Venezuela: Has The Word "Socialism" Been Banned From American Mainstream Press?
A few days ago in a post titled "The Deep Mystery Of Why Venezuela Is Failing," I made fun of the New York Times and Time Magazine for publishing long articles about why Venezuela is failing without so much as mentioning its adoption of socialism. But as I've read more on this subject in the last week, I've realized that this is not just a couple of isolated instances of cluelessness. This really is "the one whose name must not be spoken." My conclusion is that there is an official list of talking points, and "socialism" has been banned from the list. Am I wrong?
How could this happen in a country that has the largest reserves of oil in the world?
I particularly like reasons 3 and 4. The economy is collapsing because the economy is collapsing! Why hadn't we figured that out on our own?
1. Oil crash hurts Venezuela the most; 2. A currency worth less than a penny; 3. New power struggle dooms 2016; 4. Default in 2016 is 'difficult to avoid'; 5. Food crisis.
Probably you are wondering what Official Manhattan Contrarian Worst Economics Writer Paul Krugman has to say about Venezuela. Well, you'll just have to keep wondering, because Krugman doesn't choose to write about Venezuela. Same goes for the other bombastic voices of left-wing "economics." Ezra Klein? Silence. Matthew Yglesias? Silence.
So can you really blame all these twenty-somethings for knowing nothing about socialism and its failures? Won't anybody level with them?