Posted on 01/12/2010 7:35:00 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
With each passing day, it is getting harder and harder for Hugo Chávez’s remaining political and journalistic allies to defend his policies. Last week, the Venezuelan president announced a significant devaluation of the bolívar, Venezuela’s national currency, thereby making a major inflation problem even worse. “Latin America learned in the 1980s that policies like this do not work,” Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann, who served as Venezuela’s minister of planning in the early 1990s, told Bloomberg News.
Venezuela already has the highest inflation rate in Latin America, thanks to the gradual Cubanization of its economy under Chávez. Annual inflation (the official rate calculated by the central bank) was 25 percent in 2009; it could be higher -- perhaps much higher -- this year. Even before the devaluation, the Associated Press was reporting that “some Venezuelan analysts estimate prices could rise by more than 35 percent.”
So how does Chávez propose to deal with inflation? He will use the military to prevent Venezuelan merchants from raising the prices of consumer goods. “Go ahead and speculate if you want, but we will take your business away and give it to the workers, to the people,” Chávez said yesterday on his television show. Welcome to “Bolivarian” socialism.
The attacks on economic freedom in Venezuela have been accompanied by new attacks on political and judicial freedom. In mid-December, Judge María Lourdes Afiuni was arrested by Venezuelan police after she ordered the release of a banker named Eligio Cedeño, who had been detained arbitrarily since 2007 on politically motivated charges. (Other judges and lawyers involved in the Cedeño case have faced harassment in the past.) A trio of United Nations human-rights experts has called for Judge Afiuni’s “immediate and unconditional release.”
It would be nice if governments across the region echoed that statement and championed her cause. But given their track record, I don’t expect much. Latin American officials have hardly lifted a finger to save Venezuelan democracy. They have been largely silent about Chávez’s establishment of a near-dictatorship.
Venezuela is not yet another Cuba. But as the devaluation controversy and the imprisonment of Judge Afiuni suggest, it is rapidly heading in that direction.
Even 50% of the socialist nippleheads at DU think the guy is out of control.
Of course “Ooogo” is doing this all toward and end.
Only the dimist of people dont see that he is heading for totalitarianism.
And they condemned freedom in Honduras. Venezuelans are on their own.
After eleven years of failed policies, the Government of President Hugo Chavez will finally achieve what it has been unable to achieve in any other field: It will bring to all Venezuelan citizens a true feature of socialism in the form of electricity rationing. ... Thus, for the first time the Government will impose a policy on all of the citizens which represents a worsening of their quality of life, certainly a very distinct characteristic of socialism and similar regimes. Somehow, they always end up imposing rationing of some sort.
Way to go Hugo!
And if the policy was not bad enough, it was announced an implemented with the same level of confusion, incompetence and improvisation that caused the electricity shortages...
Basically, in Caracas (so far the rationing details have not been announced everywhere), every two days, wherever you live or work, there will be rationing for four hours in 4×6 chunks....
You’ve gotta love the robolution! Even when they deliver socialism, they do it inefficiently and incompetently!
Once again, the Government imposes a half-baked model. Since it is hard to know when somebody will or not be shutdown, there will be a lot of frustration and wasted time...
I'm just waiting for the Government to argue that this will not impact economic growth. Sure, fewer and more inefficient hours of work, have no impact in the economy.
And then we come to my biggest concern: Crime. You can be sure that criminals will be looking at the same maps to take advantage of the lack of police and security in whole areas that will now have no lights for four hours at a time: No lights, no alarms, no police, a sweet model indeed!For crime. Crime will go up, that is about the only prediction you can make.
Unfortunately, it will go up unevenly. This is where socialism will break down, poor areas will be hurt the most. Because they have more crime to begin with, because they have less security and because they are more exposed.
Because in the end my argument is false, absolutely spurious. Most of what Chavez and his Government does in the end hurts the poor more, not equally with the well to do...it will take years now for the Government to even try to argue that the poor are better off in Venezuela under the robolution. This is the 2002 devaluation in steroids!. Crimes will get worse for everyone, but it will be worse for the poor. And inflation will affect the poor much more than it affects those that have jobs and purchasing power.
Short term, I actually think that this will piss people off more than the devaluation. This has an immediate effect on the quality of life of every single Venezuelan. The devaluation will show its ugly face slowly over the next two months....
they will have food rationing this year
The People will adore him as he hands out old onions and flour.
FOR FREE!
“Attention citizens your bread ration has been raised from 2 loaves to 1 and a half loaves. All hail Emperor Chavez!!”
“Pssst” the guy next in line says “It could be worse, it could be a capitalist system”...
Which means it would be close, but he might still win the DU vote!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.