Re: Ref. Hugo Chavez
rosskolnikov
location: Far end of the Group W bench
listening to: The Tony Rice Unit
registered: 2005.05.24
posts: 1822
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You are mostly right (I used to live there). Some foods grow wild, but they are nowhere near what's needed to feed the whole population. In fact, Venezuela is a voracious food importer and has become even more of one in recent years. The current problem is a combination of a mini-boom due to the runup in oil prices and a depression in food production that is wholly due to Chavez' insane policy of price controls.As I've maintained before, Chavez is a very predictable result of years of neglect and mis-management by Venzuela's political class. But his "solutions" centered around massive giveaways and state planning are the types of systems that always seem to fail. The 100 pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about (for seeming racist) is that a large part of Venezuela's underclass lack the cultural background to do the things necessary to move out of their current condition. The subsidies only dig a deeper hole. The reality, as I see it, is that until the greater Venezuelan culture changes itself (and at least moves part way toward what is called the Protestant work ethic), there can be no real progress. The one Venezuelan area that has done so to an extent, Zulia, is not surprisingly the most successful area economically. And it was even during the era of $20/barrel oil. Also, the numbers aren't 10-1. Unemployment is officially about 20%. Allowing for some of the really terrible jobs, maybe 30%. Chavez hoodwinked a very large portion of the lower working class in addition to the truly poor. Chavez is right that a lack of ability to keep PdVSA money "in country" was a huge problem. But instead of choking off investment by imposing draconian monetary policy, he could have worked toward creating investment conditions more favorable to both local and foreign money. It's not like this hasn't been accomplished in Latin America. Chile, Brazil, and (in the last few years) Mexico have all done this to an extent. Not surprisingly, all are ahead of Venezuela on nearly every quality of life measure.Need I go on?
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rosskolnikov
(view)
You are mostly right (I used to live there). Some foods grow wild, but they are nowhere near what's needed to feed the whole population. In fact, Venezuela is a voracious food importer and has become even more of one in recent years. The current problem is a combination of a mini-boom due to the runup in oil prices and a depression in food production that is wholly due to Chavez' insane policy of price controls.As I've maintained before, Chavez is a very predictable result of years of neglect and mis-management by Venzuela's political class. But his "solutions" centered around massive giveaways and state planning are the types of systems that always seem to fail. The 100 pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about (for seeming racist) is that a large part of Venezuela's underclass lack the cultural background to do the things necessary to move out of their current condition. The subsidies only dig a deeper hole. The reality, as I see it, is that until the greater Venezuelan culture changes itself (and at least moves part way toward what is called the Protestant work ethic), there can be no real progress. The one Venezuelan area that has done so to an extent, Zulia, is not surprisingly the most successful area economically. And it was even during the era of $20/barrel oil. Also, the numbers aren't 10-1. Unemployment is officially about 20%. Allowing for some of the really terrible jobs, maybe 30%. Chavez hoodwinked a very large portion of the lower working class in addition to the truly poor. Chavez is right that a lack of ability to keep PdVSA money "in country" was a huge problem. But instead of choking off investment by imposing draconian monetary policy, he could have worked toward creating investment conditions more favorable to both local and foreign money. It's not like this hasn't been accomplished in Latin America. Chile, Brazil, and (in the last few years) Mexico have all done this to an extent. Not surprisingly, all are ahead of Venezuela on nearly every quality of life measure.Need I go on?
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.:RS:.
.:RS:.
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Taxi to Hell – Dslacker on February 28th, 2008
