Venezuela Isn’t Just a Failed State. It’s a Failure of the Left.
Conservatives are not wrong when they say socialism deserves some blame for the nation’s collapse.
Venezuelan socialism, past and present.
Photographer: FEDERICO PARRA/AFPAs Venezuela careens toward a further economic and political collapse, the blame game is heating up. In the U.S., Republicans are labeling the country “socialist,” using Venezuelan problems as a weapon against more left-leaning Democrats. Commentators on the left, in contrast, are arguing that Venezuela is more of a failed petro-state with bad leadership, rather than a test of socialist ideals. Who is right?
If we look at government spending as a percentage of GDP, Venezuela seems far from socialism. In recent years government spending in Venezuela has been measured at about 40 percent of GDP, with the caveat that these statistics are not fully reliable. For the U.S., the corresponding figure is about 37 percent.