Posted on 03/24/2019 6:27:02 AM PDT by jimjohn
From my neighbor whose parents and in-laws still live in Caracas.
Three day all day, all night blackouts. Then relief for a few days then three more days of blackouts.
Current plan is to have all people in one neighborhood move in with people in another neighborhood and keep power on in the doubled up neighborhood for a month. Off in the neighborhood that the people abandoned. People will be kept moving from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house so cannot get an opposition organization going. Tough life. Complain and you are killed.
He has a sister with some serious health problem. He sends her medicine but it never reaches her.
I oppose nation building in VZ for the U.S. as well as for China. Sure, we shouldn’t provoke China by forcing them in a corner, but then we must not show weakness especially in the Western Hemisphere. Trump’s refusal to accede to China’s trade regime was much more provocative than anything we are now doing in VZ.
We should not provoke, we musn’t capitulate, so then we should obfuscate. The U.S. must stand its ground and frustrate China’s very real and openly stated goal of world hegemony. Like most repressive regimes, China only respects strength. Trump isn’t the type to get out of the rear door of Air Force One as 0bama did in China.
The deeper China gets into Venezuela the more they are going to lose. They can’t occupy it, nor can they prop it up forever. Venezuela is the drowning man who will take anyone down with it. All we have to do is wait. When they ask for help, then we’ll help, but hopefully with clear objectives and a definite timetable. As I said, America has zero issues in Venezuela that the taxpayer cares about.
Meanwhile, if they really want out of their mess, the best way is for them to do it themselves. If they do, they may immerge freer and stronger for the effort. If we go in and try to prop up a “legitimate” government, it looks like that government will be yet another flavor of socialism. Unlike in the ‘50’s, the US doesn’t get to pick their government.
For all the prattle about the need for STEM students, the reality is that socialism ideology has absolutely no use for them.If you think about it, socialism (following Marx) is founded on the assumption that management is a trivial exercise, and (implicitly) that everything has already been invented and put into production/distribution.
Socialists can prattle about democratic control of production by workers - until someone brings up Steve Jobs and the iPhone. Decades ago I found a book of socialist appologia in the local library. And it was a joy to read. Because it labored mightily to make the case that workers could usefully decide whether to make steam or diesel locomotives!
There is simply “no there, there” in the philosophy that management is a trivial exercise. Socialists claim “you didn’t build that” - but even when a business has been bought, after ten years it has had to find new customers to replace ones who move, die, or change their preferences. And it has had to hire new employees to replace those who retired or quit. Some businesses hire entry-level employees, who become qualified for better jobs over time and either will be promoted or will find better jobs elsewhere.
Socialism is a fantasy in which nothing changes, nothing is hard, nobody has to try to improve, and therefore life is meaningless.
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