investment is not going to vanish overnight. There are elements in the ruling African National Congress that are calling for outright nationalization of mining firms
Venezuela is another nation rich in resources, yet poor because of its socialist ideology. According to OPEC’s 2015 figures, Venezuela has the most proven crude oil reserves in the world, with over 300 billion barrels. That puts it ahead of Saudi Arabia (266 billion barrels), Iran (158 billion barrels) and Iraq (142 billion barrels).
The liberal media blame Venezuela’s economic problems decline on the price of oil. The price slump cannot explain why the nation is in a total economic meltdown. The inflation rate, according to the IMF, will balloon to 720 percent this year. Food shortages have the people of Venezuela starving. Three out of four individuals surveyed reported an involuntary weight loss last year. Hospitals have completely broken down.
The impoverishment of Venezuela is the result of its leftist government using the nation’s oil industry as its own piggy bank. Immediately after the state kicked foreign oil firms out of the country, the production of oil began to decline going from 3.1 million barrels per day to 1.7 million barrels per day. The government was so eager to bribe the general population with cheap subsidies, it caused the nation’s oil industry to implode from a lack of reinvestments.
The lessons of South Africa and Venezuela are not reaching the ballot boxes in other countries. People are voting for candidates that promise the most financial handouts. Great Britain just had an election where the party of Jeremy Corbyn gained several seats.
A couple of years ago, Corbyn was being pressured to resign because of anti-Semitism in the Labor party ranks. He has made a comeback by promising goodies to younger voters. Last week Corbyn made a bold proposal to seize the empty homes of the rich to house the survivors of the devastating fire at London’s Grenfell Tower apartment complex. The insane Marxist comment was reported by the press with little criticism.
Here in America, we are headed for a socialized medical system because no party wants to restore a true capitalist market that would drive down costs. Our leaders would rather avoid the short term pain and instead have the government (taxpayers) fund our ballooning medical expenses.
Margaret Thatcher gave one of the most concise assessments of why socialism cannot work: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” With tax rates near 70 percent for some people, the end of road must be very near.
It is very likely that the Antichrist will be the king of socialists. He will have a global population worshipping at his feet because he will be handing out spoils like no other world leader. His first task may be to plunder all the bank accounts of all the missing Christians.
“He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but only for a time” (Daniel 11:24).
–Todd