Progressives (Liberals)

It's not commie, you really need to extend your horizons...

Have you read it?

I found that those of my friends who were admirers of Marx, Freud, and Adler, were impressed by a number of points common to these theories, and especially by their apparent explanatory power. These theories appeared to be able to explain practically everything that happened within the fields to which they referred. The study of any of them seemed to have the effect of an intellectual conversion or revelation, opening your eyes to a new truth hidden from those not yet initiated. Once your eyes were thus opened you saw confirming instances everywhere: the world was full of verifications of the theory. Whatever happened always confirmed it. Thus its truth appeared manifest; and unbelievers were clearly people who did not want to see the manifest truth; who refused to see it, either because it was against their class interest, or because of their repressions which were still ‘un-analysed’ and crying aloud for treatment.

The most characteristic element in this situation seemed to me the incessant stream of confirmations, of observations which ‘verified’ the theories in question; and this point was constantly emphasized by their adherents. A Marxist could not open a newspaper without finding on every page confirming evidence for his interpretation of history; not only in the news, but also in its presentation–which revealed the class bias of the paper–and especially of course in what the paper did not say.

layman wrote:

Have you read it?

Well, we had to do at school, get an idea about the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy,compare it to Hegel and Plato ...

The Freudian analysts emphasized that their theories were constantly verified by their ‘clinical observations’. As for Adler, I was much impressed by a personal experience.

Once, in 1919, I reported to him a case which to me did not seem particularly Adlerian, but which he found no difficulty in analysing in terms of his theory of inferiority feelings, although he had not even seen the child. Slightly shocked, I asked him how he could be so sure.

‘Because of my thousandfold experience,’ he replied; whereupon I could not help saying: “And with this new case, I suppose, your experience has become thousand-and-onefold.”

Definition of communism
1
a
: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
b
: a theory advocating elimination of private property

a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

And it goes without saying that their leaders are always filthy rich, having stolen most of what they demand in terms of "taxes." Of course they preach the virtues of austerity to their subjects all the while.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

monthly payments to everyone, 100 percent unemployment insurance for income up to $75,000,

Russian State Oil Company Rosneft, in Sudden Move, Sells Assets in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Russian state-controlled oil firm Rosneft said Saturday it was ceasing operations in Venezuela and selling all of its assets in the country, signaling a shift in Kremlin strategy that could further rattle Venezuela’s crumbling economy.

Rosneft had emerged as the biggest economic ally of Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, accounting for up to two-thirds of the country’s oil trade and a significant share of crude production. The lifeline provided by Rosneft has allowed Mr. Maduro to maintain a flow of hard currency and supply the country with gasoline.

Rosneft has been trading Venezuelan oil to small refineries in China, in violation of United States sanctions. While in theory another Russian company could do the same, it could not do so immediately in the absence of Rosneft’s sophisticated trading systems — which would choke off a source of revenue for Mr. Maduro’s government.

Venezuela has been the biggest loser from the global oil price war unleashed by Mr. Putin this month, which forced the already struggling South American nation to sell its biggest export at, or near, a loss. Mr. Putin’s decision to break off an oil production deal with other major producers without consulting Mr. Maduro underlined the limits of Russia’s alliance with Venezuela, which is driven primarily by practical considerations rather than deep ideological or personal affinity.

The one-two punch of the coronavirus pandemic and OPEC’s ensuing oil price war has sent crude prices plummeting to historic lows (WTI: $20.63 | Brent: $26.42). This is a nightmare scenario for petro-state leaders, but perhaps none more than the leftist Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. The Chavista dictator, whose failed socialist policies have run the oil-rich South American nation into poverty over the course of his 7-year rule, is up against the wall.

Last Wednesday U.S. Federal prosecutors accused President Nicolás Maduro of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, offering a $15 million bounty for information leading to his capture. On Saturday, Moscow terminated all Rosneft operations and liquidated any assets linked to its operations in Venezuela.

Following the Russian divestment, the United States abruptly changed its negotiation tactics, offering a Peace Framework with the Latin American nation. Under the State Department proposal Maduro and Opposition leader Juan Guaido – who is backed by most of the Western World – would step aside and allow for a transitional government to form that would make way for free and fair elections.

Moscow’s move effectively deprives Maduro’s Zimbabwe-esque economy of oil revenue – which the country has historically relied on for hard currency. At the same time the U.S. peace plan could help Maduro out – possibly by encouraging his exile to Russia.

That offramp may seem appealing to a leader who is left with wide-spread popular hatred, no real great power friends, record-low oil prices, and an unprecedented social, economic, and public health crisis.

In the wake of coronavirus, Venezuela represents a massive threat to regional security and may become one of the worst-case coronavirus scenarios globally. The country’s health care infrastructure is completely inadequate even under normal circumstances and, according to the U.S. State Department, there are only 84 ICU hospital beds in the entire country, and 90% of hospitals don't have protocols for respiratory virus care. Millions are malnourished.

The country also lacks the appropriate labor force to handle such a crisis. Since 2015 emigration from the country has been immense, with 2.3 million people fleeing – mainly to neighboring Latin American countries such as Colombia. For any country this amount of brain drain would be economically devastating, but in the context of the coronavirus pandemic it is even more severe. Of those emigres, over 20,000 are medical professionals, whose expertise is badly needed.

The country may slide into a scenario worse than Iran or Italy. Unlike Iran and Italy however, 90% Venezuela’s population, officially 30 million, live in poverty.

Even if the country were to get its petro-based economy in line, the writing is on the wall: it is too late for Venezuela to prepare for the pandemic. Socialism introduced by Hugo Chavez and Nicholas Maduro had the effect of a neutron bomb on their country. It is not unlikely that the once-prosperous Venezuela will turn into the epicenter of the virus in South America. This situation will force hard choices on Maduro.

This sounds exactly like the best parts of the plan that was passed last week.

On Thursday, the scope of the economic disaster became clearer as the Labor Department reported the loss of 10 million jobs in just two weeks. Wall Street has seemingly imploded, and the global economy has shuddered as the fallout of the pandemic reaches into every country.

The speed and scale of the job losses is without precedent. Until last month, the worst week for unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982. The fear is that the world may be on the cusp of an economic shock unseen since the Great Depression.

13 million people became unemployed. In 1932, 34 million people belonged to families with no regular full-time wage earner.

the stock market lost almost 90% of its value.

Over one million families lost their farms between 1930 and 1934

Nine million savings accounts were wiped out between 1930 and 1933

273,000 families were evicted from their homes in 1932 alone

There were two million homeless people migrating around the country

Over 60% of Americans were categorized as poor by the federal government in 1933

New York social workers reported that 25% of all schoolchildren were malnourished. In the mining counties of West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, the proportion of malnourished children was perhaps as high as 90%

Many people became ill with diseases such as tuberculosis (TB)