Venezuela

[CapnAwesome]

He promised people free everything

What's wrong with that?

He simply didn't have the ecnomy to deliver on his promises and his policies weakened the economy further. I spent 6 months traveling in South America with someone who grew up in Venezuela who moved a few years after Chavez. Sure, they had 'free' hospitals there, but the care they provided was crap and nothing they could do was going to make them better. Anyone with the money went to private hospitals. It's not like by virtue of being a state you can create infinite resources. I can promise you free everything too. Why can't I just magically give you everything you want? The same applies to a state. I can get together with a bunch of other people and we can all promise you free everything. It doesn't make a difference if collectively people still don't have jack sit. If you don't have the resources to back it up, it's pointless.

That's the big difference between South American socialism and a country like Sweden. Sweden has free market trade policies, a strong economy and low corruption, so they can actually deliver on what they say. Venezuela does not. If people didn't learn that lesson in the 20th century, they learned nothing.