Chavez's Venezuela expropriates businesses after devaluation

glenn1

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
25,383
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palehorse

Lifer
Dec 21, 2005
11,521
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"I want the national guard in the streets, with the people, to fight speculation," Chavez said Sunday, calling re-pricing a form of robbery.
The Chavez administration set up two tip lines for consumers to report what the government calls speculation by businesses.
:eek: "Paradise," indeed...
 

theevilsharpie

Platinum Member
Nov 2, 2009
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In related news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_venezuela_chavez

President Hugo Chavez announced a 25-percent increase in Venezuela's minimum wage Friday to try to blunt the effects of soaring inflation...

It's a shame that AT doesn't have a facepalm smiley. If anything ever called for it, it's this.

Anyone want to start a pool on how many months Venezuela can go on with Hugo's economic policies before the IMF has to bail them out?
 

tvarad

Golden Member
Jun 25, 2001
1,130
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0
What a fall from a year ago, when he and Ahmedinejad were ranting and raving about the evil U.S.. Now both of them have to contend with the wrath of their own people.

How they must be missing Dubya.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
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Bignate603

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
13,897
1
0
So he readjusts the prices for everything that govern a store's prices yet prevents them from adjusting to cover their costs? That's a great way to ensure you'll put everyone selling food or medicine out of business.
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,641
58
91
When the next revolution happens in Venezuela it is going to be bloody and very very messy. I really hope we don't have to step in and clean up after them.
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,894
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
In related news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100116/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_venezuela_chavez



It's a shame that AT doesn't have a facepalm smiley. If anything ever called for it, it's this.

Anyone want to start a pool on how many months Venezuela can go on with Hugo's economic policies before the IMF has to bail them out?

file.php
 

DanDaManJC

Senior member
Oct 31, 2004
776
0
76
What a fall from a year ago, when he and Ahmedinejad were ranting and raving about the evil U.S.. Now both of them have to contend with the wrath of their own people.

How they must be missing Dubya.

Dude... you do realize the US has supported coups to overthrow Chavez right? If anyone did the same to a US president there's no doubt there'd be just as much negative language coming from the US side.

It's not like that kind of interference in south america is anything new either -- the US has a long history of supporters dictators (most recently: Iraq, there's that classic pic of rumsfeld and saddam shaking hands... and everyone knew saddam was a mean badass who killed his own ppl while we sold him arms) as long as those govts serve US interests. read: greneda, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti. It's not like this is some kind of hidden truth either... I mean it goes back to the Monroe Doctrine and all that... without going into a whole deal on the history, i'll just say it's all in your history books.

These guys aren't so virally anti-american just because they're "islamic fundamentalists" or "communist", instead its our pretty pervasive foreign policy.
 
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StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
These guys aren't so virally anti-american just because they're "islamic fundamentalists" or "communist", instead its our pretty pervasive foreign policy.
Yes, but also because it distracts their people. Chavez yesterday:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60G2DW20100117?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

"[In Haiti Americans are] are occupying Haiti undercover...A perennial foe of U.S. "imperialism," Chavez said he did not wish to diminish the humanitarian effort made by the United States and was only questioning the need for so many troops."

Of course he wants to diminish, that's why he said this. He knows why there are so many troops there.

He is doing a great job scaring away international investment. No company will touch him now with a 10 foot pole. This will do damning and long term damage to Venezuela. It's amazing how quickly a country can fvck itself with poor leadership and Venez is going down fast.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
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Chavez has been stealing businesses for a long time now...

He's "nationalized" quite a few already.
 

tvarad

Golden Member
Jun 25, 2001
1,130
0
0
Dude... you do realize the US has supported coups to overthrow Chavez right? If anyone did the same to a US president there's no doubt there'd be just as much negative language coming from the US side.

It's not like that kind of interference in south america is anything new either -- the US has a long history of supporters dictators (most recently: Iraq, there's that classic pic of rumsfeld and saddam shaking hands... and everyone knew saddam was a mean badass who killed his own ppl while we sold him arms) as long as those govts serve US interests. read: greneda, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti. It's not like this is some kind of hidden truth either... I mean it goes back to the Monroe Doctrine and all that... without going into a whole deal on the history, i'll just say it's all in your history books.

These guys aren't so virally anti-american just because they're "islamic fundamentalists" or "communist", instead its our pretty pervasive foreign policy.

Trust someone to take a tongue in cheek observation and make political commentary out of it.

That said, the point to be made here is that the people of Iran itself and now Nicaragua are rebelling against these megalomaniacs. There's only so much mileage you can get out of crying "big bad American wolf".
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Trust someone to take a tongue in cheek observation and make political commentary out of it.

That said, the point to be made here is that the people of Iran itself and now Nicaragua are rebelling against these megalomaniacs. There's only so much mileage you can get out of crying "big bad American wolf".

What was tongue in cheek about your post? And there's nothing wrong with mentioning little things you leave out like the illegal conspiracy to overthrow the elected president.

The fixation with these regimes seems to have nothing much more to do with than a sick schadenfreude to try to hate some nation, not unlike the way some hate gays or blacks or whatever group.

Countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua are hardly doing things affecting their American enemies here so much to get all the constant peanut gallery attacks. It says a lot more about the attackers.
 

theevilsharpie

Platinum Member
Nov 2, 2009
2,322
14
81
Countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua are hardly doing things affecting their American enemies here so much to get all the constant peanut gallery attacks. It says a lot more about the attackers.

Chavez gets mocking attention for his economic troubles for the same reason that pro-family Republicans get mocking attention when they end up getting caught in compromising positions with their mistress/gay lover/underage assistant.

However, saying that Venezuela's economic woes don't affect America isn't entirely true. When Latin American economies go south (and Hugo's love affair with socialism will certainly drive Venezuela's economies into the toilet), illegal immigration in the US increases, which drives up our spending on border enforcement, immigration services, and social programs for illegal immigrants that do successfully cross the border.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
Chavez gets mocking attention for his economic troubles for the same reason that pro-family Republicans get mocking attention when they end up getting caught in compromising positions with their mistress/gay lover/underage assistant.

However, saying that Venezuela's economic woes don't affect America isn't entirely true. When Latin American economies go south (and Hugo's love affair with socialism will certainly drive Venezuela's economies into the toilet), illegal immigration in the US increases, which drives up our spending on border enforcement, immigration services, and social programs for illegal immigrants that do successfully cross the border.

A gratuitous reply. No, it's not lke that. It's like I said it was. And foryour second point, I didn't say there's no impact, I said the amount of fixation is not justified by the impact.

The motives are often what I said.

How many Venezuelans illegal immigrants do come to the US annually, since say you know it's a lot?
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,095
513
126
Dude... you do realize the US has supported coups to overthrow Chavez right? If anyone did the same to a US president there's no doubt there'd be just as much negative language coming from the US side.

It's not like that kind of interference in south america is anything new either -- the US has a long history of supporters dictators (most recently: Iraq, there's that classic pic of rumsfeld and saddam shaking hands... and everyone knew saddam was a mean badass who killed his own ppl while we sold him arms) as long as those govts serve US interests. read: greneda, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti. It's not like this is some kind of hidden truth either... I mean it goes back to the Monroe Doctrine and all that... without going into a whole deal on the history, i'll just say it's all in your history books.

These guys aren't so virally anti-american just because they're "islamic fundamentalists" or "communist", instead its our pretty pervasive foreign policy.

You do realize Chavez tried his own coup in 1992 right? And why is the leader of the 02 coup part of Chavez's inner circle? Sound like a Reichstag fire scenaio to me.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
When the next revolution happens in Venezuela it is going to be bloody and very very messy. I really hope we don't have to step in and clean up after them.

We will, then we'll pay billions for it, then we'll be blamed for whatever comes out of it and because of our guilt, we'll pay more billions. That's how it usually works.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
There is no exact count for obvious reasons, but the Pew Hispanic Research Center estimates that 24% of illegal immigrants come from a Latin American country other than Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigrant_population_of_the_United_States#Origins

There are often better estimates than you might expect. Remember how they had a good estiate how many illegal Hatians are here Obama is giving temporary reisdence to? BTW, Venezuela isn't in Latin American.