The Bartender and the Bus Driver

One of the great mysteries of my life is how there can still be people promoting socialist political ideology. It is something that I have heard for nearly seven decades.

You would think the evidence of those last seven decades would have disheartened even the most passionate devotee that believes that socialism benefits humanity.

Let's look at a few examples.

I am using some of the extreme examples of communism compared to capitalism. American socialists today argue that communism is not their ultimate goal. They do not desire to take over all private property and production. They just want to take what is needed to be "fair" to everyone. Of course, Marxist theory (see above) makes clear that socialism is considered just a transitional state toward the realization of communism.

Of course, there is never enough to go around. Therefore, this inevitably requires more and more control by the government of the private sector. Look no further than what has happened in Venezuela.

Korea was cut into two halves after the Korean War. The North adopted socialist political and economic theory. The South was committed to capitalism and freedom.

Same people. Same cultural background. Very different results.

There is no better way to view the stark difference than this satellite image taken by NASA in 2014. That dark area between South Korea and China is North Korea at night.

PHOTOGRAPH BY EARTH SCIENCE & REMOTE SENSING UNITY, NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

The difference? Communism vs. Capitalism.

Looking at it in graphic terms comparing Gross Domestic Product it looks like this.

Credit: Edward C. Prescott, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics

A similar situation occurred in West Germany and East Germany when Germany was divided after World War II. Same people. Same culture. The West and East both had GDP per capita numbers that were identical in 1949. By 1990 (at the time of reunification), the capitalist West had GDP per capita that was almost double that of the East.

The difference? Communism vs. Capitalism.

It is no different between Communist China and Taiwan (The Republic of China).

China has made enormous strides since it moved away from its "planned socialist economic" system and moved to what it now calls its "socialist market economic" system that introduced privatization and contacting out much of state-owned industry in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Is it a coincidence that China's economy took off right after they moved from a strict communist system to a more open, market based system?

There is no better way to show this than in this chart of averages wages in China which have exploded upwards since those market reforms were instituted.

Another way to look at it is to consider the fact that in 1990 756 million Chinese lived in extreme poverty. By 2013 that number was 25 million.

By the way, Taiwan has 23 million people in a country of 13,973 square miles. China has a population of 1.3 billion with 3,705,407 square miles. Despite all the advantages of geographic size, natural resources and the population that China has, Taiwan's GDP per capita is 3 times larger today even after China's huge step forward with its economic reforms over the last 30 years. That is a lot of additional wealth. That is the difference between capitalism and communism.

Of course, we do not have to look any further than Venezuela to see what socialism has done to what was once the most prosperous country in South America in the space of less than two decades.

Bear in mind that all of this is occurring in a country that is reputed to have the largest oil reserves in the world. Despite that, food is so scarce that last year the average citizen is reported to have lost 19 pounds. Millions have fled the country's shortages and poverty.

Last week Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro announced a new single exchange rate for a new Venezuelan currency that would effectively devalue the currency by 96 percent.

In one of the biggest economic overhauls of Maduro's five-year government, the former bus driver and union leader also said he would hike the minimum wage by over 3,000 percent, boost the corporate tax rate, and increase highly-subsidized gas prices in coming weeks.

"I want the country to recover and I have the formula. Trust me," Maduro said in a nighttime speech broadcast on state television.

Of course, that 3,000% increase in the minimum wage will not help those workers very much. Economists predict that the inflation rate in Venezuela this year will hit 1,000,000%!

Maduro has the formula and he wants those that are left in Venezuela to trust him?

It sounds a lot like new Democrat darling Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez doesn't it?  She also says she has the formula and to trust her.

Did you know that Maduro was a bus driver before he got into politics?

Did you know that Ocasio-Cortez was a bartender?

Socialism and communism inevitably results in a lower standard of living and hardships for the masses. It has been documented time and again throughout history.

The irony is that it is always sold as being a better system for the masses. It is promoted as "the way" to remove class distinctions, unfairness and insure equitable wealth distribution in a society.

You have to remember that the economic system of governance makes little difference to the leaders of countries.

After all, they lead a life of privilege no matter what economic system is in place. That is even truer in communist or socialist countries because the political leaders become the aristocracy. Everyone is beholden to the government.

That is why we keep hearing about the ideal of socialism. It is because there will always be a bartender, bus driver, baker or barrister who figures out that their career prospects are better as a politician selling this baloney. Why work and pay taxes when you can get on a podium, promise people the world, take other people's money and spread it around as you see fit? And keep a pretty nice share for yourself.

That is pretty much the history of socialism and communism.

That is also why, even though history is replete with the failures of socialism, we will continue to have bartenders and bus drivers who say "trust me, I have the formula."

There will also be new generations who are ignorant of history and actually believe these people have a formula that actually works.

Trust me.

It never has and it never will as long as humans inhabit the earth.