Althouse: "Hunger is gnawing at Venezuela, where a government that claims to rule for the poorest has left most of its 31 million people short of food..."

২৮ আগস্ট, ২০১৭

"Hunger is gnawing at Venezuela, where a government that claims to rule for the poorest has left most of its 31 million people short of food..."

"... many desperately so. As night falls over Caracas, and most of the city’s residents lock their doors against its ever more violent streets, Adriana Velásquez gets ready for work, heading out into an uncertain darkness as she has done since hunger forced her into the only job she could find at 14. She was introduced to her brothel madam by a friend more than two years ago after her mother, a single parent, was fired and the two ran out of food. 'It was really hard, but we were going to bed without eating,' said the teenager...."

From "Hunger eats away at Venezuela’s soul as its people struggle to survive/The Maduro regime denies its once oil-rich country is in crisis. But on the streets the desperation cannot be hidden" in The Guardian.

৯১টি মন্তব্য:

Big Mike বলেছেন...: See the benefits of socialism! Now the poor are every bit as well fed as the people who are well off.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:২২ AM
LYNNDH বলেছেন...: Those Hollywood Idiots that support Maduro should go down there and live with the poor for a few weeks. But it still would not change their minds and would blame Trump.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:২৯ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: I'm sure Bono can clear this up for us straight away.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩১ AM
glenn বলেছেন...: The 14 year olds are too young to have voted for this debacle. 62% of the adults did. But everybody has to pay. And the smart Venezuelans bailed long ago.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩২ AM
Hunter বলেছেন...: 1) Not real socialism
2) It's the fault of US foreign policy
3) Punch a Nazi; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৩ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: "Desperation cannot be hidden" as hard as the mainstream media tries.

Snipers sent by Cuba on the rooftop around demonstrations not mentioned, I bet.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৪ AM
YoungHegelian বলেছেন...: Imagine the hemispheric fun when a sizable portion of the population of Venezuela decides that it's better pickings somewhere else & become refugees. We may have to militarily intervene just to keep the food flowing & to keep the neighbors from getting swamped. There's absolutely no one else on the planet who could handle those sort of logistics except us, & it'd be tough even for us.

How can you fuck up a country with some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world? Maybe Sean Penn can hold a seance & get the answer out of Hugo Chavez.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৭ AM
President-Mom-Jeans বলেছেন...: It is as true today as it ever was: The only good Commie is a dead Commie.

Be it in Berkely California, or Venezuela. I hope to see a lot of good Commies in the news.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৭ AM
AllenS বলেছেন...: We need to send them food! May I suggest that we send Socialist Bernie Sanders and his large wife down there to be eaten.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৭ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: The antifa idiot who was rewarded with a scholarship for bravely assaulting an inanimate object in NC supports Maduro and North Korea. I assume she would like to see such a system here because it would punish the white oppressors. So it would be totes worth it, even if Persons of Color would also starve. Equality, you see.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৩৯ AM
Lost My Cookies বলেছেন...: No money for food, but plenty of money for sex?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪১ AM
Gahrie বলেছেন...: Bad luck for Venezuela.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪২ AM
Wince বলেছেন...: “We are the only country in the world where people dread a wage hike, because they know the price of food will follow [up],” said Ingrid Soto de Sanabria, head of nutrition at Venezuela’s top children’s hospital, who has been raising the alarm about the steep rise in cases of malnutrition.

Kind of like student loans and tuition in the US?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪৪ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: Hunter said...
1) Not real socialism"

Oh, no, there are Commies now who say "Yes, this is real socialism and we heartily approve and admire Maduro and Kim."

Just like the pro-abortion people who admit that abortion is murder and still celebrate it, a portion of the left is now willing to come out and say outright that oppression, starvation, and lack of freedom are not bugs but features of Communism. And they want that system here because they believe they will rule.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪৫ AM
Ignorance is Bliss বলেছেন...: As night falls over Caracas, and most of the city’s residents lock their doors against its ever more violent streets, Adriana Velásquez gets ready for work, heading out into an uncertain darkness as she has done since hunger forced her into the only job she could find at 14.

Sounds like bagging fourteeners* is risky no matter where you do it.

*And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to hell.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪৫ AM
rhhardin বলেছেন...: Wages and prices go together. Wages are a cost for goods.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪৫ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: "How can you fuck up a country with some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world?"

The same way you fuck up California, a state with everything going for it, from climate to natural resources.

If California seceded, it would look like Venezuela in 10 years.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৪৮ AM
rhhardin বলেছেন...: No money for food, but plenty of money for sex?

Somebody wants sex more than food and the lady wants food more than no-sex so they both come out ahead. Money has nothing to do with it.

Their problem is that productivity is zero because the businesses have been driven out of business, so it's only what you can produce on your own, which is a subsistence existence.

Businesses make employees much more productive and so able to both produce and buy stuff. No businesses, no stuff, no productivity. Back to subsistence.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৫০ AM
Michael K বলেছেন...: “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded—here and there, now and then—are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as ‘bad luck’.”

– Robert A. Heinlein; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৫৫ AM
DanTheMan বলেছেন...: Socialism is an economic miracle. Just ask Chavez's daughter. She's a billionaire.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:৫৯ AM
mockturtle বলেছেন...: Elections have consequences.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:০০ AM
Rob বলেছেন...: Food shortages are the Venezuelan government's solution to the toilet paper shortage. (I continue to wonder, however, why there's a toilet paper shortage if the currency is nearly worthless; the solution seems to be right in their wallets.); ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:১৬ AM
SteveR বলেছেন...: Remember when Venezuela was a good place and Columbia was a bad place? I blame Bush; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:২১ AM
eric বলেছেন...: This is why statistics are filled with lies.

Lefties are always talking about income inequality, as if it's something g meaningful. Well, Venezuela now has very low income inequality because everyone is equally poor.

Here in America we have very high income inequality. The rich get to eat expensive steaks. The poor eat at McDonalds. But everyone gets to eat.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:২৮ AM
chuck বলেছেন...: Famine and Communism have always been boon companions. The intellectual geniuses who love Communism have never been able to understand food or how to produce it. It is a subject far too deep for their exalted intellects.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:২৯ AM
zipity বলেছেন...: B-b-b-b-b-ut....Bernie assures me, THIS time it will work for sure.....; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৩৭ AM
Larry J বলেছেন...: Big Mike said...
See the benefits of socialism! Now the poor are every bit as well fed as the people who are well off.

A Venezuela is one country that's making great progress in solving the obesity problem! North Korea is another.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৩৮ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: I always notice a decided lack of left wing commenters on the Venezuela threads, although sometimes Cookie shows up to blame the plight of the Venezuelan people on - why, capitalism and the US! What else?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৫৪ AM
Achilles বলেছেন...: The left comes up with a variety of ways to make everyone else work for them. Madura is doing quite well.

Slavery and socialism are not different.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৫৫ AM
Bay Area Guy বলেছেন...: I feel very bad for the innocent victims here. A lot of folks did not vote for this socialist paradise in Venezuela (youngsters, opposition leaders, etc, etc.)

That stated, how come the elite, leftwing, educated supporters of Hugo Chavez in this country are so muted on this catastrophe?

Socialism, in practice, does not work, and leads to the exact famine, disorder, disintegration we are now seeing in Venezuela. And smug liberals who promote these bad ideas go silent.

And, worse, in South America, the only real way to undo this disorder is with a non-Democratic military coup to restore order. Bernie Sanders should study this, learn from it, and tell us what he's learned.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৫৭ AM
Curious George বলেছেন...: I heard people were breaking into the zoo and killing the animals to eat.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:৫৯ AM
Hagar বলেছেন...: Not to defend socialism, but these are not socialist countries in the Americas. The leaders are just old fashioned caudillos, though very incompetent ones as well as brutal.

North Korea I think is a sop for the remaining Maoist old guard in China as well as a useful "cat's paw" for the foreign policy of the present PRC leadership.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০০ AM
Big Mike বলেছেন...: Socialism, in practice, does not work, and leads to the exact famine, disorder, disintegration we are now seeing in Venezuela. And smug liberals who promote these bad ideas go silent.

But they aren't silent, Bay Area Guy! They're just waiting for the right opportunity to explain that true socialism has never been applied properly in Venezuela (or anyplace else, apparently).

Cookie should be along any minute now.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৩ AM
furious_a বলেছেন...: Old Soviet Joke: Andropov?! I thought this was the line for toilet paper!

Look on the bright side -- by reducing the number of feet Venezuela is reducing its carbon footprint!; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৩ AM
Big Mike বলেছেন...: Oh good Gawd. It wasn't Cookie, it was Hagar!; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৪ AM
Michael K বলেছেন...: One factor, which I'm a little surprised we haven't heard from the left, is the fact that Chavez attacks on the oil industry workers occurred just as the Alberta tar sands development was taking off. Maybe he thought they had no alternative but to surrender to him.

Then also, Tillerson made a deal with Guyana to explore for oil in their waters. They had a big strike and Venezuela got left out once again.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৬ AM
mockturtle বলেছেন...: Curious George reports: I heard people were breaking into the zoo and killing the animals to eat.

Uh-oh! Now they'll have PETA to contend with. This is one of those situations that throws the left into a whirl of ideological confusion.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৬ AM
furious_a বলেছেন...: The intellectual geniuses who love Communism have never been able to understand food or how to produce it.

Actually, Communists understand food very well -- they've become quite adept at using food as a weapon against their own people (Stalin, Pol Pot, Mengistu, the Kims).; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:০৮ AM
robother বলেছেন...: 14 year old prostitutes, to be had for the price of a meal. No wonder Sean Penn and his Hollywood buddies considers it a socialist paradise.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:১০ AM
Virgil Hilts বলেছেন...: Starvation is a natural/necessary growing pain for any new communist/socialist country. Russia went through it, China went through it (twice) and North Korea went through it a couple of times and is about to go through it again. Each time you wipe out say 5-10% of the least healthy/least productive members of the society and emerge with a stronger work force. The lefties are not complaining about Venezuela because they know (as Stalin did) that this is just part of the process.
They do have a point -- imagine where the U.S. would be if we could starve to death the least productive 5-10% of our people every few decades. Those damn right wing capitalists just keep getting in the way of progress.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:২০ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: "They do have a point -- imagine where the U.S. would be if we could starve to death the least productive 5-10% of our people every few decades."

I would be opposed to such a policy. I don't care how non-productive Howard and Ritmo and Inga and sunsong are, it would be wrong to just let them starve like that.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:৪৩ AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent বলেছেন...: "Actually, Communists understand food very well -- they've become quite adept at using food as a weapon against their own people (Stalin, Pol Pot, Mengistu, the Kims)."

You left out all-time starvation champ, Mao. Leftists are scum in ways that defy comprehension. There's a sadistic strain in even the lamest white middle-class progressive.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:৪৬ AM
Hagar বলেছেন...: Now now, Big Mike. Relax; I am not defending socialism.

Note that all (I think) the labor parties in Europe have by now declared they are no longer "socialists," but "social democrats." Further, that the founding "communist" countries, Russia and China, while still claiming to be "Communist" certainly no longer make any pretense of practicing "socialism." Nor do Viet Nam, etc. They are only "Communist" in the sense of being ruled by self-perpetuating "Communist" elite political parties standing outside and superior to the elected day to day government systems. And, of course, if you resist them they will still beat you up, and if you persist they will still kill you.

"Real socialism" has indeed been tried any number of times through history, but only in small groups under charismatic leaders, and the usually die with the leaders and sometimes the leaders have died when the groups killed them. It is human nature.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:৫২ AM
Howard বলেছেন...: Commies bad, I agree. Hope all their leaders get Muammared in the public square. However, in the west, the technology elites who will controll the means of construction are right now talking about providing a basic salary for the unemployable deplorables in Trump country. It's the red states and the red counties who are sucking the most welfare with an oxy chaser. Economic chickenhawks?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:৫২ AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil বলেছেন...: "They do have a point -- imagine where the U.S. would be if we could starve to death the least productive 5-10% of our people every few decades"

Honestly, is "usefulness" really the measure, or the desire to rid the nation of politically objectionable, troublesome people - even if they are very productive? The Communist state must always hunt down heretics and crush rebellion in the bud to create an evermore perfect society of obedient sheep.

Pol Pot did not murder layabouts (if such existed in Cambodia), but the most highly educated people in the country - and wearing glasses meant you were counted among the educated. As a result the economy was crippled for generations - anybody with any technological knowledge was murdered.

If only the non-productive were targeted, we wouldn't have all those stories about "Soviet work" - people getting by doing as little as possible and then working like hell in the shoe factory or wherever at the end of the month to make some government "quota." And much of the time, those numbers were fudged.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:৫৬ AM
Hunter বলেছেন...: @Virgil Hilts

It does make a sick kind of sense, from the perspective of a central planner. Unfortunately socialism is so lousy at creating supply and allocating scarce resources that these deaths are still in vain. It would be more efficacious here.

One may be reminded of a similar hypothetical in Bill Bennett's infamous line about aborting black infants to reduce the crime rate.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:০০ PM
MountainJohn বলেছেন...: Their problem is that productivity is zero because the businesses have been driven out of business, so it's only what you can produce on your own, which is a subsistence existence.

And they were driven out of business by the government's price controls which forced them to sell at less than the cost of producing or procuring consumer items - like food.

Or as Sowell brilliantly paraphrased Timothy, "Love of theory is at the root of all evil."; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:০১ PM
mockturtle বলেছেন...: Exiled contends: I don't care how non-productive Howard and Ritmo and Inga and sunsong are, it would be wrong to just let them starve like that.

Yes, it would. Throwing them off a cliff would be far more humane.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:১৩ PM
Sam L. বলেছেন...: Socialism is a killer.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:১৬ PM
Howard বলেছেন...: I'm touched.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:২২ PM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Howard is well on his way to define the deplorables as useless eaters.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:২৫ PM
Michael K বলেছেন...: Howard trying to demonstrate why he should be one of the 5 to 10% starved out.

It's the red states and the red counties who are sucking the most welfare with an oxy chaser. Economic chickenhawks?

Howard, when the last middle class person leaves California/Illinois/New York will you turn our the lights for hem ?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:২৫ PM
Sebastian বলেছেন...: Socialism is gnawing at Venezuela.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:২৮ PM
buwaya বলেছেন...: The problems of Venezuela actually go way back, and though this is not to excuse Chavez/Maduro, there are a lot of other people at fault.

What Chavez overthrew was not exactly a capitalist system. Venezuelan politics were already very left wing by US standards. The system was very statist. The oil industry was nationalized of course, but so were many others. There was a full-blown welfare state. Industries were highly regulated, and also agriculture.

All of this skewed Venezuelan development and made the economy over-reliant on petroleum long before. Venezuela was already quite fragile before Chavez began to make it much more fragile.

Like all such socialist/corporatist systems the old Venezuela benefited a ruling class above all. Chavez mostly replaced this class with his own lot of bosses, but the old lot were no paragons.

Chavez took over as a result of a long period of very low oil prices (@1993-99), which limited Venezuelan government spending. Chavez had great luck, as prices started rising again in 2000. This let him buy popularity.

Venezuela has a lot going for it independent of petroleum. It has a well-educated populace accustomed to industrial labor, plenty of excellent agricultural land, and underused land, most of which is fallow or low-productivity pasture, really excellent hydroelectric resources, which could be greatly developed, plenty of water and a mild climate not much affected by storms. And it has no real enemies among its neighbors nor has it got any disruptive minorities or irredentists. As third world countries go its been dealt an extremely good hand.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:৩০ PM
Warren Fahy বলেছেন...: Fantine in Les Miserables...; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:৩৭ PM
Big Mike বলেছেন...: @Hagar, I am relaxed. I just thought it humorous that you'd be the commentator mentioning that Venezuela isn't "truly" socialist and not Cookie or Freder or roesch.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১২:৪৯ PM
Fernandinande বলেছেন...: In a famine it's a good idea to eschew your food 32 times.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১:০৬ PM
Jaq বলেছেন...: Makes one wonder why red staters don't just give up their votes and appoint Howard and his ilk as their leaders.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১:২৭ PM
Clyde বলেছেন...: Bad luck.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১:৩৫ PM
Steven বলেছেন...: All of this skewed Venezuelan development and made the economy over-reliant on petroleum long before.

On the other hand, current oil prices are two-and-a-half times higher now than they were when Chavez was elected. If the problem with Venezuela was over-reliance on oil, then starvation would have been much worse in 1998.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ২:১১ PM
buwaya বলেছেন...: " If the problem with Venezuela was over-reliance on oil, then starvation would have been much worse in 1998."

In 1998 the disaster of Chavismo had not yet degraded the rest of the Venezuelan economy.
But still, Venezuela was going nowhere.

Consider the GDP performance of Venezuela -

https://tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/gdp

Expand to "max" -

Venezuela had a paralyzed economy @1984-1999
Very much like the US 2008-2016

High oil prices post-2000 gave it a huge nominal boost, but this was eaten up by government spending, foreign bribes, subsidies to Cuba, general looting by people in power and pure consumption. The latter years show the defects of GDP as an economic measure btw.

Venezuelas nominal GDP today regardless of oil prices needs to be taken as fictional. The Venezuelans are vastly worse off than they were in 1999.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ২:৩২ PM
Michael K বলেছেন...: " As third world countries go its been dealt an extremely good hand."

It just needs Pinochet. Not Chavez.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৩:৫০ PM
Seeing Red বলেছেন...: Insty linked to a site that had a video of stupid college students saying to be fair and fight inequality and white privilege, I think, they'd rather stand in line with the hungry of Venezuela.

They can fly out or give up their citizenship at any time.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৪:২০ PM
Seeing Red বলেছেন...: Hagar: Not to defend socialism, but these are not socialist countries in the Americas. The leaders are just old fashioned caudillos, though very incompetent ones as well as brutal.

They think they are. Chavez said he was building 21st century socialism.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৪:২৫ PM
Rusty বলেছেন...: Howard said...
"Commies bad, I agree. Hope all their leaders get Muammared in the public square. However, in the west, the technology elites who will controll the means of construction are right now talking about providing a basic salary for the unemployable deplorables in Trump country. It's the red states and the red counties who are sucking the most welfare with an oxy chaser. Economic chickenhawks?"

Magic Eightball Says,"Nope. Try again."; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৪:২৭ PM
Rusty বলেছেন...: I would like Howard/Ritmo/Inga to explain to us how exactly a nation with that much oil can't feed its people.
Go into as much detail as you like and be a technical as you like, we'll try and keep up.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৪:৩০ PM
Michael K বলেছেন...: Howard is on troll duty today. That's all.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৪:৪৮ PM
furious_a বলেছেন...: It's the red states and the red counties who are sucking the most welfare

California, with 1/12 the nation's population, 1/3 of the nation's cash welfare recipients.

Ouch.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৫:৩১ PM
SukieTawdry বলেছেন...: DanTheMan said...Socialism is an economic miracle. Just ask Chavez's daughter. She's a billionaire.

So are the Castros. So was Yasir Arafat. Funny how that works out.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৫:৪৪ PM
Quaestor বলেছেন...: In my small town, we had an immigrant Venezuelan family. The paterfamilias operated a rather nice downtown delicatessen. I'm not too certain that smoked meats form an integral component of Venezuelan cuisine, nevertheless the sandwiches were delectable if a bit skimpy, and the atmosphere was pleasant enough, particularly when the walls were decorated with my photography. The owner and I had a few lively discussions, but mostly he ended up lecturing me on the perfidious ways of the Yanquis, which I would counter by "and so you chose to become one yourself," or a variant thereof. He also complained vociferously about the rent his business had to pay. I pointed out that there were a number of alternative sites for his deli. "But this is a great location," was his inevitable reply. I never succeeded in getting him to connect the high rent with the desirable locale. The man was insufferable, really... a habitual malcontent. When Chavez took over I was on the receiving end of his unending praise and adulation. When the official Bolivarianist portrait went up, my pictures came down and my sandwich twitch went to other eateries. Eventually, the deli owner upped sticks and returned to Venezuela along with his wife fraternal twin daughters.

From time to time I worry about the fates of those girls.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৫:৫০ PM
buwaya বলেছেন...: "The leaders are just old fashioned caudillos"

Every communist or third-world "socialist" non-aligned leader was pretty much the same as far as caudillismo went.

From Tito to Nasser to Sukarno. Did not need to be Latin American. It goes with the territory.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৫:৫৮ PM
josil বলেছেন...: Venezuela under Maduro isn't real socialism. Soviet Union under Stalin wasn't real socialism. Cambodia under Pol Pot wasn't real socialism. And Romania under Ceausescu wasn't real socialism. Nor were the assortment of failed Marxists in Ethiopia and everywhere they tried to turn wet dreams into reality. The only places it still lives is in the arts and education establishments...and then only as wishes, dreams, and self delusion.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৫:৫৯ PM
Gk1 বলেছেন...: The bernie bros have sure gone into hiding haven't they? Its like nobody in the press has any idea what form of government Venezuela has or why it has fallen into this terrible state.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৬:১৩ PM
buwaya বলেছেন...: An interesting comparison, constant dollars PPP (purchasing power parity) Venezuela, Chile, Mexico and Colombia, 1990-2013/2016

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=CO-VE-CL-MX

In many ways they are comparable countries.

Venezuela was, technically, until recently, the richest per capita of these. All the others with mixed economies managed a steady improvement over time; Venezuela was stuck in a malaise till 2003-ish, explaining Chavez pretty well i think, then took off with extremely high oil prices. Where they are now, or were in 2016, I don't think there is any useful data available anymore, and there hasn't been any for several years now.

Colombia of course had a major guerilla war and all sorts of other civil unrest suppressing its economy until recently.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৬:২৭ PM
Biff বলেছেন...: Impossible! If Venezuela is in such rough shape, how could it have donated so much oil to Joseph Kennedy's heating oil charity?
(That was sarcasm.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wZBfKod0Rk; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৬:২৮ PM
Michael K বলেছেন...: "Colombia of course had a major guerilla war and all sorts of other civil unrest suppressing its economy until recently."

And now Venezuela refugees.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৬:৩৯ PM
buwaya বলেছেন...: " If Venezuela is in such rough shape, how could it have donated so much oil to Joseph Kennedy's heating oil charity?"

Because for a while there Venezuela's government was swimming in cash. It bought a lot of fair-weather friends such as Castro, Lula, Evo Morales, the Kirchners, Daniel Ortega, etc.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৬:৪৪ PM
Marc বলেছেন...: Inequality, however, is much reduced!*

*(not including H. Chavez's daughter); ২৮/৮/১৭, ৮:১২ PM
wildswan বলেছেন...: "It's the red states and the red counties who are sucking the most welfare with an oxy chaser"
It's the red states that lost jobs due to trade deals. They want jobs back, not welfare, something the left cannot understand. The Wisconsin Democrats are now mounting a drive to keep 22,000 good jobs at Foxconn from coming to Wisconsin. Every day the Journal Sentinel has a front page story about how bad the Foxconn deal might be if something or other happened. And this is why the red states and red counties "are sucking the most welfare with an oxy chaser". Because the Democrats work to ruin the chances for good jobs just as they work to ruin the chance for good schools.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৮:৫২ PM
Scott বলেছেন...: Seems like Chile has done a lot more with a lot less. I wonder why?; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:১২ PM
The Godfather বলেছেন...: But the bright young men and women coming out of our colleges today will tell you that the problem in Venezuela isn't socialism. Oh no! Socialism is what you have in Denmark and Sweden, and nobody's starving there!

The hard lesson to teach is that socialism would be evil even if it worked.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ৯:২১ PM
Howard বলেছেন...: wildswan: I don't buy that white blue collar republican victimology meme. The world is changing: lead, follow or get the hell out the way. Oh, sorry, those are American can-do bootstrap values of the entrepreneur class that skews left because technical and creative. Nice that China's throwing Wisconsin a bone, too bad they couldn't figure out how to home grow the jobs.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১০:০৪ PM
Ray - SoCal বলেছেন...: I am surprised the article was in The Guardian.

I question the statement Cubans are fair weather friends, I wish they were. I believe you will be proven wrong with too much Venezuelan blood soon when the country explodes.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:১৫ PM
নামহীন বলেছেন...: "Lost My Cookies said...

"No money for food, but plenty of money for sex?"

No matter how bad things are, there are always a few guys with money. Under Socialism, usually guys with a connection to the statist teat. For example, Maduro has to keep the army fed (and occasionally laid), or he's toast.; ২৮/৮/১৭, ১১:২০ PM
Not Sure বলেছেন...: True socialism has never been tried. If it were, it would be convicted of manslaughter, at a minimum.; ২৯/৮/১৭, ১:৪০ AM
Rusty বলেছেন...: Howard is ON FIRE!; ২৯/৮/১৭, ৬:০০ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: I don't buy that white blue collar republican victimology meme. The world is changing: lead, follow or get the hell out the way.

What Howard really means is that the Democrats need the votes, so the importation of undocumented Democrats is to continue apace, regardless of the impact on the wages of the working class, and that of unskilled labor particularly. These people should just go to hell because the Democrats don't want them, and to vote Republican is eeevil.; ২৯/৮/১৭, ৬:৫৬ AM
Big Mike বলেছেন...: @Howard, I could have sworn that wildswan was politely asking for Wisconsin Dumbocrats to get the hell out of the way, which is indeed one of your options. Perhaps, it being late at night, you had a reading comprehension problem. Let me repeat for you. Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. The. WAY.

And none of us care what you choose to buy, but you need to recognize that we aren't buying the bullshit you're peddling.; ২৯/৮/১৭, ৬:৫৭ AM
Jaq বলেছেন...: The world is changing:

And democracy or not, those people should have no say in the matter! The arrogance of Democrats and their complete lack of self-awareness of same is awe inspiring.; ২৯/৮/১৭, ৬:৫৯ AM
Rusty বলেছেন...: Howard.
I'm still waiting for you to explain what happened in Venezuela and how it can be fixed.
I'm gonna have a long wait aren't I.; ২৯/৮/১৭, ১০:০৬ AM
Unknown বলেছেন...: @Howard 11:52 AM: The claim about welfare going to red states just ain't true. California's the winner by a long shot with NY third to the tune of approximately US$ 46 billion (2016). See http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/state_summary.php?chart=40. There are so many red states now, there may be some catching up at the edges. If you are deploying netting sleight-of-hand, please do calculate and show how much of CA's tax revenues are derived from federal corporate welfare programs in the defense, consulting, and information services areas especially. Full agreement that the oxy problem is big. What's the cause?; ২/৯/১৭, ৫:১৭ AM