Venezuelan Politics (current - 2014) - Page 12 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14477610
Those videos posted, look like what is happening in Ferguson Mo, USA, and as a matter of fact all over the police state USA..lol...clean up your own back yard Amerika, you are living in a fantasy world controlled by the WH psych ops, Pentagon, NSA, HS, FBI, CIA, etc etc...you think you are free..haha..what a joke..yet you make adverse comments about other countries?
#14480928
Rugoz wrote:The Venezuelan economy has not been doing well since Chavez came to power in 1998. Per capita income stands at around 11k compared to around 10k in 1998. That's an increase of 10%, which is a rather bad performance, especially for a developing country and considering the massive increase of oil prices. More than ever, the Venezuelan economy is totally dependent on oil income (exports, government revenue). Those 2 graphs sum it up rather nicely.


The capita income does not show how Chavez and Maduro are busy with dragging fast amounts of people away from the poverty line. It used to be like HALF the entire nation was living on or under that line. It's now radically different. The amounts of people who are not suffering from maul nutrition is also far and far less.

Is it worth it that fast amounts of families now earn enough so they can feed themselves and their children, if that means the economic growth of the country is not what it can be?

Absolutely!
#14480955
Wiki wrote:According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), from 1999 to 2012, Venezuela achieved the second highest rate of poverty reduction in the region: 25.6%, falling from 49.4% to 25.6%.[29][30] In 2013, when the rate of poverty reduction was in decline across Latin America, Venezuela was the country that recorded the greatest reduction in poverty in the region; ECLAC reports that the poverty rate in Venezuela declined 5.6%, from 29.5% to 23.9%.[31][32][33]
#14490965
We have conflicting information about poverty in South America:

Venezuela's official statistics office (INE) mostly spends its time producing reports charged with political language -- but it still manages to report actual data once in a while. A few weeks ago, the statisticians published proof that one in three Venezuelans are poor, when twelve months ago the figure stood at one in four. Since an important part of the argument against the opposition is the government's claim that they, and only they, ensure decreasing poverty, this is a significant development.

In order to calculate the poverty rate, the INE estimates the cost of a representative basket of goods, which includes things such as food, dress, housing, transportation, health, communications, and education. The basket is intended as a representative sample of the type of things an average Venezuelan family consumes during a year. If per capita income falls below the cost of this basic basket of goods, the person is considered poor.


http://transitions.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/04/poverty_shoots_up_in_venezuela

Here's a different view:
One of the biggest social achievements claimed by Venezuela’s Bolivarian government is the significant reduction in poverty levels witnessed over the previous fifteen years. Opponents have traditionally addressed this by criticising the way poverty is measured, putting poverty reduction down to high oil prices and unsustainable “largesse” in public spending, or by ignoring the matter altogether and focusing on other issues where the government’s performance is seen as less successful.

However there has been renewed focus on poverty recently in the oil rich nation of 30 million people. This is due to a report by the government’s National Statistics Institute (INE) indicating that household income poverty rose 6 percentage points from the second half of 2012 to the second half of 2013: the first significant rise in poverty in a decade. [i] The news comes in the context of the economic problems the country has been facing over the previous eighteen months. As such, the question has been raised over whether the gains made in poverty reduction during the presidency of Hugo Chavez (1999 – 2013) are now being reversed under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro (2013 – ). This article examines the claim in light of the latest statistics on poverty, as well as looking at current poverty reduction policies being implemented in Venezuela.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10749
#14512348
The latest news from the Venezuelan socialist collapse

Venezuela crisis deepens as Maduro seeks support abroad
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — When Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro returns from an urgent fundraising trip that has taken him to seven nations, he'll find his oil-dependent economy teetering on the edge and desperate countrymen searching empty store shelves for basic goods.

In the two weeks Maduro has bounced around the globe seeking help, the government has deployed soldiers to prevent stampedes and looting at markets while business leaders have warned that food stocks will run out by early March. Political opponents are rallying supporters and foreign investors are bracing for a potential default.


http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan ... s-support/

I think the socialist system they use is terrible.
#14512423
The bizarre thing is that the Venezuelan government is in utter denial about the crisis. It's not even about socialism; the government is utterly incompetent. The government whines endlessly about the US conspiring to destroy their economy and yet remains happy for the United States being its largest trading partner. Venezuela still owns Citgo, which is a major US oil company. Socialism.

The government has instituted widespread price controls and then discovers that there are widespread shortages. They have three different exchange rates because their currency is so broken; prices are rising 50% a year. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves and yet they've been so busy looting the state oil company that in spite of record oil prices, production has declined since Chavez took over. The economy is shrinking at 5% a year.

The country has already stopped paying for many of its imports; it continues to pay interest on its debt, inexplicably, but probably won't be able to do so for long. Financial markets say that they have a 93% chance of defaulting in the next five years. Also, the guy who wrote that article was threatened by the Venezuelan government for saying what he said.

I cannot think of any defense of this. The Venezuelan economy is broken, the Chavistas have broken it. I believe Maduro is speaking what he thinks when he says this is all an American plot - they don't understand how or why the thing is broken. They don't understand capitalism or socialism.
#14515563
Maduro is a typical crazy tyrant. He tries to create an imaginary foe and ignores the real problems.

This is the latest article I read

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/venezuela-economy-idUSL1N0V10RK20150122

Bonds slip, foes gripe at Maduro's Venezuela economic changes
BY ANDREW CAWTHORNE
CARACAS Thu Jan 22, 2015 9:47am

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Venezuelan bonds edged down on Thursday while opponents lampooned economic changes by President Nicolas Maduro that included a seeming devaluation of the currency and an imminent rise in domestic gasoline prices.

......

In an annual speech to parliament on Wednesday night, Hugo Chavez's successor also bit the bullet on the politically-sensitive subject of fuel prices, currently the cheapest in the world, saying a rise was inevitable this year.

Economists had been recommending changes on both issues.

But without price specifics on either, or any major structural changes to the socialist model, Maduro's critics said he had not done enough to rescue a shrinking economy and combat shortages plaguing Venezuela's 30 million people.

"Today more than ever, we have to unite all Venezuelans to get out of this crisis," opposition leader Henrique Capriles said, mocking Maduro as a "pirate" and "liar" and urging people to rally on the streets against him in coming days.

In early trading, Venezuelan debt slipped slightly.

The benchmark Global 2027 was off 0.35 points to yield 28.242 percent.

Venezuela's lively Twitter scene was abuzz with debate, and some ridicule, over Maduro's most headline-grabbing phrases, including his reassurance that "God will provide" in the face of oil revenues that have plunged by more than half.

POLITICAL STAKES

"Crucify me, kill me if you want!" the 52-year-old president also defiantly said, in reference to a possible rise in gasoline prices, something of a sacred cow in Venezuelan society where people can fill up for less than $0.02 a liter.

A 1989 fuel hike by then president Carlos Andres Perez infamously sparked the "Caracazo" riots killing hundreds.

With his popularity falling, an important parliamentary election looming later this year, and foes gleefully forecasting the imminent end of "Chavismo", Maduro told Venezuelans popular welfare programs would not only be maintained but expanded.

Many government supporters fear opposition politicians would take free health clinics and subsidized food away from them.

The president, whose supporters are due to rally on Friday while opponents have called a march for Saturday, predicted a 10-percentage point win in the vote for a new parliament.

In a recognition of hardship on the streets, Maduro also announced a 15 percent rise in the minimum wage.

But he was far less specific on the all-important currency changes, saying the strongest rate of 6.3 bolivars per dollar would be kept for essential food and medicine imports, while two Central Bank rates would be merged, and a third freer band would be created to compete with the black market for greenbacks.

Maduro did not say at what levels those second and third tiers would operate, but Venezuelans assumed they would be higher than the current ones of about 12 and 50 bolivars respectively - effectively representing a devaluation.

Dollars go for about 177 bolivars on the black market.

"It's an implicit devaluation, which was necessary but it's not enough," said local pollster and economist Luis Vicente Leon, whom Maduro referred to several times in his speech as an important opinion-former in Venezuela.

"The moving of currency to higher rates is positive for deficit control, import reduction and private oil production ... But the magnitude of the crisis and fall in revenues is so great that the expected impact of the measures looks insufficient."

Many Venezuelans fear Maduro's announcements will stoke inflation which, at 64 percent last year, is already the highest in the Americas. The economy contracted 2.8 percent in 2014.

According to U.N. estimates, Argentina is the only other country in Latin America whose economy was seen contracting last year, though by less than Venezuela


With inflation speeding up to 100 % a 15 % minimum wage will leave the poor in terrible shape.
#14516026
Well Venezuela had economic troubles even with high oil prices, now that the prices lowered significantly it is in deep trouble.
#14516033
True enough... But I'm reasonable confident that they'll go to any lengths to protect their Revolution from the enemies of the people. A deep crisis can also be a proper opportunity to implement a proper dictatorship of the proletariat to defend the revolution and a planned economy to supply the Venezuelans with consumer goods. They've got the means to protect the Revolution in the Bolivarian Militia, what they need is the political will to use it to annihilate the Enemies of the People.
#14516037
The Revolution is not worth protecting if it doesn't serve the people well enough.
#14516042
I don't think the alternative is really worse in case of Maduro. How is an oil oligarchy worse compared to a starving failing communist revolution ?
#14529278
JohnRawls wrote:I don't think the alternative is really worse in case of Maduro. How is an oil oligarchy worse compared to a starving failing communist revolution ?


Why do you assume an "oil oligarchy" is the only answer?

The current regime is led by an incompetent autocrat:

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21644540-arrest-mayor-caracas-sign-regime-will-do-whatever-it-takes-hold?zid=305&ah=417bd5664dc76da5d98af4f7a640fd8a

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/venezuela?page=2
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