Socialism and short memories
When you talk to people in Britain about Venezuela, most people don't understand why a country on the other side of the world matters to them.
When you talk to people about the Soviet Union, most people, especially those who were born after it ceased to exist, don't understand why a failed regime which fell a generation ago matters to them.
When you talk about the past, people are not interested - they want to know about the future.
Unfortunately, there is a reason why lessons we can learn from both Venezuela and the Soviet Union - not to mention former British governments which people over fifty have been glad to forget and people under fifty have never heard of - should matter to people in Britain today.
Because if we forget those lessons it will harm our future.
There is a well-meaning but disastrous economic philosophy called "socialism" which has been tried in many places throughout the world and ALWAYS been a failure.
When a mild form of socialism was attempted in Britain it ended in economic failure - in millions unemployed, rubbish piling up in the streets, the dead unburied, the most savage cuts in the NHS in its' history (far more extreme than anything Maggie Thatcher did) and Britain being called "the sick man of Europe."
When socialism has been tried in other countries, from the Soviet Union in the past to Venezuela today, the result is at best economic catastrophe and at worst mass murder, but it always fails.
And in Britain today the main opposition is led by people who want to try this disastrous philosophy again.
There is a good article on the subject by Kate Maltby here.
When you talk to people about the Soviet Union, most people, especially those who were born after it ceased to exist, don't understand why a failed regime which fell a generation ago matters to them.
When you talk about the past, people are not interested - they want to know about the future.
Unfortunately, there is a reason why lessons we can learn from both Venezuela and the Soviet Union - not to mention former British governments which people over fifty have been glad to forget and people under fifty have never heard of - should matter to people in Britain today.
Because if we forget those lessons it will harm our future.
There is a well-meaning but disastrous economic philosophy called "socialism" which has been tried in many places throughout the world and ALWAYS been a failure.
When a mild form of socialism was attempted in Britain it ended in economic failure - in millions unemployed, rubbish piling up in the streets, the dead unburied, the most savage cuts in the NHS in its' history (far more extreme than anything Maggie Thatcher did) and Britain being called "the sick man of Europe."
When socialism has been tried in other countries, from the Soviet Union in the past to Venezuela today, the result is at best economic catastrophe and at worst mass murder, but it always fails.
And in Britain today the main opposition is led by people who want to try this disastrous philosophy again.
There is a good article on the subject by Kate Maltby here.
Comments
That is a very true statement, it always fails.
That is what i have been trying to tell you for over 3 years about fiat currency, history tells us, it always fails.
Actually I don't have an over-riding belief in any ideology, and nor do I see the world as black and white but in shades of gray. Free markets do usually work better than socialism, but they are not perfect and do not always work.
When you look at the actual evidence, hardline socialist policies have a far more dismal record than fiat currency does.