The Rich Kids of Venezuela

If Chavez' cronies (including his daughter) hadn't stolen billions from the country, they would be ok.

 

I'm sure I don't know.

 

That is what anti-American propagandists are supposed to do.

 

Just as no conservative will admit to the failure of capitalism as it predictably devolves into crony capitalism and fascism.

 

Well it may not be wishful thinking. Sadly for your chosen position here behind the US types attempting the overthrow of Maduro, over 5 decades or more the US has established a pattern of behavior in overthrowing legitimate governments around the world.

True, some are unable to perceive that pattern of behavior, but others like Naomi Klein and Bill Blum ARE able to perceive and analyze that pattern.

What we've done to Venezuela over the last several years falls very much into that pattern of behavior.

Assuming the rule of law, all the rhetoric and propaganda that Trump, Pence, Bolton and Pompeo can muster cannot justify their illegal actions.

 

Neo Liberal Capitalism with its ever smaller number of people owning almost all the wealth of the world is what is going to cause human extinction. The work required to stop it is not profitable and the only thing neo liberalism thinks of is profit. It took from the world, morals and ethics and is taking us to human extinction which one of the leading experts in it believes could happen as soon as this year leading to by 2026 no life left of this world - maybe the odd bacteria but that will be it...Ah but having everything while others are without is what made this soon to be gone world go round.

 

Take heart. The middle class is shrinking because people are moving up.

"Yes, the America middle class is disappearing. At least as defined by the above WSJ chart. 38% of US families were middle class in 1979 vs. 32% in 2014.

But where did that 7% (6.8 percentage points to be exact) go? Well, of the five income groups (poor, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, and rich) displayed, the bottom three got smaller, the top two bigger.

The poor shrank by 4.5 percentage points, the lower middle class by 6.8, the middle class also by 6.8% But the upper middle class got a lot bigger, expanding by 16.4 points, and the rich by 1.8 points. Oh, and here is how upper middle class is defined, using research from economist Stephen Rose of the Urban Institute:"

http://www.aei.org/publication/the-...er-middle-class-but-theres-more-to-the-story/

 

But, but, but I thought that socialism didn't result in haves and have-nots! Apparently under socialism those that become rich are rich because of politics, and not through hard/smart work in business. A vile system.

 

You people are sure one special breed. Of course they are doing it for personal gain? What did you believe that children of rich politicians are some kind of humanitarians? It's like that all over eastern Europe where I'm from and there is no socialism there, it's corrupt systems that produce people like that. Either way it's quite fitting to demonize them now, why not look at other Latin American countries while you at it? O wait, they are American puppets so then it's OK. What they do and how they run their country is up to them and their people to decide and not anyone else. I'm surprised that people will never learn, countries do not develop when someone else comes and say how they should handle their business, they develop when they them self take care of their problems. Otherwise their will only be other Maduros.

 

So your defense of the failure of socialism in Venezuela is other countries leaders are rich too?

 

Low income isn't a problem cost of living is. People the world over live good productive life on low wages when cost of living is adequate. The problem with socialist/communist take over is that they always mess up with the approvision chains which raises the cost of living to.a level unprecedented.

 

The elite looted VZ for 40 years before Chavez.

 

Venezuela was the most prosperous country in South America before Chavez and now people are literally starving in the streets thanks to his socialist mismanagement and looting of the countries wealth.

 

No it wasn't read their history. Chavez was a hope... A reaction to 40 years of corruption in VZ. The elite had all the money. There was no middle class. Healthcare and education had failed long before Chavez. Look at the history of Spain. You have to invest in your people. It came too late for VZ.

 

Chavez inherited a booming economy and systematically destroyed it.

CARACAS - How did Venezuela, once Latin America's richest country, sink into ruin? The country with the largest oil reserves on the planet enjoyed more than a decade of abundance between 2004 and 2015, pulling in some $750 billion while the price of crude soared.
Heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for 96 percent of its foreign earnings, late president Hugo Chavez took advantage of the oil boom to borrow heavily.

Venezuela issued some $62 billion in sovereign bonds from the state oil company PDVSA, according to the consultants Ecoanalitica, and borrowed also from China and Russia. External debt increased fivefold to $150 billion. Foreign reserves were 42.3 billion in 2008, now reduced to a quarter of that.

Government spending soared, so much that in 2012 the budget deficit rose to 15.6 percent of GDP, while oil was selling at a record $103.42 a barrel.

That deficit "was the equivalent of Greece at its worst," said Oxford University economist Orlando Ochoa.

And the situation has not improved, with the deficit oscillating between 15 and 20 percent of GDP since 2013, according to Humberto Garcia, president of the National Academy of Economics.

The government says it spent $718 billion on social programs between 1999 and 2014.
The socialist leadership imposed an iron fist on the economy, nationalizing entire sectors such as cement and steel, while expropriating hundreds of companies.

It brought in strict exchange controls in 2003, which allowed it to monopolize the dollar exchange and artificially overvalue the local currency, the bolivar.

It also imposed price controls, which undermined industrial production.

"This promped the private sector to replace production with cheap imports," said Ochoa. Today, production covers only 20 percent of consumption, compared to 70 percent in 2008, according to Fedeagro.

One of the perverse effects of this state control was corruption. Some firms resorted to inventing phantom imports, overcharging for contracts or diverting dollars to the black market, where the greenback is worth 12 times more than the official rate.

Jorge Giordani, Chavez's economic guru, estimates that $300 billion has been lost to corruption over the past decade."

https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/05/14/18/how-once-mighty-venezuelan-economy-collapsed

 

Not true. What is your source? Christian broadcast company?

 

I gave you the link. Are you confused?

 

Do you remember for your self before Chavez?

 

Why are you choosing to ignore the link I gave you? Where is your link backing up your previous claims?

 

VZ s prosperity was only for the immediate elite circle around the US approved ex military dictator. Like the shah in Iran.

 

Just like I don't expect good little fascists to give any.

The entire OP doesn't say word one about socialism or how it accomplished its myriad baleful problems. It is a litany of CORRUPTION not socialism.

Socialism is fascism's goto excuse when its "good economics", which is another word for kleptocracy, starts to fall down around its leader's ears. This Gabriela woman ought to be named Ivanka, whom I'm quite sure herself has ambitions to be richer than Daddy.

 

Wow, in a thread about the Venezuelan economy, you consider the US to be the "sick" economy. I believe Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland are the only nations with a higher average wage than the US. Is that what you are comparing the US to in order to determine this sickness, or are you comparing the US economy to some economy you have imagined?

 

ABSOLUTELY. Our economy fails, to migrate any excesses to wage earners. All profits go to owners and managers. NONE go to the hourly stiff.

That is sick. It needs to be addressed.

 

Yet only after socialist policy was initiated did people starve in the streets and flee the country in droves. Apparently even a ruthless and brutal dictator was better than socialism.

 

Read VZ history.