With the Democratic National Convention just around the corner, Bernie Sanders finally endorsed Hillary Clinton for the party’s presidential nomination this week. But this support came with a cost, as he forced Hillary Clinton to abandon the center positions she had on trade and Social Security and move closer to his hate-the-rich, socialistic ideology.
Glance back to 1998 and you can see the format Sanders, now Clinton, are following. Hugo Chavez was elected president of Venezuela by the ignorant poor masses. He promised handouts and wealth redistribution. He appealed to their revenge and hate of greed. He said that being rich is bad.
“Rich people attack me for saying that, but I claim it is bad.”
He held capitalism responsible for many of the world’s problems. At a meeting with representatives of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, he said,
"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet."
But while Chavez was nationalizing foreign companies and taking farms from landowners to divide among the poor, he was fattening his own coffer …
According to Forbes at the time of his death in 2013, Chavez was worth an estimated $2 billion. Much of it reportedly stolen from Venezuela’s oil industry.
And his daughter, Maria Gabriela, is worth double that, making her the richest woman in the country.
So much for sharing the wealth and rich is bad.
Proof positive that the state is a great way to steal. And to make it easier, just toss some trinkets to the gullible masses to keep them at bay as long as you can.
Update … 2016
Venezuela is at a breaking point. Its citizens are protesting, just blocks from the presidential palace, demanding food and access to running water. And Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, is losing support of the poor — the very segment that keeps him in power. A recall-referendum against the leader has begun.
As a diversion to the rampant food shortages and 700%+ inflation, Maduro has pointed at the U.S. as the instigators of this unrest. And he calls on Venezuelans to prepare for an imminent invasion by the evil force to the north.
He said of the U.S. government, without any proof, during a rambling speech,
"From the empire, they dream of dividing our armed forces … fragmenting them, weakening them."
But the reality is that foreign companies are fleeing.
Coca-Cola has stopped production because it can’t get sugar.
Bridgestone Tire sold out.
Kimberly Clark, makers of Huggies diapers, Scott toilet paper, and Kotex have left.
Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Ford, GM, and Mondelez (Oreo) are gone.
Lufthansa and Latam airlines have suspended service to the country.
Politics as a money-making machine
Chavez and his family aren’t the only ones to profit by their political skill.
Take a look at the Clintons. Their net worth has soared.
In 1993 when Bill Clinton became president, their net worth was between $350,000 and $1 million.
At the end of his presidency, in 2000, he claimed the couple was dead broke. They had $2 million in assets, with $10 million in debt. Most of that was in legal fees as a result of their Whitewater investments and his Lewinsky shenanigans.
Today their net worth is an estimated $110 million thus showing how politics can be a money-making machine.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign slogan, “Fighting for you,” is catchy. But behind the curtain, is she fighting harder for herself? The $12,495 Armani jacket she wore at speech about inequality might answer that.
She claims to be a liberator of the oppressed. Although her trying to come across as a critic of Wall Street fat cats while pocketing six-figure speaking engagements to investment bankers is a tough pill to swallow.
Donald Trump put it bluntly,
“The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form.”
Could a Clinton presidency result in an economy that pulls away from capitalism and is distorted by subsidies and price freezes similar to what has happened in Venezuela?
Certainly possible.
That brings us to Trump
Trump may well surpass Chavez as one of the most visible, vocal, controversial leaders of modern times.
He continues his rants that are peppered with distorted facts shaking his fist at China and Mexico for creating our trade problems.
He is able to politicize any speech. He threatens to boycott Saudi Arabia, and hit Ford and Carrier with a 35% tax for moving jobs out of the U.S. Yet it is OK that a significant percentage of his company’s hotels and major properties are located abroad.
Would companies ignore President Trump’s threats and pack their bags, like they’re doing in Venezuela? Certainly possible.
Clinton shouted to supporters at her California victory speech that,
"He’s not just unprepared — he’s temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility."
Trump’s outbursts might give you reason to agree with Clinton’s assessment. Can you picture him launching insults at Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau; or England’s David Cameron? How about putting up a blockade against our trading partners if he doesn’t get his way??
Or worse yet: threatening to fire missiles at China or Iran?
Does that potential irrational behavior look like Venezuela’s Maduro’s? A thought to ponder.
2016: The year of the most-hated
According to RealClearPolitics averages, negative ratings for the major front-runners of each party hit historical highs …
Clinton has an unfavorable rating of 60%. Trump’s is 62%. Meanwhile, among those who have an unfavorable view of both candidates, President Obama’s approval ratings have jumped 20% in the past year!
What’s more, our current presidential campaign, with insults and distortions, is driven by the philosophy that if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it. Reason and objectively reporting the facts are signs of the past.
So it’s hard to figure out what is truth and what is hype. It’s as though we’re watching it all on split screens. But no matter which screen you’re leaning towards — Clinton’s demonizing corporations and the wealthy or Trump’s pound our adversaries into submission — the nightmare is real: our country’s politicians are looking more like Venezuela’s with each passing day.
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