General Politics Discussion (V) [ARCHIVED] • Page 516

Ain't that America

 

Are countries whose entire economies are based on oil and subject to brutal, punitive sanctions from the United States naturally destined to suffer regime change at the hands of the United States?

 

Thread

 

You are awesome.

I'm pretty active and suffer from anxiety. On and off medication. Trying new things. Not major depressive though, so I can't speak to anything like that.

 

Gotta love buffets tho

 

I would say yes. When a force like the US puts that much pressure on a smaller force then exponential changes will occur. Would you say yes to my question?

 

I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, but do you think Venezuela would be in a more stable position now if Hugo Chavez had not crippled their sovereign wealth fund? Norway is another oil-rich country, but they have invested their surplus revenues in a diversified fund that will outlast a collapse of the oil sector.

 

I don't think humans are naturally destined to do anything. Our nature is determined by our material and social context. In a world of forced scarcity and economic inequality the barter system is of course going to be a way of getting one's basic needs. But, when did Venezuela go away from "the barter system?" Are you aware of any time in Venezuelan history where people were not working for an employer, getting paid wages, and using those wages to purchase basic essentials? I am not.

 

I'm not an expert either but I would think so. I would not dispute that the Venezuelan economy was mismanaged, I would just dispute that that mismanagement is a characteristic of socialism, or that Venezuela was ever socialist. My understanding is Chavez was a populist welfare state advocate more than anything.

Speaking of Norway, significantly more of its economy is publicly owned than in Venezuela. So even understanding "socialism" to just mean "public ownership," Norway more than disproves any negative conclusions to be drawn about "socialism" based on Venezuela.

 

@justin. Did you link to r/capitalism on purpose? Why not just link to the actual article, considering there isn't (yet) a discussion in the Reddit comments?

 

Just some more Israeli war crimes

 

The actual article link wasn’t sharing properly so I had to share it from the Reddit link.

 

Viral footage shows a man in a Whataburger throwing a drink in a teenager's face and taking his 'MAGA' hat - Business Insider Viral footage shows a man in a Whataburger throwing a drink in a teenager's face and taking his 'MAGA' hat — Business Insider

Ok I obviously don’t condone this kind of behavior, but whether you support the president or not, I think the MAGA motto and hat have become a negative/hostile symbol towards minorities/ opposers that is genrally worn by people just to get under people’s skin and send a message, especially in San Antonio, given its demographic. But, I have to say that was pretty fucking hilarious. And that’s not even near the craziest thing I’ve seen happen at a Whataburger at 2 am

I have an uncle in Dallas who got all his windows smashed on his truck for having a MAGA sticker about a year ago. and again, that’s fucked up, however we found it funny how surprised he was that it happened.

 

He had an agent?

 

Anybody going out in public wearing a MAGA hat is asking for it. They're not wearing it because it has aesthetic appeal, they're wearing it because it gives them a sense of supremacy over others, whether it is racially or politically motivated, it's just disgusting.

 

I was at a cookout with my girlfriend's family last night and one of the cousins was wearing a MAGA hat. It definitely made me feel really uncomfortable, even his mom was like "I'm just worried you're going to get your ass kicked". We were lighting fireworks off in the front lawn and I was embarrassed any time people walked by.

 

I don't want no part of yo' tight-ass country club, ya freak bitch!

 

The only reason to wear a MAGA hat is to provoke people. If someone wears it, they should expect to be at least criticized or worse, even though I don't condone it.

Hard to feel bad for them though. It's practically a swastika-lite logo.

 

I've seen 1 MAGA hat in the wild I think. Old dude, at least 75.

 

At this point it’s pretty much antagonistic to wear MAGA material. I don’t agree with physically assaulting someone for it but I don’t see anything wrong with people asking someone to take it off or to leave whatever restaurant they are in.