Since coming into power over a decade ago, Chavez has reduced poverty and increased funding for social programs. A handful of industries have been nationalized but most banks (80% of them) and most other companies are still private companies. There is no real national plan. Obviously this is less "socialist" in some respects than even contemporary China, or other social-democracies in Western Europe, and Venezuelan income inequality is still as bad as America's. There are some promising reforms to local democratic control, but these are uneven.
jools posted:A Guy I Know went to venezuela where he heard a talk from an army officer about how the USA is occupied aztlan
as someone from occupied aztlan i find the implication that places such as the northeast and midwest "united" $tate$ are part of aztlan to be offensive
littlegreenpills posted:the daily beast claims he faked cancer as a pre-campaign stunt "in collusion with Havana" and his remark to the effect "Thank you God for letting me live" reveals his napoleonic delusions of a divinely ordained destiny lmao
The same guys that wrote this
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/23/we-failed-steve-jobs.html
I'm Sorry, Steve Jobs: We Could Have Saved You
Jobs’s death—like a generational Rorschach test—had provoked complex reactions within each of us. There was grief in abundance, of course, admixed with a sense of loss, with desolation and nostalgia. Outside the Apple store in SoHo, New York, that evening, there were bouquets of white gerberas and red roses. Someone had left a bushel of apples by the doorstep and a sign that read “I-miss ...”
I missed Jobs, too—but I also felt a personal embarrassment in his death. I am an oncologist and a cancer researcher. I felt as if my profession, my discipline, and my generation had let him down. Steve Jobs had promised—and then delivered—life-altering technologies. Had we, in all honesty, given him any such life-altering technologies back?
GoldenLionTamarin posted:its really fucked up when oil rich countries in 2012 dont follow the same path to socialism agrarian countries did in 1917. like, what the fuck. have you heard of "full communism". how about you nationalize that
agreed comrade, a good cadre must criticize anything that falls short of our vanguard party's precise idea of how a revolution and worker state should look
except when the trots do it, fuck those guys
Groulxsmith posted:GoldenLionTamarin posted:its really fucked up when oil rich countries in 2012 dont follow the same path to socialism agrarian countries did in 1917. like, what the fuck. have you heard of "full communism". how about you nationalize that
agreed comrade, a good cadre must criticize anything that falls short of our vanguard party's precise idea of how a revolution and worker state should look
except when the trots do it, fuck those guys
trots have never accomplished anything larger on than the scale of a coffee coop, so it's not really a pressing issue
AmericanNazbro posted:Groulxsmith posted:GoldenLionTamarin posted:its really fucked up when oil rich countries in 2012 dont follow the same path to socialism agrarian countries did in 1917. like, what the fuck. have you heard of "full communism". how about you nationalize that
agreed comrade, a good cadre must criticize anything that falls short of our vanguard party's precise idea of how a revolution and worker state should look
except when the trots do it, fuck those guystrots have never accomplished anything larger on than the scale of a coffee coop, so it's not really a pressing issue
Meh.. socially conscious hedge funds...
HenryKrinkle posted:criticizing obama for not being left enough is fine as long as you don't abandon support for him against his reactionary & conservative rivals. anyone who does that might as well apply for funding from the tea party
HenryKrinkle posted:I support voting for Chavez as the lesser evil, sort of like voting for Obama.
lol
gyrofry posted:he has my sword
and my axe
getfiscal posted:HenryKrinkle posted:criticizing obama for not being left enough is fine as long as you don't abandon support for him against his reactionary & conservative rivals. anyone who does that might as well apply for funding from the tea party
i support obama when he's left, which is never
your argument is invalid.
EDIT: if ur point is that one vote in a bourgeois election doesn't matter you should have stated that from the start.
HenryKrinkle posted:i guess we were wrong to support gaddafi against the thuwar and NATO since his regime wasn't socialist in 2011.
well, both obama and chavez are elected presidents, while gaddafi was a dictator. sic semper tyrannasaurus.
HenryKrinkle posted:EDIT: if ur point is that one vote in a bourgeois election doesn't matter you should have stated that from the start.
huh? in the past three federal elections in canada i've voted for a social-democratic party. i support the lesser evil.
that sounds nice
getfiscal posted:romney and his party are more right-wing than obama. that's pretty obvious. people can come up with superhero stories about how their one refused vote will cause the political system to crumble or whatever but i think that voting for obama makes sense. same with voting for chavez, even though he probably won't bring about socialism.
strategic voting is so delusional haha
Crow posted:strategic voting is so delusional haha
i think voting strategically for chavez makes sense.
animedad posted:is there a point where you stop wanting to die and start thinking social democracy is a good idea and start enjoying your long and compromised life.
that sounds nice
when you lose your soul and vigor, and become complacent to the point of being so empty on the inside you might as well be dead