For All the Socialist Wannabes

Venezuela Socialist Timeline

1992 Became 3rd richest country in hemisphere.

1997 became 2nd largest purchaser of F-150s

2001 Voted for Socialist president, "Income Inequality"

2004 Private healthcare is completely socialized

2007 All higher education becomes"free"

2009 Socialist banned private ownership of guns

2012 Bernie Sanders praises their "American Dream"

2014 Opposition Leaders are imprisoned

2016 Food/Healthcare shortages become wide spread

2017 Constitution and elections are suspended.

2019 Unarmed citizens massacred by own government while trying to receive humanitarian aid.

It took only one generation of progressive leadership to plunge Venezuela into civil war and a socialist hell.

And for those of you who will attempt to point out that several European countries are socialist I will point out they are NOT Bernie Sanders type socialists. Most European governments don't control, or limit control of, private enterprise. And another difference is private ownership of property. The so-called European socialists still allow private ownership of property, for now. Venezuela eliminated private ownership a decade ago.

However, European socialism isn't much better. What Europe has done is to socialize nearly all aspects of life. AKA; "Free Stuff". This style of socialism would be what many low information younger voters are so attracted to recently. If these low information voters really understood what the future would be like under this style of socialism I really believe they would rethink their stance. European nations don't tax just the rich to pay for all that free stuff. The low range of national income tax begins at 46% and up to 65%. And this is not just on the rich, all levels of income pay these rates. Taxing Income is just the beginning. Most nations have a VAT tax (sales tax) ranging from 19%-24%. This is a regressive tax, impacting those with lower income much more so than those in higher income brackets. I know most of you are aware the price of gas in Europe is pretty high. In Germany, almost half the cost per gallon (liter) is in the form of tax. It cost $6.04 a gallon to fill up that BMW. Nearly three bucks of that is a tax. 

Imagine you make the equivalent of $80.000 while living in Germany. You just got your paycheck. Your pay stub says XYZ Widgets just paid you $3333.00. Disappointingly, your bank statement shows $1746.67 as a deposit. You curb this disappointment with the knowledge that kids are going to college for "free" with those taxes taken from your paycheck. 

Off to the market you go. You have to get some items for dinner. The eggs, milk, and potatoes costs $20.00. Perfect, you have an Andrew Jackson in you wallet. Then you notice the display: you owe $23.80. That's all right, an Abe Lincoln will cover it, and some change left over for the piggy bank. Plus, your healthcare is "free", although you wished you had an option to put some of your paycheck into a tax deferred health savings plan. 

On your way home, you notice the gas gauge is a little low so you pull in and get 10 gallons at $6.04 per. Your 10 gallons rings up at $71.88. What???? As you pull away from the ESSO station, dodging that pothole you remember, not only am I paying nearly 50% in taxes on the gas, they add on that 19% VAT. Supposedly, the gas tax goes to fixing the roads and for so-called "green" initiatives. Then you recall an article in Der Spiegel. This article highlights the $20 billion paid to the federal government in gas tax, of which almost none of has gone to those green plans. 

Once you get home, to your 900 square foot townhouse, you are certainly glad you choose to live in utopia-lite Germany where you are subjected to "only" 66.4% total tax burden, calculating that you actually make about $29,000. You are thankful you didn't decide to live in Greece where your $80,000 gets you about $8,800 annually once you are done paying an income tax rate of 65% and a VAT rate of 24% on everything you purchase. On top of all that, gas is nearly seven bucks a gallon, half of which are taxes.

Aren't you glad you voted for socialism?