President Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan Socialism
Posted 6/27/08 ( by Travis)
Awash
in oil wealth, Venezuela suffers healthcare crisis
boston.com
^ | April 9, 2008 | Chris Kraul
Palacios, the nation's largest public maternity hospital and once the nation's beacon of neonatal care, has fallen on hard times. Half of the anesthesiologists and pediatricians on staff two years ago have quit. Basic equipment such as respirators, ultrasound monitors, and incubators are either broken or scarce. Six of 12 birth rooms have been shut.
On one day in March, five newborns were crowded into one incubator, said Dr. Jesús Méndez Quijada, a psychiatrist and Palacios staff member who is a past president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation
The deaths of the six infants "were not a case of bad luck, but the consequence of an accumulation of circumstances that have created this alarming situation," Quijada said.
The problems at Concepción Palacios are symptoms of a variety of ills plaguing the public healthcare system under leftist firebrand President Hugo Chávez, Quijada and others say.
Cases of malaria nearly doubled between 1998, the year before Chávez took office, and 2007. Incidents of dengue fever more than doubled over the same period.
Poorly paid doctors regularly demonstrate at hospitals from Puerto La Cruz in the northeast to Maracay in the industrial heartland, demanding back pay and protesting the lack of equipment and supplies. Others are leaving in droves for Spain, Australia, or the Middle East, where they can make 10 times the $600 monthly average salary they earn in public hospitals.
<.>
A lack of openness has affected other facets of public health too. After the medical establishment blamed him for an outbreak of dengue fever last summer, Chávez halted weekly publication of an epidemiology report that for 50 years had tallied occurrences of infectious diseases nationwide.
<.>
Chávez has also been accused of appointing cronies to manage public health.
Posted 2/26/08 (By Travis)
Venezuela
fights use of English words
AP
via Yahoo! ^ | 02/26/08 | AP
English has spread not because of any innate linguistic superiority, but because of the relative economic freedom here in the United States. Chavez's attempt to control common culture is doomed to failure, as well as demonstrating his belief in the power of central planning. Also:
A
lesson from Venezuela (Thomas Sowell)
Jewish
World Review ^ | February 27, 2008 | Thomas Sowell
Posted 11/11/07 (By Travis)
Venezuelans scramble for food amid oil opulence
11/11/07 Reuters
The 37-year-old father-of-two has for months scrambled to find basic products like cooking oil, beef and milk, despite leftist President Hugo Chavez's social program that promises to provide low-cost groceries to the majority poor.
"It takes a miracle to find milk," said Arteaga, who spent two hours in line outside a store in the poor Caracas neighborhood of Eucaliptus. <.>
Businesses say price controls on staple foods are so low they discourage investment and force stores to sell at a loss.
Posted 8/16/07 (By Travis)
Chavez eyes power for life as he rips up constitution
8/17/07 Scottsman.com
Mr Chavez, 54, plans to overturn the decree of his 1999 constitution which laid out a maximum of two six-year terms for any president. The new constitution calls for seven-year terms with indefinite re-election.
The new constitution will fix the working week at no more than 36 hours. The Central Bank will also lose any vestige of independence, simply becoming the presidential piggy bank.
Posted 7/24/07 (By Travis)
Venezuela's energy minister says state oil company struggling with 'operational emergency'
7/24/07 International Herald Tribune
The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which collects and analyzes statistics related to the international oil market, calculates that oil output in Venezuela — a major supplier of crude to the United States — has fallen to 2.37 million barrels a day, down from 2.6 million barrels a day a year ago.
Venezuela claims to be producing more than 3 million barrels a day. "We hope to reach 3.2 million barrels by the end of the year," Ramirez said.
Who are we to believe? Lol, of course I'm being sarcastic; this is no different than the USSR claiming double digit economic growth despite retractions, the Chinese under Mao claimed record production levels even as millions starved, and the Cuban literacy and infant mortality rates today (the later country's statistics are even enshrined in the UN and taken at face value by many academics and even ordinary Americans).
The state will lie and deceive even itself.
The truth is that the thieving Venezuelans, having looted the foreign oil companies, are now staggering under bureaucracy, stifled by broken feedback loops rooted in economic reality, and strangled by trumpeting political considerations.
Also, Chavez is threatening to kick out foreigners who speak out against him. Saying, "How long are we going to allow a person from any country in the world to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?"
Posted 2/12/07 (By Travis)
Venezuela May Control Food Distribution
2/11/07 Durham Herald Sun
President Hugo Chavez's government has drafted a decree allowing officials to take control of food distribution chains, including supermarkets and storage depots, if services are interrupted, officials said Sunday.
Industry and Commerce Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias said the decree would help curb supply problems that have caused severe shortages of meats, milk and sugar in recent weeks.
If you recall, a previous hypothesis put forth was that shortages of anything people are willing to pay for, with the possible exception of Harley Davison motorcycles :), are caused by government policies.
Shortages of items ranging from milk to coffee have occurred since early 2003, when Chavez began regulating prices for 400 basic products as a way to counter inflation and protect the poor.
Posted 9/12/06 (By Travis)
Oil's Dark Secret (Required Reading)
8/10/06 The Economist
A great article! It is about time someone blamed the world's governments for the oil shortages and the resultant economic stagnations and sufferings.
In 'Atlas Shrugged', author Ayn Rand writes a fictional mirror image of the description of what is happening to Venezuela's oil company.
A couple themes pop out of this article. First, in 'Middle Eastern Governments and Causes of Terrorism' it is written:
Another theory is that without foreign aid or natural resources, governments are forced to liberalize because it is the only way for them to get tax revenues. In other words, when wealth can only be generated through the naked productivity/ingenuity of it's citizens, the rulers of that country will be most inclined to introduce reforms to accelerate this. Notice some of the strongest economic zones in the world today - Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Switzerland, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea and the (early, eastern) United States - are poor in natural resources. Historically, the British, Dutch, Portuguese and, going way back, Carthageans and Athenians, were all were top world powers without being strong in natural resources. Why was the Spanish Empire, a centrally controlled country drowning in colonial gold, discarded into the ash heap of history so fast? Returning to the Africa analogy, the areas which are richest in natural resources, especially the diamond belt, are suffering the greatest conflict and strife.
From the posted article:
One factor that does not seem to be a prerequisite to success for a national oil company is having a lot of oil. Petrobras, for one, began life as a refiner and distributor. It used its profits from those businesses to fund new ventures in exploration and production. Abundant, inalienable oil, on the other hand, seems to do most state-run firms more harm than good.
Another theme, touched on throughout this website, is that, sure, we have it bad here, our government is oppressive and large and immoral, but.... we still have it much better than anywhere else. The United States is home to most of the world's largest private oil companies and, even though these are still layered with burdensome taxes and regulations, we can still be thankful that we don't even have a single state oil company... yet.
(Added to 'Chavez', and 'Gasoline and Government')
Posted 4/1/06
Venezuela Takes on Exxon Mobil in Oil Play
3/3/06 AP A rather interesting article describing how Venzuelan President Hugo Chavez is not just giving more control of the oil production to Venzuelan state oil companies, but also favoring state oil companies from other 'friendly' countries. Of course, 'friendly countries' in Venzuela's case means totalitarian regimes like China and Iran. Why else would this be done if not for political favors/alliances?
The raising of taxes and 'fees' and the lessening of private ownership of oil will have two results.
The first is the most dangerous, as now the government will have increased revenue, hence more power, and more money to squander and harm the people with. Look for Venezuela to continue to slide towards a statism similar to that 'enjoyed' by Middle Eastern Governments.
The second is that Venezuela will export less oil than it would if the fields were to be privately manned, fewer workers will be hired, foreign investment will fall and it would not be surprising if the revenues collected by the government are actually lower than if this trend did not exist.
The above two paragraphs seem to be in contradiction with each other, but I believe they can both be true if we factor in a time scale. Government revenue will increase in the short term, but fall in the long term. In the end, government will find it has destroyed the private sector and has complete power over an industry, which is now stagnating. Then it turns its attention to the next industry. This is the rather predictable result of socialism.
However, the sheer incompetence of government and the innate ability of the private sector to generate wealth (which can then be stolen by the government), means that private industry is often grudgingly accepted:
Experts say, however, that fears that Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's
Few state oil companies have the expertise to upgrade the extra-heavy oil and tar-like bitumen found in the Orinoco into lighter, marketable oils.
State companies do not have this 'expertise' and cannot develop these new deposits precisely because they are State companies.
(added to 'Chavez' and 'Gasoline and Government')
Posted 1/8/06
Some stories from Venzuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Added to 'Chavez'.
Venezuela to Expand Heating Oil Offer
1/7/05 Associated Press CARACAS -- Venezuela said yesterday it will expand a program to provide discounted home heating oil to poor Americans, bringing savings to low-income families in Vermont and Rhode Island, as well as four Indian tribes in Maine.
Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. has already begun selling millions of gallons of discounted fuel in Massachusetts and the Bronx in New York City as part of a plan by Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, to aid poor communities that he says are neglected by Washington.
So, what should our reaction be to this? um.. I guess: Thanks! But if I was a Venezuelan I would be absolutely livid. Venezuela has a per capita income of $5,700, while the United States is 7x richer at nearly $40,000 per capita. The fact is the US 'poor' that Chavez is subsidizing are better off than the vast majority of his countrymen. The fact that he can, apparently by decree, spend his peoples' money in such a way is indicative of the reason Venezuela remains mired in poverty, along with the large flux of Venezuelans who continue to immigrate to the United States.
Another story of Chavez spending the money of the people of Venezuela on foreigners:
Chavez Uses Hedge Fund for Politics
12/19/05 NewsMax Chavez, seeking to embarrass the United States, stepped in for the purchase after the two biggest U.S. banks, Citigroup Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co., opted not to buy a portion of Argentina’s debt.
The Venezuelan dictator has accumulated as much as $986 million of bonds this year from Argentina, more than any of the 10 largest U.S.-based mutual funds that focus on emerging markets, according to Bloomberg News.
"The dangers are when the market heads south and they want to dump the bonds."
But if the money you are spending is not your own then who cares? Such is the danger of political control of the peoples' money.
One of the greatest dangers to a democracy and a republic is the use of 'public funds' to fund campaigns of politicians. Opposition groups are alleging that Chavez supporters have been using funds from the general treasury to run their campaigns. Sadly, this happens here in the United States too.
Venezuela President Chavez Makes Anti-Semitic Speech
1/2/06 MidEast Dispatches Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced in a Christmas speech that “the descendants of those who crucified Christ” have appropriated the riches of the world.
Speaking at a rehabilitation center on December 24, the controversial left-wing president said “the descendants of those who crucified Christ... have taken ownership of the riches of the world, a minority has taken ownership of the gold of the world, the silver, the minerals, water, the good lands, petrol, well, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a small number of hands.”
This, apparently, has a number of our friends on the left (some of whom are Chavez supporters), quite upset. I don't see why it is surprising at all. Historically, those on the far left have generally followed this path. For example, the USSR Communist fundings of terrorists in the Middle East against Israel and the persecutions of their own Jewish populations. Middle Eastern Governments, which are amongst the most socialistic (in terms of the size and scope of their governments) in the world have carried over the fascist anti-Semitic ideology from Hitler. And, of course, Hitler is often falsely labeled as 'Right Wing', when in fact he expanded government to the greatest degree Germany had ever seen.
This anti-Semitism, which arises quite naturally in Communism, and the fringes of liberalism, is often, in practice if not in theory, fueled by class envy and relentless attacks on the 'rich'. Since the Jews are, statistically speaking, well educated and economically successful people, and often occupy prominent positions throughout free societies, one could almost predict they would become the subject of attack by the class warfarests.
And some more rhetoric from Mr. Chavez, as well as his support of revolution and violence in south America:
Peru recalled its ambassador to Venezuela yesterday in protest at the support for Ollanta Humala, a military officer turned politician.
President Chávez had heaped praise on Mr Humala on Tuesday for "joining in the battle" against the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He was speaking at a joint press conference with his close friend, Bolivia's president-elect, Evo Morales. He also complimented his Peruvian guest for leading a military uprising five years ago.
To close, a snap shot of more bile spouted at our country:
In a long speech, Mr Chavez repeated his description of Mr Bush as a "madman, a killer and a mass murderer".
Chavez says Venzuela Interested in Nuclear Energy (Posted 5/24/05)
5/22/05 Reuters Uh oh... I previously wrote about Chavez's lack of respect for private property and his lack of respect for his country's constitution by stacking the Supreme court (in our country FDR tried to do this and luckily failed). Now, it appears Chavez is following the historical pattern of all 'Marxist revolutionarys'. That pattern was described here:
Communism is the greatest evil that man has ever known. It is responsible for more than 100 millions deaths (more than all the wars in history combined), millions and millions of refugees and the subjugation and slavery of over 2 billion people since WWII. Communist regimes always follow a similar pattern. A Communist regime has never been elected, so first Communists must orchestrate a revolution, often with the support of funding from preexisting Communist regime. Next, Communists dissolve private property, nationalize media and begin a brutal purge of political prisoners and the upper classes. To conduct it's class warfare and maintain control of the revolting people, the state will militarize, establish a large secret police presence, and create horrific labor/reeducation camps. The economy collapses, failed farm policies result in starvation, refugees flee, and the government begins to export Communist revolution abroad. How far the government is willing to push the Communist philosophy will directly equate with the severity of these events and the suffering of their people. This exact pattern has come to pass in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Angola, Eastern Europe, Yugoslavia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba. A few countries on this list have not experienced the true hell of Communism because the governments either didn't last long enough to take full root, or total Communist policies were not pursued in earnest. (67)
Despite having large oil reserves, like Iran, Chavez may have just announced his intentions to pursue nuclear weapons. Do I know this for certain? No, but it's a pretty good hunch. Like all Communists/Marxists before him, especially his mentor Castro, Chavez has been suspected of funding other Marxist rebels/drug lords throughout central America. Here was a recent question asked of US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld:
Q: I’d like to ask. Are your governments concerned about charges of political meddling or perhaps trouble-making by President Chavez in the region? Are you worried about the purchase of 100,000 AK-47assault rifles?
Rumsfeld: Certainly I’m concerned. If one thinks about it, the discussion that’s taking place, as I understand it, is concerning something in the neighborhood of 100,000 AK-47s to be moved from Russia possibly to Venezuela. I don’t know if it’s firm, but I’ve read about it and heard it discussed. Not just in the press, but bilaterally. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s. I can’t imagine why Venezuela needs 100, 000 AK-47s. I just hope that, personally hope, that it doesn’t happen. I can’t imagine that if it did happen, that it would be good for the hemisphere.
Again, (see previous posts below) our buddy Russia, which opposed the Iraq war while accepting bribes from Saddam and, in some instances, selling Iraq weapons (GPS jammers, night vision equip) right up to the beginning of the conflict (France did the same - Roland missiles), is involved in destabilizing a continent.
Chavez has formed relationships with Iran, China (in part), Cuba, N Korea, and all the other Tyrants and anti-American forces of the world. He has passed draconian media laws and has armed gangs at his disposal to keep order. Besides seizing land, voiding contracts, and raising taxes - driving away foreign investment - what are his other economic policies?
A further ominous sign came when Mr Chávez recently threatened the nation’s banks with "intervention"--a vague term that implies takeover by the government of a bank’s operations--if they failed to meet government lending targets to certain favoured sectors, such as agriculture and small businesses. Bankers complain the new lending requirements, which often force the banks to extend credit at interest rates below the prevailing rate of inflation, make doing business impossible.
Liberalism at it's finest, boiled down to contradiction and impossibility. The above is strait out of 'Atlas Shrugged'. Want more? Ok.
Oil Wells Refuse to Obey Chavez's Command
5/20/05 Wall Street Journal "We have a little problem," Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reportedly told Venezuelans on May 3, "and we are fixing it."
The "problem" is the drop in output by the Venezuelan state-owned oil company known as PdVSA. The Chávez fixes, thus far, have entailed sending military troops to the oil-rich west of Venezuela to investigate "management errors" and allegations of sabotage, while in Caracas the government is threatening foreign oil companies with contract cancellations and tax hikes...
In his report, Mr. Ramos also noted that "several oil analysts" attribute the company's inability to return to pre-strike levels of production to "corruption, mismanagement, inadequate investment levels, sloppy maintenance, and lack of qualified technical personnel."
More accurately, the shortages are because government is nearly always outperformed by the private sector and Chavez's meddlings in this company have hurt it further. No one owns this company, besides the 'faceless public', so no one has a stake in getting anything done. A vast majority of government produced services or products are low quality, in short supply, and are inherently corrupt and influenced by politics (example: the Venezuelan government buys products from state owned Cuban factories en mass).
In 5 to 10 years, Latin America, specifically Venezuela, could be the next world crisis spot. One last story before we go. By the way, notice how we keep hitting reoccurring patterns over and over again? Recall my posts on the ridiculous government obsession with obesity, and condescension of government towards it's citizenry? Check out this story from USA today:
In San Jose, a poor neighborhood of tin houses in Caracas, Maria Sanchez, 65, and Isabel Olivero, 63, are taking a Cuban-run calisthenics class.
The ladies put their hands in the air and wiggle their fingers, then squat down and walk around like ducks.
"Oh dear, so exhausting," gasps Sanchez, readjusting her hairs pins. "These Cubans are showing us how to live correctly — but it takes practice." (emphasis mine!)
Posted 8/26/05
Added to Chavez
Venezuela doctors protest against Cuban 'intruders'
7/15/05 Reuters Several hundred Venezuelan doctors and hospital workers staged a protest on Friday against the presence of thousands of Cuban doctors employed by the government whom they said were stealing their jobs. I've added this story as another example of government putting the private sector out of business. However, this can be extrapolated to argue against foreign medical aid of any kind. For example, many doctors here in the United States travel overseas to volunteer in poorer communities in other countries. While they are well intentioned and save lives in the short term, might their actions actually result in more deaths and suffering over the long term? In my review of Farmer's 'Infections and Inequalities', I note:
Poor countries are poor because their government are corrupt and socialistic (unbelievably, like John Kerry, he backs Aristide, a corrupt, socialist, dictator) and because an avalanche of Western Aid perpetuates these conditions. For example, Farmer mentions that 264 docs grad from Haiti med school and all but three left the country, mostly for the United States. This reminds me of past post I wrote on Ethiopia - how there are more Ethiopian doctors in the United States than in Ethiopia. First, how can you make a living as a doctor when do-gooder westerners like Farmer are providing free medical services, directly competing with your business.
In Venezuela, the for profit health care (hence more accountable and competitive and advanced), is being hurt by the influx of Cuban doctors who are paid stipends of only $200 a month as opposed to the $600 given to the Venezuelan government employed doctors. If anything, this speaks volumes about the two different systems, Communism has so impoverished Cuba that it's doctors work for a 1/3rd of those of Venezuela, despite Venezuela being a relatively poor country, which will further deteriorate under Chavez's socialism.
More news from Venezuela:
In Venezuela, New Law Has Hip-Hop Now Giving Way to Flutes and Fiddles
7/18/05 Washington Post The National Assembly, which is dominated by Chavez, recently passed a law requiring that no less than 50 percent of all music played on the nation's radio stations be Venezuelan. Of that, half must be classified as "traditional," showcasing the "the presence of traditional Venezuelan values." Chavez backers say the harps and bandolas that now resound through this country of 25 million are playing the overture to a musical revolution. By this act the government admits it's citizens prefer the music of other cultures to their own. In the United States, our relative freedom has led to an outpouring of culture that far exceeds Chavez's tyrannical standards.
Venezuelan Anti-Imperialist 'court' Issues Guilty Verdict Against Bush
8/15/05 Witnesses from dozens of countries, including Colombia, Vietnam and communist-led Cuba, argued their cases against the alleged "imperialist" foreign policies of the United States before the jury.
The crowd waved flags and held signs praising Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong. More than 15,000 people from over 144 countries attended the festival, according to organizers.
This year's World Festival of Students and Youth is the 16th. The first, in 1947, was held in Czechoslovakia, and during the Cold War most host countries were aligned with the Soviet bloc. Apart from the former Soviet Union, other host countries have included Romania, Cuba, and North Korea. Mao Zedong killed over 60 million Chinese. Stalin is estimated to have killed over 30 million Soviets. An estimated 12% of North Korea's population has starved in the past decade. You draw your own conclusions as to why people would celebrate such leaders or attend such a festival.