Chronicles in Socialist Success Stories - Venezuela, the fun in building socialism continues!

[arkirk]

Of relevance to the thread (in contrast to the bloviation over the old cold war and "greed" chatter) is the ACTUAL Venezuelan experience.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articl...havez-trashed-latin-america-s-richest-economy

As of 2005 Venezuela still had the highest per-capita gross domestic product in Latin America (adjusted for purchasing-power parity), and no trouble paying its bills. ...

Now, of course, Venezuela’s economy is a disaster. ... The latest estimate from the Troubled Currencies Project run by Steve H. Hanke of the Cato Institute and Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, is that inflation is really 808 percent. Food shortages have become a problem, a debt default seems almost certain, and a complete economic collapse isn’t out of the question.

The main problem was Venezuelan oil production, which dropped from 3.3 million barrels a day in 2006 to 2.7 million in 2011. It was still at 2.7 million in 2014, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

Venezuela isn't running out of oil. Its proven reserves have skyrocketed since 2000 as geologists have learned more about the heavy crude of the Orinoco Belt. But getting at that oil will take a lot of resources and expertise, both things that Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA, best known in the U.S. for its Citgo subsidiary), has been lacking in since Chavez initiated a sort of hostile takeover starting in the early 2000s. First he kicked out 18,000 workers and executives, 40 percent of the company’s workforce, after a strike. Then he started demanding control of PDVSA’s joint ventures with foreign oil companies. One could interpret this in the most Chavez-friendly way possible -- he was aiming for a more just allocation of his nation’s resources -- and still conclude that he made it harder for PDVSA to deliver the necessary tax revenue.

The difference between Venezuela and those other petro-exporting States that are unblessed the insights of Bolivarian socialism is that they tended to save during good-times and use it to cover shortfalls during bad times. Some of them even have had the competence and non-hostility to joint-venture capitalism to increase production, rather than watch their only source of export income shrivel.

But "Socialism for the 21st Century" Chavez and now Maduro just kept spending (even increasing spending) during revenue declines. A 45 billion dollar loan from China is being drained, another 5 billion from China on the way.

Wait, maybe they followed Krugman-omics and are trying to "stimulate" themselves our of their downturn - that must be it!

How about a little analysis instead of a constant knee jerk reaction to things you clearly do not understand, and people and philosophy you do not understand. You seem to think you know know about something being wrong in these peoples' brains. Krugman-omics, loan draining, your idea of what these people would be like if they were idiots. They are not. I have already made a case and you have paid no attention to what I or any others who have followed Venezuela for a period of time. They are experiencing the same sort of downturn capitalist countries experience because they relied far too heavily on their oil reserves to make dynamic changes in their economy and social organization. Our country has been a very poor neighbor to Venezuela and our relations sadly parallel the type of relations we have had with Cuba for 50 years. People like you have no good will for the Venezuelan people. You make this clear when you refuse to allow them to govern themselves and always snipe so loudly when they have failures. Let me remind you of the failures of our own country to educate and employ its own people. We have poverty in America. It is understandable that Venezuela will have poverty, given its history. It also is understandable the we will have poverty given our history. All the while, you in your infinite wisdom preach to us about some magical answer to our problems...oh, if only we could learn to be like you...things would be better....but for whom?

 

[arkirk]

Ok, I've apparently seen it misused so often that I thought both spellings were acceptable.

Maybe they are in America - they have some weird conventions there. But not in the English speaking world.

Do you mean the Queen's English? The idea of a block. What do you not understand?