With Tom though Venezuela seems to be some obsessive thing about pointing out where our country will end up if any semblance of liberal and/or socialistic programs are allowed to creep into our own society. That is probably why most of us could care less. The dynamics involved in a country like that compared with this country makes this more than even an apples and oranges comparison. It's more like apples and galaxies.

I've heard variations on this rationalization for years. Oh, yes, THEY screwed up centralized economics, but surely HERE we could make it work.

In point of fact, the historical evidence has been in on this for a long time. "Dynamics" is irrelevant. Regardless of culture, climate, resources, history, language, race, or any other variable, those nations that have gone all the way with collectivist economics have become poverty-stricken hellholes, accompanied by the political totalitarianism that is the inevitable corollary of complete centralized control of human economic activity.

There have been the equivalent of controlled experiments on this. East and West Germany. North and South Korea. China and Hong Kong/Taiwan.

Venezuela should be richer than hell, and they're rationing food. And this is because of specific economic and other policies that are identical to those promoted by many leftists in our own country.

It would be interesting to make a list of Chavez's specific policies, file off the serial numbers, and ask people you know if they think this would be a great idea in our own country.