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This post is full of pitch forks aimed at the socialism bogeyman. It’s a bit more nuanced. I’m not going to defend that prick Maduro, however oil prices and sanctions haven’t helped their situation.

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Turns out there's a cost to guaranteeing a certain quality of life, without requiring the productivity that was previously needed to secure it. Capitalism has its faults, but for the day to day management of a population, rewarding those who produce goods is a pretty logical baseline for economics

I’m not arguing socialism or capitalism is great. I’m saying their crisis isn’t socialism in a vacuum, and lack of nuanced discussion in favour of capitalism vs socialism is getting kind of old.

It’s like thinking a program you wrote only has one bug.

Your highest level reply did not imply you were willing to consider socialism as a factor. Socialism is a very large factor in this. Not in principle, but in practice. Is it possible for a fair, balanced, stable form of socialism to be designed? Possibly, I don't know. Can a group of greedy, selfish, arrogant Great Apes manage it? Absolutely not.

The sanctions are the biggest factor and it's often external influences that force politicians to enact populistic policies as a massive bandaid that are then interpreted as socialism. The bandaid isn't the problem, it's the wound.

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