I don't think anybody wants to be like Venezuela but it's more about the definition of socialism in the USA. When conservatives say socialism they point to Venezuela. When liberals say socialism they point to Denmark, Sweden and Norway so there are a lot of people who would love to be like Denmark, Sweden and Norway but nobody wants to be like Venezuela. Sorry about that, Venezuela.
Just to be fair to Denmark, Sweden and Norway, they don't believe they're socialist countries (the Danish prime minister got on Bernie Sanders' case for calling them socialists). People who support the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela actually say they're socialists. Their president and their last president are from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela so I guess it's official, Venezuela is a socialist country.
Just let's not be like them. If I needed to lose weight I'd rather have the Atkins Diet over the Maduro Diet.
So sorry you beat me to it. From my experience the Scandinavian countries have taken the best from both political and economic systems. I've heard them called free market socialists. Free medical care and education for all in the context of free market capitalism - highly regulated and taxed of course but still with some of the highest GNP per capita in the world.
Why would anybody embrace capitalism when they can look at Amerika and see what it did to them. But there are other capitalist countries.
This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at May 28, 2018 5:43 PM MDT
my main problem is with the spelling 'America', it names a landmass (what Amerigo/Columbus discovered) rather than a country. The fact that one country have taken the name for its own is all the more reason to use an alternate spelling (invented by citizens of that country).
But America is a name based on Amerigo. North America, Central America, and South America are names for land masses/continents. The United States of America is the name of a nation occupying part of the continent of North America. What exactly is your problem with that? To what and/or whom is the USA causing damage by using that name - which, BTW, is universally recognized and accepted by the world community? It's not as if the name is in limited supply and somebody else is prevented from using it.
It's amazing to me that you spend time and energy taking offense with such a trivial thing that doesn't affect anybody's life. Why don't you find a real issue with which to take umbrage?
What do you call it? It bothers you enough to make a point of it. It also begs the question of what you think of names such as the United Arab Emirates and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. What is a socialist republic anyway?
This post was edited by Stu Spelling Bee at May 29, 2018 2:54 AM MDT
Because they can also look at Sweden and see what it did for them. Democratic Free Market Socialism. Whst Venezuela has is more akin to Communism, which only works for ants.
The website I just looked at says it's about 33% for the upper brackets. I thought the folks I talked to there said it was higher than that. They don't need to save for their children's college or pay such high rates for health insurance. Another result is a distribution of wealth that is much more even than in the USA and all other capitalist countries.
They also don't need to fund national defense and aren't called upon to provide military support to other nations. Nothing like comparing apples to oranges.
Actually Sweeden do fund their own defenses, building fighter planes and whatnot. If you want to blame somebody for shirking Denmark is a more fitting target, our military might is a joke and largely dependent on us holding a highly valuable strategic position (we are the cork limiting access to/from the Baltic sea) If Russia start rumbling our allies will be have to defend us, for their own protection. Alas, not so valuable anymore, now that global warming have opened a sea-route north of Norway.
Don't you just love the way that some Venezuelans and their supporters in other parts of the world blame their problems on the United States, and because of it have adopted "hate America" and "down with America" stances?
They've given it a new name....progressivism. Liberal progressives are socialists, not Democrats. I believe that more than half of those identifying as progressive don't even know what it means. They just think it's cool.......I mean, celebrities and professors can't be wrong, can they? Corner a couple of young liberals and ask some questions about socialism and see how they respond. You'll immediately see that they have no idea. That whole movement is being controlled with a lot of money and a few people.......................................the others are brainwashed stepford protesters without an original thought in their heads.
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at May 29, 2018 2:57 AM MDT
Great answer Thriftymaid. What these young liberals dont realize, is that all the blood sweat and tears our founding fathers put into getting us the freedoms we enjoy today, is on the brink of disaster if we dont fight as hard as they did to keep those freedoms. It baffles me how brain washed so many people are in this country. They need to get rid of the cable, and hook into whats really going down in this country.
Like freedom to get shot at school. Freedom to be turned away from A&E if you're poor. Freedom to miss out on college, same reason. Freedom to be operated on by a moron with a rich daddy rather than a genius from a dirt-poor background.
Given that familicide is NOT classed in the same category as random massacres, the number of mass shootings (defined as an incident involving firearms with four or more casualties) in Australia since 1996 is STILL zero. Adding familial murder-suicides, it's two (2 in 22 years, as opposed to 2 a week in the US). And it has NEVER happened in an Australian school. Not once. Ever.
Good for you. If lots of people moved to Australia and you had a population closer to the 323 million of the US instead of the measly 24 million of Australia, then you'd have the same problems, guaranteed.
You love to prescribe for countries where you've never lived, don't you?
Livvie 