[tolbiny]

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Socialism is bad for the poor.

In any event, Chavez is a one trick pony. God help the guy if there is ever a technology breakthrough and the price of oil goes down.

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Socialism is not bad for the poor. In Venezuala the poor are in a better position than they were under US backed control- though the l/t effects may prove otherwise. Im no socialist but as an ideology it favours the poor.

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tell that to the poor in

CUBA
CHINA
OLD USSR
etc etc

And everywhere else this BS idea has been tried. Socialism creates the ultimate breading ground for graft and corruption. The IDEA may be to help the poor but they get buttsecksed by the ruling elite at every turn. Show me one socialist country present or past where the poor don't get a more raw deal than any comparable "free market" country

Any time you create a system with hyper rigid transaction rules the only people who win are those that break the rules.

for a micro lesson on this see Enron and the California "deregulation" fiasco.

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Name one country with a free market that cares about the poor.

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Poverty rates in the US decreased pretty consistently during periods up until the 1950s and the beginning of the great society programs. The exceptions to this trend were during high government interference (Great depression, Wars), the same can be said of England in the pre industrial revolution years through the 1890s (if memory serves correctly).