Anonymous

Venezuela, how socialism destroyed their country,
In the 1970s, Venezuela was well on its way to becoming the wealthiest country in Latin America. They were extremely prosperous in the oil industry. In 1999 Venezuela elected Socialist Hugo Chavez as their President. This was the beginning of the downfall of Venezuela. Chavez received visits from Hollywood elites like Danny Glover and Sean Penn, Bernie Sanders praised Chavez for his willingness to turn Venezuela into a " socialist paradise " Chavez started with nationalizing the oil industry, he put inexperienced minions in charge of the refineries resulting in fatal accidents and multiple fires. oil output fell by 25% decimating their manufacturing, sending them back to 1965 levels. Chavez then took control of farms and supermarkets causing food shortages and ordered reductions in distribution. Next he implemented social welfare causing huge deficits in their budget. The poor got subsidized food & housing while the politically connected got billions in subsidies.
Then came socialized medicine, this forced the government to borrow at high rates. Chavez believed their huge oil stockpiles would keep the cash flowing, well, oil prices tanked and so did the Venezuelan economy. Then Maduro was elected and inherited the mess, his authoritarian regime threw Venezuela into extreme poverty and he began using the military to control their own people, 90% of Venezuelans now live in poverty. All because of socialism, what happened in Venezuela is unfortunate, everyone thought socialism was the best thing since sliced bread. The hyperinflation of their currency also contributed to their severe poverty which continues to this very day. The inflation rate has climbed to a million percent. The reason? The government spends ridiculous amounts of money paying for social programs and the nationalizing of industries. To finance this they keep printing money to pay for it, however the increase in spending caused prices to rise. Hyperinflation has caused bartering on a massive scale in Venezuela. In 2012 Venezuela confiscated all firearms from their people, if you get caught with a gun? God help you. where have I heard this before? One of the claims of those who push socialism is that it will eliminate the wealthy and politically connected, thus benefiting the lower class citizens. Unfortunately this isn't true.
It doesn't get rid of the upper class people, it replaces the upper class with those who are favored by the government. Socialism gives total control over the people, they decide everything, who gets water, food and supplies, it creates a black market where the government gets their cut, enforcers see to that. The rule of law gets broken down also, does any of this sound familiar??? The military rounds up political prisoners daily, citizens fear speaking out against the government because they will get imprisoned or worse, killed. This sounds exactly like what the Democrats want to do to our country. America wasn't meant to be a socialist country, I do hope if the Democrats think of going down that road? Which it seems they are? Americans will refuse to accept it. We will wind up just like Venezuela, the only difference is it will take us just a little bit longer to get there. Wake up America!