The Dig on Venezuela: Can we Blame Socialism?

Economist Irish Swede and Political Scientist Tim Bristol join the show to discuss the history of Venezuela, the US's role, Socialism's role, and we look at it's leadership. This is a comprehensive arugment meant to dispell narritives and fact check common theories on the financial collapse of the Latin American nation.A Facebook post shared tens of thousands of times since 2019, and recently viral, claims that in only a decade, Venezuela's once thriving economy was crippled by socialism. The post, which shows a photo of Venezuela on a map, claims that 60 years ago the South American nation was twice as rich as China and four times as rich as Japan. It says it had the fourth wealthiest economy in the world and the most thriving country in Latin America. It further claims that Venezuela's currency was the worth the most, second only to the U.S. dollar. It also says it had a thriving health care system.But all of that was washed away in only a decade due to socialism, the post first shared by Facebook user Katharine Trauger says. She didn't respond to a message seeking comment on where she found her information about Venezuela.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★