Comments | talk_politics: A crumbling nation

abomvubuso in talk_politics

A crumbling nation

May 19, 2016 18:19

Last week Venezuelan president Maduro extended the state of emergency that he had previously imposed, and this week new draconian measures and extended government prerogatives were announced. The economy is a train-wreck. Because of poor management, corruption, and of course the low oil prices. Venezuela is in deep political crisis, and the ( Read more... )

americas, crisis

Comments 29

oportet May 19 2016, 17:42:58 UTC

Economy is a train wreck? Maduro is worth over 300 million. Chavez' daughter - possibly over 4 billion. Assuming they've already spread the wealth out among everyone - I'd say they must be thriving, not crumbling....

abomvubuso May 19 2016, 19:20:13 UTC

Assuming they've already spread the wealth out among everyone

Haha!

They forgot the most important step!? oportet May 19 2016, 20:55:29 UTC

Margaret Thatcher said that the trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.

I would compare it to a pyramid scheme - but that wouldn't be fair to pyramid schemes - at least they give you a shot at moving up a little.

htpcl May 19 2016, 21:06:41 UTC

You speak from personal experience rather than theory, I take it? What was life like in a socialist society? ;-)

Thread 26

mikeyxw May 20 2016, 02:12:25 UTC

"Right now, it seems Venezuela is sliding fast towards civil war."

It might be a very one-sided civil war. Yes, Maduro and his folks have lost public support. They were trounced in the elections for their National Assembly, giving up a 2/3rd majority, which the Supreme Court promptly undid. About 70% of Venezuelans in a recent poll want Mr. Maduro removed from power. All of this doesn't mean much if he still has the support of the army, which he seems to. This wouldn't be a civil war so much as a slaughter. It has been clear that Mr. Maduro's administration has no idea how to run a country, but it's equally as clear that they have some pretty good ideas about how to maintain power, it's almost as if their lives depended on it. This shouldn't sound too unfamiliar.

luzribeiro May 20 2016, 06:22:55 UTC

Ah. Good to know that power-hungry lunatics don't even need CIA intervention to go down in flames on their own.

A CIA intervention or two might be helpful in that respect, though, granted.

mikeyxw May 20 2016, 13:06:12 UTC

Venezuela was unraveling even before oil prices dropped. Maybe they could have stumbled along for a few more years if oil was still over $100 per barrel, but the price controls, which in many cases set prices below the cost of production, the byzantine currency controls, and simply spending more money than was coming in would have achieved the same results eventually.

I don't actually have any idea how Venezuela can get out of their current mess. Typically a country in this kind of situation gets a bailout from the IMF, along with a painful reform package where changes can be blamed on the IMF rather than the local politicians who should probably have undertaken them years ago. Venezuela kicked out the IMF over a decade ago. Even if the government was willing, I'd guess it would be quite a while before a package could be put together. Venezuela's oil production has been shrinking and is expected to drop more, some are predicting it'll go to zero. This of course would be a huge problem where most food is imported. Even if it ( ... )