BTW, just to be clear - I am not saying Venezuelans are the only ones who engage in this insane wastefullness.
The "cash for clunkers" program in the U.S., to name but one example, was right up there with any program in terms of insane wastefullness.
But it is one thing to be insanely wasteful when you are fairly rich, it is quite another to be so wasteful when you are poor and in desperate need of a real development plan. So the Venezuelan government needs to be called out on this garbage.
Hmmm, I wonder if they didn't piss away so much on subsidizing cell phone and car purchases if they would have enough money to actually pay for their own hydro electric projects rather than having to borrow the money?
http://www.hydroworld.com/index/
...venezuela.html#
When 2009 is closed out it will be interesting to see the debt numbers. It is growing at a very rapid rate.
I guess they are working hard trying to keep up with Obama.
Jessie Chacon has obviously never heard of the Dutch Disease:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT...020-
712586.html
CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Higher prices for Venezuelan oil is giving a much-needed boost to the local manufacturing sector, which in turn will help the country's sluggish economy recover faster in 2010, a top official said Tuesday.
"Last year we were seeing oil prices near $33 or so a barrel, and now we're seeing (Venezuela's basket price for crude oil and refined products) well above $60, and this will obviously stimulate production," Jesse Chacon, minister of science, technology and light industry, told reporters.
Ignorant fool. Oil averaged $85 a barrel for Venezuela last year and manufacturing growth stopped dead in its tracks last year.
It's going to be hard to accomplish anything worthwhile when you have people who are this clueless regarding their own economy running the place.
All the silliness pointed out in this post is to say: 20 or 30 years from now when people are trying to figure out why Venezuela is still a shitty little thirld world country in spite of it having gone through a huge oil boom they'll probably be wondering "What the hell did they spend all the money on".
I think we have some Eurocentrism going on here. I would never think to characterize a country solely in terms of its relative economic status. and call it shitty as a consequence, I believe that people, their countries and their cultures are more than that, but that's just me.
Richard, you are correct. I should have said "why Venezuela still has a shitty little third world economy".
Indeed, Venezuela as a country has a great many thing to recommend it - its culture, its spectacular scenery, its amazing classical music program, etc, etc. But most of those things exist independently of anything any given government does.
One of the primary responsibilities of any Venezuelan government is improving the economy of Venezuela and the standard of living of Venezuelans and it is very fustrating how many mistakes they are making with respect to that.
But none of that does anything to diminish the country's virtues so apologies extended for that incorrect and possibly offensive comment.
So Richard, you used to come and try to explain why Chavez was doing this and that. Now all you can do is point out a statement that some people may find offensive? Oh, oh, somebody else seeing the light?
So Richard, you used to come and try to explain why Chavez was doing this and that. Now all you can do is point out a statement that some people may find offensive? Oh, oh, somebody else seeing the light?
I have never comee here to explain why Chavez was doing this and that. In fact, on some occasions, I said that he may have actually benefitted from mistakes that redounded to his benefit, such as his failed policy of promoting manufacturing. I have also contested some of the development models presented by Ow. But, as for Chavez, no, I have never presumed to explain why he is doing anything.
Ow,
The question I ask myself still is how you could have fallen in love with Hugo for so long. You are not thick, but you were so bloody naive.
Now, regarding car manufacturing: although I agree we should not be paying for Venezuelans to import cheap cars, I don't put my hopes in developing our own car industry from scratch. That does not make sense at all.
Venezuelan workers are highly unproductive, highly UN-skilled, there is not the logistics and the country is ridiculously expensive. I was taking a look at some hotels in my region in Venezuela. It seems I can get the same kind of room with a gorgeous scenery and no fear of violent crime if I just go to pricey Switzerland nextdoor. And if I want some warmth, I go to Turkey or even "failed-state Mexico", which is safer than Venezuela (Mexico, you read it).
If those hotels and the books and the milk are so expensive, don't even try to create Venemotors now with expensive and unproductive people.
First things first:
0) put taxes on a lot of luxury imported products higher
1) prepare a plan for paying right away extra expenses to hospitals, research, etc
2) start devalueing the Bolivar (1 would see for key things to be protected from collapse)
3) invest in industries that can be upgraded relatively fast, like production of electronic devices, where installations are not overly targeted to one single product, do use subsidies there in the form of productivity courses,
industry parks for little money, organized transportation, education, education, education, education
4) allow the expansion of foreign companies but with very specific conditions on technology transfer and we know it is not worth getting museum-old French technology from the Iranians (we need to do as in the nineties on that)
5) get all Venezuela into the PISA programme, declare our relative targets before we get the first results and declare clear absolute targets once we have those results
6) stop any weapon purchases that is not for drug
7) invest, invest, invest in decent police forces and allow an open evaluation of the security programmes
prepare a plan for subsidized petrol (a card or something like that to a cédula de identidad)
9) increase petrol prices for all who don't have
the card (private car owners), verify buses use only a maximum (it is easy, a bus can only drive so much even under best conditions)
10) prepare for better ways of subsidies for transport as Venezuelans will for now always try to cheat on the system
I always thought we had very shitty governments and I protested against the Perez one as a student and later but I never thought we would have such a bunch of idiots.
We,, the fooler they get, the more red they wear.
It's easy to criticize. It's not so easy to have to constantly run for office and have to please your friends and make things at least liveable for most of your enemies. Chavez needs to get off the campaign trail. He needs to govern and not constantly have to make promises and make everyone happy. He hs to do what he has to do. So get off his back and let him do it.
"So get off his back and let him do it."
It's been eleven years since he became president. A little too late for "es que a mi comandante no lo dejan gobernar".
So who's "not letting him do it"? The National Assembly? The TSJ? Don't be ridiculous: criticizing and analyzing is a legitimate citizen's right. Chávez has done whatever he's wanted for 11 years. You're a hipocrite and a conformist if you settle for this hare-brained cell phone policy. You sound like Bill O'Reilly complaining people should just sit back and let Bush run the country however he wants. Chávez needs to be responsible and assume the failure of many of his policies. He's the only person responsible for not getting things done.
Damn, even when you think its good news it isn't:
http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/y...ticia.php?
35001
Looking at the headline I thought they had built a big new fertilizer plant.
Turns out they spent about a million dollars renovating a 50 year old one.
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