# I'd rather a coup by a capitalist than a socialist for whatever country I lived in.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-rather-a-coup-by-a-capitalist-than-a-socialist-for-whatever-country-i-lived-in/544123>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 22, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-rather-a-coup-by-a-capitalist-than-a-socialist-for-whatever-country-i-lived-in/544123 "2010-06-22T14:29:25Z")\
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**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-rather-a-coup-by-a-capitalist-than-a-socialist-for-whatever-country-i-lived-in/544123/2 "2010-06-22T14:33:08Z")

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This quote comes from the Venezuelan melt down thread, and I think it’s worth of its own debate. The basis for it is as follows:

> [@Venezuela is Coming Apart at the Seams](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-is-coming-apart-at-the-seams/543958/51):
>
> 1. Putting people against the wall and shooting them kills people.
> 2. Starvation, poor medical care, etc. kills people too.
> 3. All evil tyrants do #1.
> 4. Socialist evil tyrants also cause #2.
> 5. All socialist leaders become evil tyrants.
> 6. Not all capitalist leaders become evil tyrants.
> 
> In the great balance, I’d rather a coup by a capitalist than a socialist for whatever country I lived in.
> 
> [A](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GM_-_Countries_by_Economic_Freedom_Index.png) + [B](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arable_land_percent_world.png) = [C](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mort.svg)

As far as Venezuela is concerned, I fail to see how the magic of capitalism would make things any better than the evils of socialism. As I said in that thread, capitalism would inevitably lead to foreign ownership of the oil (or what ever natural resource is available).

Why do I think that? Because this is about capitalism, and the problem with capitalism is that it requires–gasp–capital. So where is there the most capital? Certainly not in Venezuela.

Once the oil is owned by foreign companies, the revenue is also owned by foreign companies. Leaving only the lowest paid jobs held locally. A pattern we see time and again.

What follows is a population too poor to afford food and medicine, which although they are readily available, are left out of reach–leading to starvation and poor medical care.

So why prefer a capitalist over a socialist?

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