Hilarious: NPR and NYT talk about Venezuela’s economic catastrophe and avoid the obvious - Thomas Lifson

by Thomas Lifson

--two earnest interlocutors (aren’t liberal elites always earnest?) struggle to explain what went wrong in Venezuela

John Hinderaker of Powerline came across an interview on NPT’s Fresh Air program that illustrates hilariously the ideological blinders that prevent both institutions from recognizing the obvious: socialism has ruined Venezuela, an extraordinarily resource-rich nation (world’s largest oil reserves), to the point where basic necessities are in short supply, civil society threatens to break down, and mass starvation cannot be ruled out.  

The two earnest interlocutors (aren’t liberal elites always earnest?) struggle to explain what went wrong in Venezuela, and just can’t bring themselves to consider socialism. It’s mismanagement, it’s corruption, it’s an inability to print enough money (seriously!), but whatever it is, it cant be socialism, because socialism is…good.

At the root of it all: the decline in oil prices:

What happened to cause the complete breakdown of Venezuela’s economy? NPR leads with this: “New York Times reporter Nicholas Casey talks about life in Venezuela, where the collapse in oil prices has caused shortages of everything….”

Hinderaker scores a bullseye, noting:

But oil prices have declined worldwide. You can still buy toilet paper in North Dakota.

Read the whole thing, and remember the old saying: There’s no fool like an educated fool.

Thomas Lifson

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/hilarious_npr_and_nyt_talk_about_venezuelas_economic_catastrophe_and_ovoid_the_obvious.html

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