Dixie - In Memoriam
New member
It is widely reported, Hugo Chavez' net worth at the time of his death, was in the neighborhood of $1 billion. This is a considerably large chunk of wealth for a man who never had a regular job, other than life-long president of Venezuela. He spent his early years in the military, and as far as I am aware, not many billionaires have made their fortunes serving in the military, so where did Chavez acquire all of this money?
The principles espoused by Socialists, (and by basically every pinhead liberal on this board), argues for a system where everyone has equality of wealth. "Value extraction" and fair compensation for labor, wealth redistribution, so that everyone shares more equally, a piece of the pie. But Chavez, it seems, had a billion dollar piece of that pie in Venezuela. Now, since I doubt the average person in Venezuela is a billionaire, my question becomes; How could one man end up controlling so much wealth, under a system which promises wealth equality?
The answer here is simple, Chavez is a prime example of how Socialist systems FAIL! Chavez was the ruler and the ruler makes the rules, therefore, the ruler can obtain however much wealth they please. Graft and corruption are prevalent, as the people around Chavez are able to manipulate resources and pilfer money which should have gone to the people. The result, as we see with virtually every Socialist regime, is a Ruling Class, who control all the wealth and power... the 1%.
In America, the hated and reviled 1% are people who own corporations or businessmen who have made wise investments, and we are free to penalize them with more taxation, more regulation, and we can even proactively boycott their businesses and not buy their products in protest. We can stage sit-ins and demand government do something about the 1%, and our elected representatives can listen to our concerns and pass legislation, etc. When the 1% is the Ruling Class, you can't do any of this. What product can you boycott? Who can you turn to? The 1% now control not only the wealth, but also the political power, and not in some removed sense, but directly. Would we allow the 1% in America to determine all our laws and handle government? What would likely happen? Of course, their best interests would be served, and it wouldn't be good for the 'average' person. But the same principle applies if the 1% are the Ruling Class. The difference being, there is no recourse against the Ruling Class, except Revolution.
The principles espoused by Socialists, (and by basically every pinhead liberal on this board), argues for a system where everyone has equality of wealth. "Value extraction" and fair compensation for labor, wealth redistribution, so that everyone shares more equally, a piece of the pie. But Chavez, it seems, had a billion dollar piece of that pie in Venezuela. Now, since I doubt the average person in Venezuela is a billionaire, my question becomes; How could one man end up controlling so much wealth, under a system which promises wealth equality?
The answer here is simple, Chavez is a prime example of how Socialist systems FAIL! Chavez was the ruler and the ruler makes the rules, therefore, the ruler can obtain however much wealth they please. Graft and corruption are prevalent, as the people around Chavez are able to manipulate resources and pilfer money which should have gone to the people. The result, as we see with virtually every Socialist regime, is a Ruling Class, who control all the wealth and power... the 1%.
In America, the hated and reviled 1% are people who own corporations or businessmen who have made wise investments, and we are free to penalize them with more taxation, more regulation, and we can even proactively boycott their businesses and not buy their products in protest. We can stage sit-ins and demand government do something about the 1%, and our elected representatives can listen to our concerns and pass legislation, etc. When the 1% is the Ruling Class, you can't do any of this. What product can you boycott? Who can you turn to? The 1% now control not only the wealth, but also the political power, and not in some removed sense, but directly. Would we allow the 1% in America to determine all our laws and handle government? What would likely happen? Of course, their best interests would be served, and it wouldn't be good for the 'average' person. But the same principle applies if the 1% are the Ruling Class. The difference being, there is no recourse against the Ruling Class, except Revolution.
