The Soviet government took over productive prosperous farms and replaced the skilled, hard-working farmers with loyal government supporters.
The government supporters proved to be horrible farmers, and millions of Russians died of starvation in the aftermath.
The U.S. government Postal Service has a monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail. The government operation charges more than twice what private firms would charge, and has every advantage in the marketplace. The Postal Service pays no property, income, or corporate taxes, and YET LOSES 5 BILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY.
Now there is news that oil-rich Venezuela–the very country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves underground–cannot seem to produce much oil under socialist central planning.
The people of Venezuela are starving and in dire need of the goods and services their government promised them (such as food, shelter, medicine and clothing).
But government fails at everything it promises–with the possible exception of violence, bloodshed and property destruction. (And it is likely the private sector could deliver even those things more efficiently than government.)
