How many times does socialism have to fail before people come to their senses?
Some have figured it out. Chile, for example, has a sound economy and no one lines up at the US Embassy looking for a “work visa”. On the contrary, Chileans travel to the US to invest, buy our goods and services or do a little sightseeing. They also have a sound currency and a thriving middle class.
Some are still in the dark, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba. By the way, I mean literally in the dark, as we’ve heard of the lights going out in Venezuela recently.
It looks like socialism has a new disciple, i.e. the Democrat candidate for New York City mayor in the upcoming election.
Where is Rudy-G when we really need him?
Michael Goodwin explains that the Democrat in New York is running a campaign based on income inequality:
““Fighting inequality and fighting economic injustice,” as he put it, is what he’s all about.
Good luck with that, but before New Yorkers jump onto the Democrat’s bound-for-utopia bandwagon, some history is required. We could start with Karl Marx, but we’d just get lost trying to decode the incomprehensible differences among Marxists, Leninists and Trotskyites.
Instead, let’s look at Cuba, which, strictly by the numbers, reflects the paradise de Blasio describes. Fidel and Raul Castro had their way for 54 years and pulled off the socialist dream: The island nation had the least income inequality in the world, a survey found. North Korea also was off the charts.
Of course, there are some peculiar facts about Cuban exceptionalism.
Everybody is equally poor, with average monthly wages of $19, while children’s shoes can cost nearly as much.
And that much-ballyhooed health-care system? It’s a joke. Bring your own sheets, bedpans and food to the hospital, and pray you don’t die of infections or neglect. True, it is free, so your family won’t get stuck with a capitalist-size bill to bury you. What a relief that must be.
On my visit to Cuba, I was struck by the total breakdown of everything except the police state. Havana’s once-glorious architecture is crumbling, and there are chickens and pigs, but no running water, in large parts of the central city.
Half the cars are owned by the government, and the other half belong in antique shops. Smaller cities look as though they are stuck in the 19th century, with public transportation consisting of a man guiding a horse-drawn wagon. TV and Internet are scarce and tightly controlled. Complaining about any of this can land you behind bars.”
We Cubans know a thing or two about speeches calling for “income inequality”. As my mom will tell you: “Yo vi esa pelicula” or “I saw that movie”.
Of course, they will call us “right wing reactionaries” for calling Mr De Blasio a socialist. They will say that we see socialism in our soup and just can’t see straight.
What do you call it when the letters in your soup spell socialism?
What do you call a system that takes from those who produce and gives it to those who expect a handout?
We call it socialism. Worse than that, we call it a “‘fracaso” or failure.
Socialism has failed everywhere but there are still people looking for the right formula. Mr De Blasio is the latest!
P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here.