When John Oliver first got his show on HBO, it was pretty good because he tackled a wide array of important issues, like government confiscation schemes, taxpayers funding sports stadiums, and eminent domain. However, since the 2016 election, Oliver has gone full statist and leftist, making the weakest arguments in favor of government programs. Of course, he has embraced the Trump comedy of his colleagues ad nauseum.
Recently, Oliver ran a segment on Venezuela and socialism. It was terrible, concluding that it isn’t socialism that’s the problem but rather “epic mismanagement.” He also only mentioned socialism twice and socialist twice.
Here is the clip:
First, Hugo Chavez was able to afford socialism because of massive oil reserves that cost $100 per barrel. Second, these massive government interventions may appear to work on the surface, but they eventually collapse as time goes by. Third, Venezuela is the epitome of socialism since everything in the economy is nationalized, from bread to oil. Fourth, price controls, currency controls, production quotas, and totalitarianism are all the hallmarks of socialism.
So, what exactly is Oliver talking about?
So far, the best rebuttal on YouTube has been from Steven Crowder:
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