Where has the left failed

[sprintcyclist]

France

.......... Mr. Macron seemed to represent—to coin a phrase—hope and change: change from the generally mediocre political class that has governed France for 30 years, hope that France might embrace market-based reform and provide a model for combating the populist wave sweeping the West.

Today, the hope is on life support, and the change has yet to be seen. France’s economy seems as stubbornly stuck in neutral as ever, with unemployment around 9% (and youth unemployment at 21%), government spending at 56% of GDP and debt rising. Mr. Macron has had the second-fastest drop in popularity of any French President.

What happened? .....................

[sprintcyclist]

Sweden in the 70s and 80s till they realised it was a loser

.......... The Rise, Fall and Revival of the Swedish
Welfare State: What are the Policy Lessons
from Sweden? .......

https://www.ifn.se/wfiles/wp/wp873.pdf

......... Between 1970 and 1990, the overall tax burden rose by over 10%, and the growth was low compared with other countries in Western Europe. Eventually the government began to spend over half of the country's gross domestic product. Swedish GDP per capita ranking declined during this time.[103] ...........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden

[sprintcyclist]

Venezuela, repeatedly.

......... During the years of Pérez Jiménez's administration, [highlight]the State intervened in areas of the economy that were traditionally carried out by private companies[/highlight]. The Pérez Jiménez government was characterized by its state capitalism and not by liberal capitalism. It was an antecedent of the populist and paternalistic economic regime of the later democratic regimes.[63] The national private entrepreneurship increasingly had less space to grow and prosper. The State was the great capitalist in the Venezuela of Pérez Jiménez and was the largest national shareholder of major hotel chains such as Sheraton.[64]

In the government of Pérez Jiménez, [highlight]Venezuela's debt grew more than 25 times and went from 175 million to more than 4,500 million bolivares in just 5 years (approximately 15 billion dollars in 2018)[/highlight]. The malaise over the debts of Venezuela reached the barracks and the national business. Pérez Jiménez responded that: "there is no debt, but commitments". ...............

.............. The election in 1973 of Carlos Andrés Pérez coincided with an oil crisis, in which Venezuela's income exploded as oil prices soared; [highlight]oil industries were nationalized in 1976. This led to massive increases in public spending,[/highlight] but also increases in external debts, which continued into the 1980s when the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s crippled the Venezuelan economy. As the government started to devalue the currency in February 1983 to face its financial obligations, [highlight]Venezuelans' real standards of living fell dramatically[/highlight]. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability.[70] ........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela

[sprintcyclist]

cuba, the long term failure

............... Before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, Cuba was one of the most advanced and successful countries in Latin America.[222] Cuba's capital, Havana, was a "glittering and dynamic city".[222] The country's economy in the early part of the century, fuelled by the sale of sugar to the United States, had grown wealthy. Cuba ranked 5th in the hemisphere in per capita income, 3rd in life expectancy, 2nd in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, and 1st in the number of television sets per inhabitant. Cuba's literacy rate, 76%, was the fourth highest in Latin America. Cuba also ranked 11th in the world in the number of doctors per capita. Several private clinics and hospitals provided services for the poor. Cuba's income distribution compared favorably with that of other Latin American societies. However, income inequality was profound between city and countryside, especially between whites and blacks. Cubans lived in abysmal poverty in the countryside. According to PBS, a thriving middle class held the promise of prosperity and social mobility.[222] According to Cuba historian Louis Perez of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "Havana was then what Las Vegas has become."[223] In 2016, the Miami Herald wrote, "... about 27 percent of Cubans earn under $50 per month; 34 percent earn the equivalent of $50 to $100 per month; and 20 percent earn $101 to $200. Twelve percent reported earning $201 to $500 a month; and almost 4 percent said their monthly earnings topped $500, including 1.5 percent who said they earned more than $1,000."[224] ....................

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba#Revo ... 93present)

[sprintcyclist]

Israel played with socialism.
I did not realise this.

............. socialism’s roots in Israel were so deep, real reform proceeded slowly. Friedman was asked to draw up a program that would move Israel from socialism toward a free-market economy. His major reforms included fewer government programs and reduced government spending; less government intervention in fiscal, trade, and labor policies; income-tax cuts; and privatization. A great debate ensued between government officials seeking reform and special interests that preferred the status quo.

Meanwhile, the government kept borrowing and spending and driving up inflation, which averaged 77 percent for 1978–79 and reached a peak of 450 percent in 1984–85. The government’s share of the economy grew to 76 percent, while fiscal deficits and national debt skyrocketed. The government printed money through loans from the Bank of Israel, which contributed to the inflation by churning out money.

Finally, in January 1983, the bubble burst, and thousands of private citizens and businesses as well as government-run enterprises faced bankruptcy. Israel was close to collapse. ................

https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/ ... ejected-it

[Black Orchid]

The left fail at just about everything they touch.

[sprintcyclist]

Say the word 'Trump

leftys go

[sprintcyclist]

In case you missed it, San Francisco canceled Abraham Lincoln.

Yes, last week the San Francisco School board voted 6-1 to remove Lincoln’s and dozens of other historical names (see the board’s spreadsheet here) that committed transgressions from public schools, in this case, Abraham Lincoln High School.

Sounds crazy, I know, but it turns out there’s actually something to this.

FILE — In this Jan. 8, 2021 file photo California Gov. Gavin Newsom outlines his 2021-2022 state budget proposal during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. On Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 Newsom and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Tempore Toni Atkins announced a proposal that would extend pandemic eviction protections through the end of June and pay up to 80% of some tenants' unpaid rent. The proposal must still be approved by the state Legislature. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File, Pool)
FILE — In this Jan. 8, 2021 file photo California Gov. Gavin Newsom outlines his 2021-2022 state budget proposal during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. On Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 Newsom and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Tempore Toni Atkins announced a proposal that would extend pandemic eviction protections through the end of June and pay up to 80% of some tenants' unpaid rent. The proposal must still be approved by the state Legislature. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File, Pool)
More
Lincoln, the school board determined, pursued policies that “were detrimental to American Indian Nations and Native peoples,” including a mass hanging of 38 members of the Sioux tribe. I didn’t know anything about this so I started reading about Lincoln, his administration and American Indians and frankly it was pretty shocking.

Having said that, and with deep respect to Native Americans, I don’t agree with stripping Lincoln’s name from the school. I understand the move would call attention to our nation’s horrific treatment of American Indians, but taking Lincoln’s name down would mitigate Lincoln’s great achievement of ending slavery. Calling attention to this stain on Lincoln's legacy is fine, (and students should study it) but renaming a school because of it doesn’t make sense.

To many Californians of a certain stripe—those with a Tesla in the driveway and a Peloton in the den—this Lincoln controversy is one more sign that their home state has gone around the bend, and that they should pack up and leave. For others, the Lincoln story is actually a validation because as you have likely heard, millionaires and billionaires have fled California in droves, and they’ve taken their companies with them.

I've wondered though, to what degree is this just the usual California-rich-people-bellyaching thing, (akin to tech celebrity Chamath Palipatiya and others trying to recall Governor Gavin Newsom) or if there’s something more consequential going on right now. And if so, why?

As it turns out, and like the Lincoln case, the answers aren’t so simple.

First, yes of course it’s true that many high-profile Californians and companies have left and/or have announced they will be leaving—mostly from the Bay Area and to the likes of Texas, Florida and Colorado—including Elon Musk and Tesla (TSLA), Larry Ellison and Oracle (ORCL), Palantir (PLTR) and co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Hewlett-Packard Enterprises (HPE) and Charles Schwab (SCHW), to name some of the biggies. More high-profile moves are said to be on the way. (We’ll get to one individual a bit later.)

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-r ... 27533.html

[sprintcyclist]

........... The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget early Thursday that will shift about $8 million from the police department toward violence prevention and other services - but will keep the mayor's targeted staffing levels for sworn officers intact. Mayor Jacob Frey, who'd threatened to veto the entire budget if the council went ahead with its plan to cap police staffing, said the vote was a defining moment for the city, which has experienced soaring crime rates amid calls to defund the police since the May 25 death of George Floyd. .....................

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minneapoli ... ft-defund/

.......... The City Council voted unanimously Friday to approve the additional funding that police requested. The department says it only has 638 officers available to work — roughly 200 fewer than usual. An unprecedented number of officers quit or went on extended medical leave after Floyd’s death and the unrest that followed, which included the burning of a police precinct. .............

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/min ... s-75875382

[Black Orchid]

More loony left scumbaggery!

The House Democrats’ campaign arm has hired an ex-gangster-turned-high-profile criminal justice advocate for a top leadership position, The Post has learned.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, headed by Hudson Valley area Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, tapped Dyjuan Tatro as a senior adviser for diversity and inclusion.

Tatro is known for appearing in the 2019 PBS documentary series “College Behind Bars,” about a group of inmates trying to earn their degrees through New York state’s Bard Prison Initiative.

Through the program, Tatro got a bachelor’s degree while serving a six-year sentence for racketeering conspiracy.

At the time of that 2011 conviction, Tatro had already been doing time for shooting two rival gang members in 2006.

Described at the time as a “triggerman” for the Original Gangsta Killas street gang that terrorized Albany, Tatro confessed to the shootings, and to a “razor slashing” of another victim in 2002 as well as to dealing drugs.

He admitted to making at least $12,000 a month dealing drugs and conspired to traffic more than 50 grams of crack cocaine.

https://nypost.com/2021/02/14/house-dem ... aign-post/

The criminal loony left