These chilling results should serve as a somber warning against arrogance in governmentLaura HollisMay 19, 2016
Jewish World Review
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0516/hollis051916.php3There are two stories getting a good deal of attention at the moment — seemingly unrelated, but in actuality too close for comfort.
The first story is the collapse of the Venezuelan economy under the socialist government originally run by Marxist strongman Hugo Chavez, and now by his successor, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Chavez was elected as a center-left reformer, but gradually moved further toward a completely socialized economy, nationalizing oil, agriculture, finance, steel, gold, telecommunications, power, transportation and tourism, among others. Many privately owned companies were forced to depart, leaving inventory and infrastructure in the hands of the Venezuelan government — all done in the name of "the people," of course.
The result has been nothing short of disastrous. Venezuela has one of the planet's richest oil reserves, but opted to export oil as the nearly exclusive foundation for the country's economy (upon which the country's heavy social spending also depended). As oil prices tumbled over the past year-plus, and without any meaningful economic diversification, the Venezuelan economy went into free fall. At this writing, the country is suffering from widespread shortages of food and medicine, basics such as toilet paper, and even power: President Maduro has called for daily outages. Hospitals are without such basic supplies as soap and antibiotics. Government workers are furloughed three days each week. Observers fear civil unrest or even revolution.
The economic collapse in Venezuela was inevitable. It is not because the people running government are less intelligent and more corrupt than the people running private corporations. It is that all people make mistakes. If one company out of many in a thriving economy of robust private enterprise makes a grievous error, that company may go out of business. But its competitors will certainly learn from its mistakes, and consumers will still have other options....
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A basic tenant of liberal thought is government is infallible. This unspoken premise is what makes central planning so attractive. However, as history proves, reality doesn't work that way.
