Venezuela's president admits economy has failed

[Cheerful Charlie]

My apologies, but I thought Al Gore was responsible for the internet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuAJoEv5nQ

Vint Cerf explains that Gore does indeed get credit for the internet as we know it.

 

[bilby]

If they stop doing those things many of their problems will instantly go away.

Instantly? I guess you think that if Trump gets Kim Jong Un to step down, North Korea would instantly be just like South Korea but with more statues?

Some things can happen instantly. 1,000,000% Inflation can be ended instantly. You just stop printing money. If you can't credibly do that, an option is to dollarize. It's unofficially and illegally happening already, by this account:

The warping effects of bogus exchange rates can also be ended instantly. Just float the exchange rate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9b7348cd87d_story.html?utm_term=.09fdfd737c65

You cannot end hyperinflation by stopping printing money. Once the public expectation is of high inflation, the velocity of money goes through the roof, and no amount of restrictions on money supply will prevent inflation; If you don't print bills of sufficiently large denomination, people will either use huge numbers of smaller bills, or (if you don't even print small bills, or these become scarce) will exchange promissory notes of their own making - personal cheques and the like, or in the modern world, will use electronic transactions.

Once people realize that any money they have must be spent immediately before it loses value, hyper-inflation is self sustaining. Indeed, if GDP falls sharply, hyper-inflation can occur without any prior increase in money supply at all - as happened in Zimbabwe with the collapse of farm output (which was the largest sector of the economy) and in Post WWI Germany, where a large fraction of GDP was exported in the form of reparations, for zero return (essentially the German economy was working for the benefit of other nations and not for Germany herself).

Floating the exchange rate would worsen the inflationary situation, as money became even less valuable and getting it off you hands as fast as possible became even more desirable.

P=MV/Q

(Where P=Price level; M=Money supply; V=Velocity of money; and Q=GDP)

If V is high enough, and Q is low, and/or rapidly falling (as is the case in Venezuela), then nothing you do to M will make much impact.

The only options are to either lower V, (by restoring public confidence in the money - so that they are prepared to risk holding on to it, rather than spending it right away); Or to massively boost Q (I have no idea how you could achieve this from a hyper-inflationary starting point); Or to abandon the currency in favour of either a foreign currency; or a new local currency in which people have more confidence. Zimbabwe abandoned the Z$ in favour of the US$ and the SA Rand; Post WWI Germany abandoned the Mark for the new 'Rentenmark', which later became the basis of the Reichsmark, at a nominal value of one trillion old marks.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I can't recall Trump having done any of these things:

Don't nationalize various industry sectors, don't appropriate hundreds of businesses, don't send troops into the street to control prices, don't fix prices on various goods, and don't impose a monopoly on foreign exchange.

Also, stop printing so much money.

He has tried to raise tariffs, which I agree won't help our standard of living, but that's a far cry from the policies that destroyed a nation's productive capacity unleashed by Chavez/Maduro.

"Having done" /= "Close to doing"

He is a proponent for policies that are going to cause massive trade imbalances while simultaneously increasing our debt. Inflation is coming and we already have a monopoly on foreign exchange (albeit temporary for now).

So if you are saying that 'were Trump a dictator like Chavez, we'd already be Venezuela' - I'd agree.
If you are saying that 'however, because we are a democracy we won't end up like Venezuela because congress can check the president's more stupid policies' - I'd say that's optimistic under the current congress.
If you are saying that 'Trump would never go down this path to where we end up like Venezuela because he's too clever' - I'd say that's delusion.

aa

Yet unemployment is at it's lowest level since 2000. Lowering corporate taxes has already produced results in some companies remaining in America instead of setting up in lower taxing overseas countries thereby employing more Americans. All this because of Trump's policies. Actions where Obama delivered nothing but empty promises. Not to mention the ultimate betrayal of America of all time in apologizing to little more than terrorist for perceived mistaken American past policies. Bowing to the mullahs of these rogue states was the ultimate cringe worthy act of any American president in history.

Every country has traditions regarding how their head of states should be greeted. In ancient and medeival societies it was critical, because otherwise it could be hard for visitors to figure out who the bigwig was. These kinds of traditions are part of an intricate network of power dynamics intended to keep the country functional. The traditional greeting of the head of state is just the cherry on top. It has a lot of symbolism tied up in it.

In international diplomacy it's customary to greet the head of state in the manner which is dictated within that country. It communicates that they're friendly and aren't about to declare war or wish to change the government. Not doing so is being a dick.

The way Trump is behaving is retarded. He's showing USA's closest allies that he doesn't respect their countries traditions. It's just dumb.

What Obama showed is that he knew how to play the diplomatic game. Trump is showing how he's a man-child unable to make adult decisions.

I made the exact opposite interpretation of Obama's bow.

We even bow to the Swedish king, even though he has zero power. I'm a republican. But even I get it. It's to show that we're not about to murder him and make a revolution.

 

[angelo]

Yet unemployment is at it's lowest level since 2000. Lowering corporate taxes has already produced results in some companies remaining in America instead of setting up in lower taxing overseas countries thereby employing more Americans. All this because of Trump's policies. Actions where Obama delivered nothing but empty promises. Not to mention the ultimate betrayal of America of all time in apologizing to little more than terrorist for perceived mistaken American past policies. Bowing to the mullahs of these rogue states was the ultimate cringe worthy act of any American president in history.

Is unemployment really that low, though? We don't see the wage pressure that should result.

Rather, I think unemployment is "low" because of the gig economy. People are "employed" at things like Uber and Lyft even though they don't make much that way. Such we'll-take-most-everyone "jobs" drive down the unemployment rate without having the economic benefit of a traditional job.

There's also the proliferation of part-time jobs to avoid paying benefits.

How many genuine people who want to work would say no to even a lower paying job rather than sponge off the system or go without? There's also the problem of many manufacturing jobs disappearing because of automation etc. It's estimated that up to 30-40% of present day jobs won't be there in around fifty years because of it. Many mining companies in the far north of Western Australia have cut back on employing truck drivers carting ore by fully automated self driving trucks for example.

 

[angelo]

Yet unemployment is at it's lowest level since 2000. Lowering corporate taxes has already produced results in some companies remaining in America instead of setting up in lower taxing overseas countries thereby employing more Americans. All this because of Trump's policies. Actions where Obama delivered nothing but empty promises. Not to mention the ultimate betrayal of America of all time in apologizing to little more than terrorist for perceived mistaken American past policies. Bowing to the mullahs of these rogue states was the ultimate cringe worthy act of any American president in history.

Every country has traditions regarding how their head of states should be greeted. In ancient and medeival societies it was critical, because otherwise it could be hard for visitors to figure out who the bigwig was. These kinds of traditions are part of an intricate network of power dynamics intended to keep the country functional. The traditional greeting of the head of state is just the cherry on top. It has a lot of symbolism tied up in it.

In international diplomacy it's customary to greet the head of state in the manner which is dictated within that country. It communicates that they're friendly and aren't about to declare war or wish to change the government. Not doing so is being a dick.

The way Trump is behaving is retarded. He's showing USA's closest allies that he doesn't respect their countries traditions. It's just dumb.

What Obama showed is that he knew how to play the diplomatic game. Trump is showing how he's a man-child unable to make adult decisions.

I made the exact opposite interpretation of Obama's bow.

We even bow to the Swedish king, even though he has zero power. I'm a republican. But even I get it. It's to show that we're not about to murder him and make a revolution.

I've never seen a Putin bow to any despot. Greetings among world leaders as equals has always been the case. One can show curtsy without submitting to Allah!

 

[DrZoidberg]

Yet unemployment is at it's lowest level since 2000. Lowering corporate taxes has already produced results in some companies remaining in America instead of setting up in lower taxing overseas countries thereby employing more Americans. All this because of Trump's policies. Actions where Obama delivered nothing but empty promises. Not to mention the ultimate betrayal of America of all time in apologizing to little more than terrorist for perceived mistaken American past policies. Bowing to the mullahs of these rogue states was the ultimate cringe worthy act of any American president in history.

Every country has traditions regarding how their head of states should be greeted. In ancient and medeival societies it was critical, because otherwise it could be hard for visitors to figure out who the bigwig was. These kinds of traditions are part of an intricate network of power dynamics intended to keep the country functional. The traditional greeting of the head of state is just the cherry on top. It has a lot of symbolism tied up in it.

In international diplomacy it's customary to greet the head of state in the manner which is dictated within that country. It communicates that they're friendly and aren't about to declare war or wish to change the government. Not doing so is being a dick.

The way Trump is behaving is retarded. He's showing USA's closest allies that he doesn't respect their countries traditions. It's just dumb.

What Obama showed is that he knew how to play the diplomatic game. Trump is showing how he's a man-child unable to make adult decisions.

I made the exact opposite interpretation of Obama's bow.

We even bow to the Swedish king, even though he has zero power. I'm a republican. But even I get it. It's to show that we're not about to murder him and make a revolution.

I've never seen a Putin bow to any despot.

And the whole world hates Putin. He's a chauvinistic fascist. This is how fascism works. Antagonise the rest of the world, make them hate you, and then blame your failings on all that "undeserved" hate you're getting. It's a classic fascist political tactic. Fascists constantly behave attrociously and then play the victim card. Trump is doing the same thing. Upholding the behaviour as worthy of admiration is dangerous.

International trade isn't a zero sum game. We're all better off playing nice and cooperating. It's win-win. Whether or not Crimea is part of Russia or Ukraine is, in the big picture, irrelevant. Russians could go on holiday there regardless of what country it's a part of. Nothing much has changed. What we don't want is war. Then everybody loses. Putin was willing to risk the gamble of the entire world getting pulled into another world war because of something that doesn't matter a damn.

Greetings among world leaders as equals has always been the case. One can show curtsy without submitting to Allah!

When you visit another country it's customary to follow their traditions of greetings. They'll do the same when visiting you. That's how you show that you're equal to them. If you ignore that and behave as you would do at home, you are telling the host that you don't respect them. That you're above them. How is that equality among leaders?

 

[angelo]

You show respect to despots by grovelling to them? All that did was to confirm to these fundamental Muslims that the leader of the Western World was weak. Exactly what they thought!

 

[DrZoidberg]

You show respect to despots by grovelling to them? All that did was to confirm to these fundamental Muslims that the leader of the Western World was weak. Exactly what they thought!

1) He didn't grovel. That's what you saw. That's not what the Arabs saw.

2) You don't understand Arab culture. When visiting Saudi Arabia there's just no way Obama could have been too polite (or grovelling), and they would have seen it as weakness. By being extremely polite it would indicate strength and power. Only somebody who is weak is rude. Like Trump did. And Trump is politically weak, because USA is now so politically fractured. So it's doubly dumb to act weak if you really are weak. Dumb dumb dumb.

3) What was the point of visiting Saudi Arabia? Is it an attempt to show home opinion how cool he is, or is it an attempt to gain allies and make good deals for USA? Obama focused on the right thing. Trump focused on the wrong thing (like a child).

I find it bizarre that you can't see how Obama did everything right here, and Trump did everything wrong.

 

[angelo]

You show respect to despots by grovelling to them? All that did was to confirm to these fundamental Muslims that the leader of the Western World was weak. Exactly what they thought!

1) He didn't grovel. That's what you saw. That's not what the Arabs saw.

2) You don't understand Arab culture. When visiting Saudi Arabia there's just no way Obama could have been too polite (or grovelling), and they would have seen it as weakness. By being extremely polite it would indicate strength and power. Only somebody who is weak is rude. Like Trump did. And Trump is politically weak, because USA is now so politically fractured. So it's doubly dumb to act weak if you really are weak. Dumb dumb dumb.

3) What was the point of visiting Saudi Arabia? Is it an attempt to show home opinion how cool he is, or is it an attempt to gain allies and make good deals for USA? Obama focused on the right thing. Trump focused on the wrong thing (like a child).

I find it bizarre that you can't see how Obama did everything right here, and Trump did everything wrong.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...-the-middle-east-what-obama-says-2290761.html

 

[DrZoidberg]

You show respect to despots by grovelling to them? All that did was to confirm to these fundamental Muslims that the leader of the Western World was weak. Exactly what they thought!

1) He didn't grovel. That's what you saw. That's not what the Arabs saw.

2) You don't understand Arab culture. When visiting Saudi Arabia there's just no way Obama could have been too polite (or grovelling), and they would have seen it as weakness. By being extremely polite it would indicate strength and power. Only somebody who is weak is rude. Like Trump did. And Trump is politically weak, because USA is now so politically fractured. So it's doubly dumb to act weak if you really are weak. Dumb dumb dumb.

3) What was the point of visiting Saudi Arabia? Is it an attempt to show home opinion how cool he is, or is it an attempt to gain allies and make good deals for USA? Obama focused on the right thing. Trump focused on the wrong thing (like a child).

I find it bizarre that you can't see how Obama did everything right here, and Trump did everything wrong.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...-the-middle-east-what-obama-says-2290761.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/focus/2009/08/200982713262211453.html

Here's Al Jazeera's article on the same event. Notice how they don't mention it?

Here's Al Jazeera on Trump's visit:

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/o...di-arabia-bad-deal-syria-180425053232930.html

Notice how they don't waste time on getting upset about Trumps failure to behave civilised?

It's just western press who gets their panties in a bunch about these retarded niceties.

Obama just followed rules of international diplomacy when greeting a foreign dignitary. His behaviour signalled that he's capable of focusing on the stuff that matters. Trump didn't. Obama just wanted to get to business instead of wasting energy on childish power demonstrations (which Trump loves to do). Obama's gesture opened diplomatic doors. Trump closed them.

 

[angelo]

Have you forgotten how Obama was outraged when the people of Egypt rioted and finally got rid of the Islamist president and his sharia, then cut off aid to Egypt because Sissi, the army and people's choice became leader?

Al Jazeera has even more credibility problems than the Daily Mail!

 

[DrZoidberg]

Have you forgotten how Obama was outraged when the people of Egypt rioted and finally got rid of the Islamist president and his sharia, then cut off aid to Egypt because Sissi, the army and people's choice became leader?

Al Jazeera has even more credibility problems than the Daily Mail!

There's track record. We can measure credibility of the press. Some people have.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/al-jazeera/

Factual Reporting: HIGH

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Al Jazeera has been proven to be trustworthy, while Daily Mail hasn't.

 

[angelo]

Like reporting that a Palestinian woman was killed but failing to report that the Palestinians launched around 150 rockets into Israeli territory and that Israel was retaliating?

 

[DrZoidberg]

Like reporting that a Palestinian woman was killed but failing to report that the Palestinians launched around 150 rockets into Israeli territory and that Israel was retaliating?

I've read Al Jazeera many years, and I think it's held up really well. I haven't found anything to convince me it's not high quality fact-checked news reporting. Unless you have anything to back up your allegations with, I'm going to call bullshit on you.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

There's track record. We can measure credibility of the press. Some people have.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/al-jazeera/




https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Al Jazeera has been proven to be trustworthy, while Daily Mail hasn't.

Al Jazeera used to be a good news source. They got taken over by terrorist supporters, though.

 

[bilby]

There's track record. We can measure credibility of the press. Some people have.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/al-jazeera/




https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Al Jazeera has been proven to be trustworthy, while Daily Mail hasn't.

Al Jazeera used to be a good news source. They got taken over by terrorist supporters, though.

Citation needed.

 

[DrZoidberg]

There's track record. We can measure credibility of the press. Some people have.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/al-jazeera/




https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/daily-mail/

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Al Jazeera has been proven to be trustworthy, while Daily Mail hasn't.

Al Jazeera used to be a good news source. They got taken over by terrorist supporters, though.

Ok, I'm listening. Why do you think so?

 

[angelo]

Like reporting that a Palestinian woman was killed but failing to report that the Palestinians launched around 150 rockets into Israeli territory and that Israel was retaliating?

I've read Al Jazeera many years, and I think it's held up really well. I haven't found anything to convince me it's not high quality fact-checked news reporting. Unless you have anything to back up your allegations with, I'm going to call bullshit on you.

I presume you're aware that Al Jazera is owned by the ruling family of Qatar?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_controversies_and_criticism

 

[untermensche]

Like reporting that a Palestinian woman was killed but failing to report that the Palestinians launched around 150 rockets into Israeli territory and that Israel was retaliating?

Because as we know.

Two crimes makes everything right.

Why can't the Palestinians stop individuals firing rockets?

Because they are oppressed, under the boot of foreign occupation, Israeli troops in and out at will, and not free to create a modern society.

Use the chaos you create to show those animals who's boss.

 

[angelo]

Like reporting that a Palestinian woman was killed but failing to report that the Palestinians launched around 150 rockets into Israeli territory and that Israel was retaliating?

Because as we know.

Two crimes makes everything right.

Why can't the Palestinians stop individuals firing rockets?

Because they are oppressed, under the boot of foreign occupation, Israeli troops in and out at will, and not free to create a modern society.

Use the chaos you create to show those animals who's boss.

Israel got out of Gaza in 2005 leaving behind infrastructure enough to start up some nation building. What did the so called Palestinians do with it? Nothing, or worse, destroyed it.
Gaza hasn't been " occupied " since then. Perhaps if Hamas spent the billions of dollars in aid they receive from various organisations on it's people instead of building terror tunnels and rockets it may well be much better off!