People who think (and I use that word loosely) that Socialism is really cool and needs to be implemented in the United States would do well to look at Venezuela - a nation that went from being a food exporter to a food importer, a nation with the largest known reserves of oil but it cannot run it's own refineries, a nation in the end game of socialism. From Bloomberg:
Venezuela Raises Minimum Wage 3,000% and Lots of Workers Get Fired
Venezuelan workers who earned a pittance are now earning a slightly larger pittance, thanks to a big increase in the minimum wage. What they may not have are jobs.
Starting this week, 7 million employees are guaranteed 1,800 bolivars a month -- worth about $20 at the black-market rate. President Nicolas Maduro intended the mandate as political boost, but it’s having the opposite effect as companies, already hit by Venezuela’s epic economic contraction, tell workers they can’t afford to keep them.
While there have been many similar moves in the past, never has one been so disruptive, arriving amid hyperinflation, depression and devaluation. Some employers are restructuring costs, rejiggering pay scales and negotiating settlements with workers. Others are simply dismissing people. Much of the action happens secretively as companies try to avoid punishment by the government, which has been jailing those it believes are flouting the rules.
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