The Rich Kids of Venezuela

This is how socialism works in the real world as opposed to in classroom theory. This is what destroyed the Venezuela economy.

"Flashing a fist-full of dollars, posing with pop-stars or living it up in at world’s most lavish hotels – the rich kids of Venezuela’s socialist elite know nothing of the misery their parents have wreaked on their country.

Socialist revolution leader Hugo Chavez’s oldest daughter Maria Gabriela is rumoured to be Venezuela’s richest woman, with a personal fortune of more than 4 billion dollars, hidden in bank accounts Europe. The 38-year-old earned her vast fortune while acting as first lady to her socialist President father, former Lieutenant-Colonel Hugo Chavez, after he divorced his second wife."
"President Nicolas Maduro was castigated for his largess after a film went viral of the socialist leader enjoying a huge banquet hosted by celebrity-chef Salt Bae in Istanbul, in September last year. At home most Venezuelans cannot afford fresh meat.

A few months earlier his two stepsons Yoswal Gavidia Flores and Walter Gavidia Flores had managed to blow some $45,000 on an extravagant 18-night stay at the Ritz hotel in Paris – where rooms cost $591 a night. Breakfast is an extra $40.

Their hotel bill is the equivalent of the monthly wages of 2,000 Venezuelans. A basic basket of shopping costs 16 times the minimum wage. Six out of ten Venezuelans have a relative who goes without to feed their family and one in 12 families are forced to scavenge out of the bins for food.

These rich Chavista kids have also been spotted in the best restaurants and clothes and jewelry shops in Madrid – as part of the lavish lifestyle they have become accustomed to, while their step-father drags their country its knees.

Together with brother Yosser, they have been accused of involvement in a multi-million-dollar money laundering scheme by US Senator Marco Rubio in September last year."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ader-Hugo-Chavezs-daughter-flaunt-wealth.html

 

A large contributing factor to the failure of the Venezuelan economy were the actions, sanctions and more, of the US government. The British government helped with stealing their gold.

There was so much good will towards Venezuela back when they were donating heating oil to needy Americans that the neocons had to start a new offensive.

 

Dude, no liberals wll admit the failure of socialism even when there is hard proof...their masters at CNN haventold them its good, therefore it is...dont expect hive mind folks to understand facts

 

I see you completely ignore the OP and immediately seek to blame the US.

 

The reason VZ turned to Chavez is because of. VZs long standing huge desparity in income., You should have known that over the past 40 years. There was no middle class. Chavez did some very good things in terms of health care, education... And petrocaribe. The oil price collapse really hurt VZ.

 

The primary failure of socialism, capitalism and EVERY gall dang ism, is HUMANS. When they get involved, moar goes to those deciding where the money goes. DUH. Those that decide where the money goes, MUST have MOAR integrity. That is why we are such a sick economy right now. Those that decide where the money goes, are the ones to get the money received. EN MASSE.

So, all humans that lead, MUST be of the utmost integrity. Good point. I applaud the OP.

 

Very simple reason for that Joseph--the US and EU are very much responsible for what's happening down there. It has been building to this for quite a few years.

Do you know what our CIA does? Has done? Do you remember Iran-Contra?

 

Historic revisionism isn't your thing.....

 

Seems the low oil prices didn't hurt the ruling socialist in the least. Did you even read the OP?

 

Cold war has been over a long time. We won.

 

There has been an ONGOING strike of the rich and powerful. They put on the economic brakes. A DOVE STRIKE.

It was a LUDDITE response, by the rich. And it has ground down that society.

 

Study the history of VZ back to 1970.

 

Socialism is advertised as the exact opposite as what it always turns out to be and Venezuela is a "teachable moment" in history.

 

Funny how right wingers support the opposition in Venezuela but fail to note that it is headed by SOCIALIST Guaidó.

 

I don't think you have the stomach, to study it in its entirety.

Another problem with SOCIALISM proper, is that socialism, is only tried, when we are desperate. Folks don't think properly, when the situation is in a panic.

A society must change gradually, or disorder arises. All these are complicating factors, to include the SABOTAGE of those previously in the catbird seat etc.

 

Go back a bit farther and see the roots of the problems in Venezuela.

The Socialist Origins of Venezuela’s Pro-Democracy Advocates
Venezuela’s current collapse did not happen overnight. It was part of a drawn out process of economic and institutional decay that began decades before.

When Venezuela returned to democracy in 1958, it looked like it was poised to begin an era of unprecedented prosperity and political stability.

However, Venezuela’s democratic experiment was doomed from the start, and one needn’t look any further at the political background of its very own founder, Rómulo Betancourt, to understand why it’s entire political system was built on a house of cards.

Rómulo Betancourt was an ex-communist who renounced his Marxist ways in favor of a more gradualist approach of establishing socialism. Despite evolving into more of a social democrat, Betancourt still believed in a very activist role for the State in economic matters.

Betancourt was part of a generation of intellectuals and student activists that aimed to fully nationalize Venezuela’s petroleum sector and use petroleum rents to establish a welfare state of sorts. These political figures firmly believed that for Venezuela to become a truly independent country and free itself from the influence of foreign interests, the government must have complete dominion over the oil sector.

Under this premise, a nationalized oil industry would finance cheap gasoline, “free” education at all levels, healthcare, and a wide array of other public services.

This rhetoric strongly resonated among the lower and middle classes, which would form the bulwark of Betancourt’s party, Acción Democrática, voter base for years to come.

At its core, this vision of economic organization assumed that the government must manage the economy through central planning. Oil would be produced, managed, and administered by the state, while the government would try to phase out the private sector.

Interventionism from the Start
Betancourt’s administration, while not as interventionist as succeeding 4th Republic governments, capped off several worrisome policies, which included:

1. Devaluation of the Venezuelan currency, the Bolívar.
2. Failed land reform that encouraged squatting and undermined the property rights of landowners.
3. The establishment of a Constitutional order based on positive rights and an active role for the Venezuelan state in economic affairs

Betancourt’s government followed-up with considerable tax hikes that saw income tax rates triple to 36%. In typical fashion, spending increases would be accompanied with these increases, as the Venezuelan government started to generate fiscal deficits because of its out of control social programs. These growing deficits would become a fixture in Venezuelan public finance during the pre-Chávez era.

The Nationalization of the Oil Industry
While Betancourt did not achieve his end goal of nationalizing the Venezuelan oil industry, his government laid the foundation for subsequent interventions in that sector.

Thanks to the large oil boom of the 1970s, the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez capitalized on the unprecedented flow of petroleum rents brought about by the 1970s energy crisis where oil-producing countries like Venezuela benefited handsomely from high oil prices.

Betancourt’s vision was finally achieved in 1975, when Carlos Andrés Pérez’s government nationalized the petroleum sector. The nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry fundamentally altered the nature of the Venezuelan state. Venezuela morphed into a petrostate, in which the concept of the consent of the governed was effectively turned on its head.

Instead of Venezuelans paying taxes to the government in exchange for the protection of property and similar freedoms, the Venezuelan state would play a patrimonial role by bribing its citizens with all sorts of handouts to maintain its dominion over them.

On the other hand, countries based on more liberal frameworks of governance have citizens paying taxes, and in return, these governments provide services that nominally protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens. The state is not the owner, thus giving the citizens a strong check against the Leviathan should the government overstep its boundaries."

https://mises.org/wire/venezuela-chavez-prelude-socialist-failure

 

One of the teachable moments is that the West will work like the devil to take down any socialist gov't. So why do we care so much about what other people choose, in another nation? Well, our capitalists can no longer make money there, nor can they exploit the resources for their own profit.

About the only nation south of us that we have not taken down, when our elite's profits are threatened is Cuba. But lordy, we tried, short of invasion.

So there is lots of teachable moments here, although you probably would rather not be taught about them? ha ha

But don't misunderstand me. I think post ww2 capitalism, until the 80s, is the only way to go. After all, it created the largest middle class in the history of this world, here in America. Even as the latest form of it, neoliberal capitalism is destroying the middle class. There are beneficial forms of capitalism and forms that are only beneficial to the elites. Another teachable moment.

 

Not only studied it but I fell for it hook line and sinker in my youth. Even ran off to join a commune in Big Sur. That was an eye opener.

 

Sounds pretty extreme. You seem to be an extremist.

 

Post WW2 was the golden era of capitalism in America. The rest of the industrialized world was destroyed from war and we were the only game in town. GM was bigger than most countries in the 50s and into the early 60s. By the 80s Europe and Japan had rebuilt their economies and infrastructure and we had competition. Add to that china, india and other third world countries entering the industrial revolution and it's easy to see why we will never see an era like the post war boom again. This is not a failure of capitalism in America it's a success of capitalism world wide.
Meanwhile failed socialist states have come and gone in mass since WW2 and we can now add Venezuela to that long list.

 

I thought it was primarily germany that was destroyed? Did we destroy the rest of europe too? ha ha

I have heard the growth of the middle class in america blamed on the end of ww2, but that isn't the whole story, is it? There is much more to it than that, and we were once taught this in public school in the late 50s and 60s. Later on, the right side boys wanted to say it was only because of the devastation of ww2, even as most of europe rebuilt rather quickly and did not depend upon the US for their consumer goods and services.

Most of europe did not lose its industry, but we bombed the hell out of germany. Indeed the rebuilding of europe, by europeans was an economic boom for europeans. Jobs of necessity.

So, trying to say it was because europe had to depend upon amercan industry for they had none left, is not quite the truth here. They got back on their industrial feet relatively fast.

 

Relatively fast yes but that encompassed the 50s and into the early 60s. America actually prospered during the war and was the one industrialized country not devastated by it. We had a huge head start and as Europe rebuilt and tried to catch us we were already off to the races.

"Even during war time, American output steadily grew, as the physical damage done to the country was relatively limited. This allowed Americans to buckle down and work on bolstering industry rather than having to focus on rebuilding what was lost. Conversely, many countries in Europe suffered extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure, so the end of the war was a time for intensive rehabilitation."
"Since the years in between World War I and World War II were rife with global economic instability, Europe had not had time to implement many of the advancements pioneered in the U.S. and elsewhere. Where Americans were developing new technologies such as nylon and Teflon, and making important advancements in areas such as the automotive industry, many Europeans were still heating their homes with coal. Basically, the non-stop turmoil of the pre-war years left little time for advancement on the continent. However, once the war ended, all these new technologies and advancements in business and industry became available to economies newly able and ready to embrace them. People who worked in wartime as soldiers and nurses now needed jobs, and American advancement during the preceding years provided the perfect blueprint for how to use this newly available workforce."

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/112814/how-did-world-war-ii-impact-european-gdp.asp

 

The oil price collapse is true.

However, the almost infinitely top-heavy government couldn't be cut to correspond to the new oil prices, and so the money printing machines went into high gear until the government collapse corresponded to the oil price collapse.

 

[QUOTE="Josephwalker, post: 1070193071, member: 73051"]This is how socialism works in the real world as opposed to in classroom theory. This is what destroyed the Venezuela economy.

"Flashing a fist-full of dollars, posing with pop-stars or living it up in at world’s most lavish hotels – the rich kids of Venezuela’s socialist elite know nothing of the misery their parents have wreaked on their country."[/quote]

Blah, blah, fecking blah. Fart.

Noisily slurp corporate machine provided refreshment Coke. Lick canteen heated Bigburger grease off fingers and chin. Scratch manly dangler. Return to keyboard and punch out yet another paragraph of witless drivel for the editor to shape the narrative of plunder planned.

Trust Blighty's Daily Fail to spin its Master's gruesome spiders web and fall in behind yet another US regime change ploy.

Doesn't even the most mindless unthinking dolt get thoroughly sick of these attempts by a tiny powerful few to reach out their filthy fecking Grim Reaper fingers to grasp yet more other people's wealth?

Seemingly not.

 

Venezuela's downfall wasn't socialism it was a drop in the price of oil, it's failure to plan for that eventuality and adapt to the loss of revenue...it's a one industry country, a plunge in oil prices would've destroyed any government left or right without preparation for such an event...and Maduro like trump is an idiot so there is that...

contrast Venezuela with very socialist Norway and it's oil based economy which is not in any financial difficulty, it's social programs far ahead of capitalist usa...that's the result of planning for the future...