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Is Atlas Shrugging in Venezuela? [Possible Atlas Shrugged Spoilers]

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Dustin86

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In Atlas Shrugged, John Galt swore that he would "stop the motor of the world".

In Venezuela, as the country drifts farther and farther towards communism, factories are closing down, the country's GDP is falling fast, businesses are closing, and oil in many fields is ceasing to be produced.

In Venezuela, is Atlas Shrugged coming true?

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I don't see any AS-type producers' strike in Venezuela. Businesses and people are leaving not so much by choice as by force. It's a politically self-induced economic crisis. It's a typical socialist revolution that results in the typical nationalization of businesses and brain-draining emigration to other countries. 

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Difference is, you don't need to build a gulch, to opt out of Venezuela's economic system. You just need to leave the country. Over 2.1 million people left already.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_diaspora

And, unlike with Mexico and some Central and South American countries (where it's the poor emigrating to the US, seeking menial jobs), this is the upper and middle class, leaving and settling in pretty much every country in the world, outside maybe Africa and some of the bad parts of Asia.

That's actually one of the reasons why the crash is happening so quickly, compared to other communist states. These idiots forgot to build a giant wall, guarded by men with guns and attack dogs. So all the productive people just packed their bags and took a plane out of there.

P.S. the third stage of the migration is actually whoever is left...lower middle class and the poor, crossing the border into Colombia (some staying, some making their way to the US through smuggling routes).

Edited by Nicky
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On 12/14/2017 at 11:15 PM, Dustin86 said:

In Venezuela, is Atlas Shrugged coming true?

I would argue that yes, it is. As others have pointed out, the Venezeualan middle class is leaving en masse for other countries. Those that stay in Venezuela are becoming less productive due to government seizure of corporate assets. Whether or not they are going on "strike" deliberately out of principle almost doesn't matter because the result is the same. Although I don't doubt that many principled Venezuelans are refusing to work in such a system as well.

22 hours ago, Nicky said:

Difference is, you don't need to build a gulch, to opt out of Venezuela's economic system. You just need to leave the country. Over 2.1 million people left already.

Prager U did a great video on this topic, explaining the history of socialism in Venezuela.

As Trump said at the UN, the problem with Venezuela isn't that socialism has been poorly implemented. The problem is that socialism has been faithfully implemented.

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