Posted on 12/17/2014 6:44:33 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The drop in gasoline prices is a wonderful Christmas present for U.S. consumers. It's great up here, but keep an eye on Venezuela. The country could collapse if prices keep dropping.
TIME magazine has a good summary about the mess in Caracas:
The economic dysfunction and falling price of oil leaves Maduro in a tough spot. He lacks both the political will and popularity to push through meaningful reforms to push Venezuela’s economic house in order. At the same time, he is being increasingly squeezed by the weakness in the oil price. Hugo Chávez was luckier. At the height of his powers, he commanded widespread domestic acclaim, and was buoyed by rising oil prices on the world markets (he was also adept at showmanship, hosting, for example, OPEC heads of state in Caracas soon after he first came to power). Maduro faces an altogether more challenging environment.
“Ordinary Venezuelans are starting to get tired of slogans and socialist rhetoric and no concrete actions on any front,” says Moya-Ocampos. “As the economy deteriorates, so will the political situation in Venezuela.”
There are several reasons that make Venezuela acutely vulnerable to a drop in oil prices:
1) The extremely inefficient public sector paid for by high oil prices.
2) the domestic subsidies, from cheap gasoline to giving Cuba cheap oil. These subsidies have bought votes for the Chavez-Maduro regimes. My guess is that these subsidies would have to be curtailed substantially if oil prices keeps dropping.
3) Maduro is in a very weak political position. He is not Chavez, a more popular figure who got to govern at a time when oil prices could finance every scheme and ambitious project.
There is a perfect storm brewing in Venezuela, and the leadership looks totally unprepared for it.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
One of Obama’s model Utopias.
how is that possible? it’s a socialist paradise down there.
It makes me soooooooo sad. Have a Merry Christmas.
No wonder the left hates fracking. It is bringing Venezuela and Russia, two of their favorite dictatorships, to their knees. Another bit of solid evidence that socialism fails every time it is tried.
Three birds with one stone - Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. WOW!
Wouldn’t that officially be a counter-revolution?
where is that from?
Read the first sentence of the post.
http://www.amazon.com/Thou-Shall-Prosper-Commandments-Making/dp/0470485884
Venezuela , another socialist utopia collapses. I feel an extra spring in my step !
socialism never works
but every single democrat politician voted for Obamacare(socialism)
Mongol General:”Conan! What is best in life?”
Conan: “Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women”
Don’t worry — Obama will save them.
True. Venezuela should be one of the richest countries in the Americas. But -- as with all government-run enterprises -- the money that should have gone to exploration and basic maintenance of its equipment was instead siphoned off to bloat the government and buy votes.
I’m okay with Venezuela collapsing, and the same for all other socialist governments (Including FedGov if that is taken over by a bigoted, anti-American socialist).
Venezuela will simply nationalize foreign assets and sell them to the Chinese for cash.
Russia and Venezuela collapsing.
Buh bye Maduro. Over throw the bastard.
Socialism all over the world is collapsing due to wholly organic capitalism. Private enterprise developed resource extraction on private land put the lie to the progressive meme in so many ways.
“Good as an object lesson in Socialism/Communism, bad for the peeps.”
Yes, but it won’t prevent most South American countries from trying Communism again, after Capitalism rescues them from disaster. In my lifetime, I have witnessed several cycles of Capitalism to Communism and back again in Central and South America. We’ve been fortunate here (and in Canada) to have our forbearers coming from Northern Europe. Unfortunately SA has their “leadership genes” genesis in Southern Europe so they have an innate “tendency” to drift back to Communism for “another try” from time to time. Unfortunately, with illegal immigration our “capitalist mindset” is being diluted with the excrement from south of our border so maybe in the long-run we will become just like the rest of The Americas.
“My only regret is that when the revolution happens, Chavez is not there to be the one hung upside down and spat on in the streets....”
No need for regrets. Hugo has bigger problems from now on. He has a fancy new air conditioner, but nowhere in hell to plug it in!
I’m wondering how the drop in petrol prices will affect the NorKs.
Their Oil is also very “heavy” and can not be easily refined.
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