Another installment of "people are stupid"

Evo Morales has decided to seize gas assets from international oil companies and renationalize. How many times must this happen before people realize socialism and nationalization of assets impoverishes people?

Morales has openly allied himself with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. There's a winning team.

Chavez has strong support among the under-educated in Venezuela (and was elected when 75% of the populace boycotted the polls as a sham), and Morales will for a time as well. Of course, since Chavez took power, oil (the largest export item in the Venezuelan economy) has increased in price by about 300% and yet, by most estimates, the poor have grown poorer. Of course some say that figure fails to capture the increase in wealth accumulated by government food handouts and services. As even the most ignorant of college educated economists would have to agree, a recipient cannot capitalize food handouts or health services, so while some living standards may be lifted via a temporary increase in the oil price, the underlying wealth figure is the more significant, since as oil deflates, the handouts and services will become unsustainable, and the failure of economic growth in the country will become evident.

Fidel Castro locks up dissenters, refuses to allow rival political parties, and oppresses the entire populace. He produces some decent doctors though. Anybody who defends this man, I invite you to live there. If it's not good enough for you, why would you assume it's good enough for them? 'nuff said.

Now we've got Morales and Bolivia.

It is no coincidence that these men are all populists who count the most ignorant members of their societies as their key supporters. It is also no coincidence that those who receive decent education and members of societies who have experienced this kind of enlightened dictatorship are the quickest to reject this utopian idiocy. This current resurgence of utopian dictatorship is fueled by anti-Americanism and anti-semitism (especially of Chavez). Blaming the failure of previous leftism on the obvious fascism and manipulation of the Ameri-Jew conpiracy is old hat to these enlightened socialists. Still suprising to me that people believe it, no matter how uneducated.

How many times must people be subjegated by utopian ideology? How long until oppresive ultra-leftism is rejected forever, like it's cousin, Hispano-Fascism?

Morales, Chavez, and Castro are enjoying a temporary resurgence. They will be popular for another two years, and then their economies will collapse... Wonder how they'll blame us for it this time?

//