Based on the presentation given to us this week about the book Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World, I believe that the shortcomings of socialism caused by the governmental control over ownership in both production and property lead to a failing economical system. For example, as he discussed in the lecture, one of the most prominent examples of the failures of a socialist system can be found in the country of Venezuela. Within their country, many Venezuelans suffer under the crushing pressure of the economic collapse. The Venezuelan government relies on the exportation of oil to foreign countries in order to maintain a strong enough financial standing to provide basic commodities for its people to survive. Often, they directly trade their oil supplies for the food needed to sustain their citizens. The issue with this method of conducting business lies in the fact that when the oil reserves are depleted or the demand for the product decreases, the Venezuelan government loses their ability to provide enough materials for their people to survive. This very often leads to great amounts of starvation amongst the people of the country. Many of the people become extremely desperate because the government they rely on has failed due to its reliance on the workings of socialism. Also stated was that many of the Venezuelans became what he referred to as entrepreneurs born out of necessity due to their collapsing economy, leading to this group of people finding any ways to provide for themselves. One group even began selling hair in an attempt to create any sort of extra income they could use to sustain themselves. Also relating to the term “necessary entrepreneurs” is the comparison of state run hotels and businesses in Cuba against the renting of citizens’ housing out to travelers. The hotels mentioned to have been visited were of astonishingly low quality at a price significantly higher than the value of the room. The managerial staff had no incentive to attract new customers or retain existing ones because their pay would not change either way, causing them to not care about or maintain the quality of their rooms. This led to a horribly kept room or business. On the flip side, the Cubans who were lucky enough to be able to rent out their apartments or homes were able to profit from the existence of more customers to their property and were more inclined to invest the time and resources required to improve their spaces and attract new customers. This is just one of many reasons why capitalistic policies lead to greater increases in quality and productivity compared to the failing systems of socialism.