Venezuelan politicians hoping to replace the current regime in Venezuela mostly offer just re-treads of the failed socialism the country has endured for decades.
The theory goes like this: capitalism combines with consumerism and advertising to make us sad, lonely, and forever chasing after material goods. So we consume endlessly and the Machiavellian capitalists reap the rewards. It's not a great theory.
Industrialization and capitalism finally freed us from the starvation and deprivation of endless centuries of subsistence living. Now socialists in Venezuela have managed to reverse centuries of progress.
Beyond the usual arguments about incentives and taxes, a Universal Basic Income is a dangerous policy that supercharges the state and threatens to heighten tensions between different groups in society.
We continue to live with the wreckage of failed urban renewal, and Progressive city planning. And the evidence can be seen in the tent cities and makeshift latrines we now see in public spaces.
If the Wal-Mart CEO were to take a $1 salary and the company were to spread that over each of the company's workers, each worker would receive a one-time bonus of $10.
Even if a machine were technically capable of providing the same service more cheaply, many consumers are likely to prefer human staff in many cases, including nurses and care providers, entertainers, chefs, and teachers.
If inequality keeps billionare Ray Dalio up at night, he could shrink his holdings through bold capital allocations aggressively focused on changing how we live, work, fly, and play.
The New Deal invigorated a bureaucratic state which had already done much to limit the entrepreneurial opportunities of Americans of all racial and economic backgrounds.
