Author Topic: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!  (Read 4242 times)

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Christians4LessGvt

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Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« on: May 26, 2010, 05:55:32 PM »


Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela

By Jackson Diehl  |  May 26, 2010; 2:26 PM ET

Hugo Chavez has been keeping a relatively low profile of late -- there have been no grand world tours, no fiery speeches at the United Nations. The Obama administration, which once promised to "engage" the Venezuelan caudillo, is instead quietly shunning him.

There's a simple reason for this: the implosion of Chavez's self-styled "Bolivarian socialism" is accelerating.

Figures reported Tuesday by the Chavez-controlled central bank portrayed an economy that is completely out of
sync with the rest of the region -- and perhaps unique in the world in the degree of its current distress. Gross
national product fell by 5.8 percent in the first quarter, while inflation remained at 30 percent. Private investment
plummeted by 27.9 percent as capital continued to flee the country.

Private economists suspect the economic contraction is even worse than what the official figures concede. But let?s assume they are correct. Venezuela?s crash compares with quarterly growth rates of 8 percent in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. It comfortably exceeds the collapse of Greece, which contracted by 3 percent in the first quarter.

Inflation in Caracas is triple the next highest rate in Latin America (Argentina) and is more than double that of the next worst economy (Pakistan) among the 56 tracked by the Economist's website. Even Zimbabwe, which used to be considered the world's economic basket case, looks good compared to Venezuela: it is expecting 6 percent growth this year, while inflation is under 5 percent.

In short, economic recovery is taking hold across the world -- except in Chavez's Venezuela.

When I pointed out back in January that Chavez's revolution was collapsing, a chorus of left-wing bloggers rose up in protest.

The extremists among them claim that Venezuela is actually doing better than the rest of the world, because (loony version) Chavez is destroying evil capitalism or because (slightly less loony version) Venezuela's implosion is irrelevant to the rest of the region.

But, of course, Venezuela really is cratering -- and Chavez's desperate measures to stop the freefall are only making it worse. A couple of weeks ago, for example, he abruptly moved to abolish the private currency market, which supplies the dollars for 30 to 40 percent of Venezuela?s imports. The dollar exchange rate was soaring, so the government arrested a bunch of currency traders and announced that sales of dollars henceforth would be controlled exclusively by the central bank. The result will almost certainly be another drastic decrease in imports, the worsening of already widespread shortages in food and basic consumer goods, and the creation of a new black market in dollars.

And, of course, the implosion of Chavez's potted socialism does matter to the rest of Latin America. It's not just that the Obama administration no longer needs to bother with the strongman, since he is doing an excellent job of self-destruction. It's that Venezuela's clients and imitators -- especially in Bolivia and Nicaragua -- stand to lose both subsidies and ideological sustainment from Caracas. Chavez's decade-long attempt to create a bloc of like-minded countries around the region is in tatters.

The caudillo's popularity rating around Latin American is now below 40 percent, and his backing in Venezuela has dropped below 50 percent. With an election for the National Assembly coming up this fall, he has resorted to the Iranian tactic of disqualifying prominent opponents from the ballot. He will try to steal the election; if that doesn't work he will try to strip the legislature of power.

No matter: Chavez appears powerless to stop the unraveling of Venezuela's economy -- and with it, his "revolution". He will be left with a choice: surrender to his country's mounting discontent, or rule entirely by force.


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/05/hugo_chavezs_implosion_continu.html
« Last Edit: May 26, 2010, 06:08:01 PM by ChristiansUnited4LessGvt »
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Kramer

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2010, 08:24:10 PM »
How many years behind Hugo is Obama?

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2010, 12:19:02 PM »
So the  GNP is down 5.8% in the first quarter of this year.  BFD.

The same article indicated that the GNP had been down 26.7% in 2003.  If Chavez could survive a 26.7% drop in 03, how the hell is he going to be done in by a 5.8% drop in 0-10?

Inflation is only a problem for the masses if it puts the price of life's necessities out of their reach.  Otherwise, it's a problem only for the parasites who live off the labour of the people.  If Chavez is smart, he will move to control the cost of food, shelter, education and medical care.  If the bourgeoisie and the upper classes don't like it, let them buy their one-way tickets to Miami right now.

Chavez has to demonstrate that he is made of the same stuff as Fidel - - that he can survive the economic shitstorm that the U.S. and its allies will engineer to bring him down.  Sometimes drastic measures are necessary for such a purpose.  Allende wasn't prepared to take them, and he and his country paid the price.  If this is a test for Chavez, I wish him well and hope that he will rise to the occasion.


Kramer

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2010, 12:32:00 PM »
"parasites who live off the labour of the people"

The 'working people' that make your computer that you use to make yourself look like an idiot like the wages and paycheck they receive by building stuff parasites like you buy and use everyday. They in turn buy stuff like toothpaste and toilet paper made by other slaves or shall I say people that work for a living. How else would you be able to make an ass of yourself if not for all those slaves that work around the world building keyboards, software and modems? So you are an enabler Mr Mike, which makes you a hypocrite.

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2010, 12:44:20 PM »
<<The 'working people' that make your computer that you use to make yourself look like an idiot like the wages and paycheck they receive by building stuff parasites like you buy and use everyday. >>

What fucking bullshit.  Unbelievable.  If they "like" it so much, how come the families of the rich don't just educate their own sons and daughters to work in a computer factory in Taiwan?  Why blow all that money on fancy Ivy League degrees if the life of the Taiwanese factory worker is such a great pleasure?

The working class is in hock every single fucking day of their lives to the banks and the insurance companies for their homes, their cars and their health, and God help them if they miss a few payments.  In order NOT to miss a few payments they spend eight hours or more of every working day, 50 weeks a year working in shit jobs that nobody born into wealth would ever consider taking.  But they "like" the wages and the paycheque.   Like it?  They have no fucking alternative.


Christians4LessGvt

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2010, 01:06:31 PM »
The working class is in hock every single fucking day of their lives to the banks and the insurance companies for their homes, their cars and their health,  They have no fucking alternative.

Mike...yes they do. Most working people in the United States could move to a "worker's paradise" like
Cuba if they really wanted to experience "the good life". Sorry it's hard to even type that without laughing.

But seriously Mike...it's not that bad. I was quite happy back when I made 30-40K a year. I lived
paycheck to paycheck, struggled with bills, things were tight....but I could save a few bucks here
and there and attend great concerts, great sporting events, take a few trips...whatever. Life is not
always a picnic....but the alternative is something most working class Americans would not be the
least bit interested in. Most working class people in the United States don't want the nanny state
taking care of them because they know the high price and problems a nanny state brings upon a society.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2010, 01:18:21 PM »
I guess it's possible to be happy as a working stiff in America, lots of them are.  It's when family obligations kick in, you have to raise kids, then you start to feel the pinch.  I get the feeling, CU4, you were describing the life of a bachelor in America. 

Bachelors can be happy in America.  Also in Cuba, in France, Germany and Spain.  IMHO, it's a lot more fun to be single and living from paycheque to paycheque in France than in America, but it's fun in both places, I won't deny that.

Married guys in shit jobs working to pay the mortgage are a lot more common in the USA than in Cuba as far as I could see.  I admit I don't have the stats, but my feeling is that the incidence of ulcers and stress-related heart disease among family men in the USA is a lot higher than it would be in either France or Cuba.

kimba1

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2010, 01:26:20 PM »
not just kids

don`t forget a very sizable amount of people don`t have pensions, so alot of people are supporting thier parents.

in fact traditionally peoples retirement is basicly living with thier kids.

pension is actually not as common as people want to think it is

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2010, 01:57:10 PM »
Actually, I think CU4 is a very positive, basically happy person, able to make the best of any situation and has done pretty well for himself in life.  This is OK for CU4, but most people don't have that kind of strength and for them, America doesn't turn out as well as it did for him.  There's no doubt in my mind that America does provide a better life for millionaires and those who have what it takes to become a millionaire, but the average guy is not in that class and is not going to get much more out of life in the U.S.A. than working in shit for a lifetime of servitude to pay the mortgage, keep his access to medical care, educate his kids (for the same rat-race) and MAYBE retire on pension if the money is still in the pension fund or be supported as an extra burden by the kiddies if it isn't.

CU4 paints a misleadingly rosy picture of American life, but real life is not that way at all for most of America's population, which IMHO is why they indulge in fantasies of rape, murder and torture as presented in violent TV shows, movies and most disturbingly of all by politicians (who in many ways are just a part of the entertainment landscape) who actually promote wars against helpless Third World victims to justify the bloodlust and slake the rage that most of America's wage slaves feel but are afraid to acknowledge openly.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2010, 02:03:38 PM by Michael Tee »

Xavier_Onassis

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2010, 02:59:47 PM »
I think one reason there is so much mayhem on TV and wars and such is because advertising and sales research proved that during wartime people are more uncertain and afraid, and seek security, and since there is nothing the average person can do against the Soviets' nukes or Al Qaeda or Crime in the Streets, they go out and buy crap to make themselves feel that they are doing SOMETHING. Sales experts have found that advertising vague images about what a product will do for people to fee secure once more. See the cosmetic ads, the car ads, especially the ones from the factory for luxury brands, and the soft drink ads.

When we have a hurricane threat here in Miami, people immediately stores selling food and home improvements and empty the shelves of EVERYTHING, as though a new sink or mailbox or jug of milk will save them from being blown away. The shelves of the stores empty out completely, even of stuff that it is rather insane to buy when the electricity is likely to be shut off, like ice cream and cottage cheese.


The crime rate in AZ has actually gone DOWN in recent times, but you would not believe that from all the hype about mayhem committed by illegal aliens. El Paso, TX, which is mostly Mexican and Mexican-American and has more than its share of illegals, is one of the safest cities in the US.

When people go out and buy guns and ammo, it gets in the news and more people go out and buy yet more guns and more ammo. It is not like three guns will make you safer than just one. But hearing that your neighbor has three guns is likely to make a person go out and buy more guns just to keep up, either in imitation or imaginary self-defense.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

Plane

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2010, 08:11:46 PM »
Actually, I think CU4 is a very positive, basically happy person, able to make the best of any situation and has done pretty well for himself in life.  This is OK for CU4, but most people don't have that kind of strength and for them, America doesn't turn out as well as it did for him.  There's no doubt in my mind that America does provide a better life for millionaires and those who have what it takes to become a millionaire, but the average guy is not in that class and is not going to get much more out of life in the U.S.A. than working in shit for a lifetime of servitude to pay the mortgage, keep his access to medical care, educate his kids (for the same rat-race) and MAYBE retire on pension if the money is still in the pension fund or be supported as an extra burden by the kiddies if it isn't.

CU4 paints a misleadingly rosy picture of American life, but real life is not that way at all for most of America's population, which IMHO is why they indulge in fantasies of rape, murder and torture as presented in violent TV shows, movies and most disturbingly of all by politicians (who in many ways are just a part of the entertainment landscape) who actually promote wars against helpless Third World victims to justify the bloodlust and slake the rage that most of America's wage slaves feel but are afraid to acknowledge openly.


Pelegra incidence is down since the 30s , so much that most Americans would not recognise the term.

Now our problems are obesity , buying too many toys , playing too many computer games and running into each other in our cars.

Even at our lowest level Americans have a greater power of purse than their own grandparents or any nearly equivelent part of the third world.

It is not pleasant to default on debt , but for most who do seven years of good (financhial) behavior is a complete cure.There is a great risk to the lender as well for balence.

How are we wage slaves more as we are than we would not be as members of a communist society?

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #11 on: May 27, 2010, 08:35:00 PM »
Wage slaves work all the time in other people's enterprises, enriching them at the cost of their own labour.  They don't own their homes or their cars, or in many cases even their TVs.  They bust their asses working to pay off their chattel debts and their homes and God forbid if they fall behind in their payments, they're out on their ass.

Under communism there was full employment and no chance of being fired or laid off.  Only parasites (who didn't want to work) wound up in the labour camps.  Nobody was kicked out of state housing for non-payment, everybody's kids had a clear shot at a free education from JK to grad school and everyone had free medical care. 

The workers were looked after cradle to grave. 

The wage slave is only as good as his last couple of pay-cheques.  Laid off?  Fuck you.  THAT'S why he's a wage slave.  Lose the job and you lose a lot more than a job, pal.  Lots of them lose their homes, cars and medical care.

Plane

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2010, 01:57:01 AM »
Wage slaves work all the time in other people's enterprises, enriching them at the cost of their own labour.  They don't own their homes or their cars, or in many cases even their TVs.  They bust their asses working to pay off their chattel debts and their homes and God forbid if they fall behind in their payments, they're out on their ass.

Under communism there was full employment and no chance of being fired or laid off.  Only parasites (who didn't want to work) wound up in the labour camps.  Nobody was kicked out of state housing for non-payment, everybody's kids had a clear shot at a free education from JK to grad school and everyone had free medical care. 

The workers were looked after cradle to grave. 

The wage slave is only as good as his last couple of pay-cheques.  Laid off?  Fuck you.  THAT'S why he's a wage slave.  Lose the job and you lose a lot more than a job, pal.  Lots of them lose their homes, cars and medical care.

Under communism there was full employment working all the time in the people's enterprises at the cost of their own labour.  They don't own their homes or their cars, or in many cases even their TVs.  They bust their asses working to to pay off the States never ending debt  God forbid if they complain, they're out on their ass.
  Disagree with the state and your house , your job and your right to exist disapear after all it all belongs to the people , rediculous that anything should belong to a person.

Michael Tee

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2010, 07:10:52 AM »
<<Under communism there was full employment working all the time in the people's enterprises at the cost of their own labour. >>

Yeah.  Working for the people, not for the capitalists.

<< They don't own their homes or their cars, or in many cases even their TVs.  >>

Who gives a shit about ownership?  They sleep under the fucking roof, eat in the dining room, watch TV in the den and shit in the fucking toilet.  Every day.  Every night.  For the rest of their lives.  What does "ownership" give them, beside the "right" to work their ass off for the fucking bank their whole life?

<<They bust their asses working to to pay off the States never ending debt  >>

No, they DON'T "bust their asses."  You have no idea how easy their life is when the only people they have to support are the workers and peasants themselves, not an upper-class of coupon-clippers and idle rich.

<<God forbid if they complain, they're out on their ass.>>

Why would they complain?  If the state provides the people with a decent livelihood in return for an honest day's work, who but an enemy of the people would ever complain?
 
<<Disagree with the state and your house , your job and your right to exist disapear after all it all belongs to the people , rediculous that anything should belong to a person.>>

As opposed to what?  Disagree with the state and a predator drone will nuke your ass?  Disagree with the state and you can disappear into Guantanamo forever?

Plane

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Re: Hugo Chavez's implosion continues in Venezuela!
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2010, 04:05:35 PM »


Who gives a shit about ownership?  They sleep under the fucking roof, eat in the dining room, watch TV in the den and shit in the fucking toilet.  Every day.  Every night.  For the rest of their lives.  What does "ownership" give them, beside the "right" to work their ass off for the fucking bank their whole life?



Because everything you depend on to live depends on being a good yes man.

How many people ,includeing teachers and scientists, did Stalin send into Siberian exile for saying that Darwin was right or teaching Evolution?

In comunism the fast track to crushing poverty is to speak truth to power , the slow but steady track to crushing poverty is to allow the state to run up ruinous debts on your behalf.