Chavez Seizes Venezuelan Rice Plants

[IndianaGreen]

Source: Wall Street Journal

FEBRUARY 28, 2009, 11:37 P.M. ET

Chavez Seizes Venezuelan Rice Plants

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered troops to temporarily seize control of all Venezuelan rice processing plants to ensure they produce at full capacity amid soaring inflation and persisting reports of food shortages.

Mr. Chavez told the National Guard to "take control of and intervene in all of these businesses that process rice in Venezuela," including at least a half-dozen local and foreign private companies.

"This government is here to protect the people, not the bourgeoisie or the rich," Mr. Chavez said, accusing some companies of slowing production to evade price caps that have slashed their profit margins. He did not say what the takeover would involve or how long it would last.

Mr. Chavez imposed price caps on scores of basic foodstuffs including chicken, rice and sugar in 2003 to combat rising inflation, which at 31% is now Latin America's highest. He last raised rice prices a year ago to just over $1 per kilogram ($0.46 a pound).

Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua said troops would occupy company installations as "the first measure" in an unspecified takeover process, beginning with a rice plant owned by Empresas Polar, the country's largest food producer.

Polar's Primor-brand rice plant, located in the western state of Guarico, has been operating at less than 50% capacity in violation of federal regulations, according to Vice Minister of Agriculture Richard Canan. He said the government would guarantee maximum output at the plant.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123588197770202929.html

[liberalmuse]

1. Holy dictatorship!

And he had so much promise years ago.

[IndianaGreen]

3. "This government is here to protect the people, not the bourgeoisie or the rich."

Just the prescription we need to cure America's ills.

[Lost in CT]

6. Yeah I'm sure seizing the means of production is on Obama's to-do list.

:eyes:

I could care less for Venezuela but you don't have to be a rocket science to see this isn't going to end well.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Nationalizing the energy sector should be top priority

I am sure that having the people take over the oil companies will resonate on Main Street.

[Doctor Cynic]

17. But I don't think the Saudis will tolerate the thought of Uncle Sam owning their land, right?

[ohio2007]

37. Uncle Sam gets oil from Canada and Mexico mostly. and of course, from Hugo Co

Hugo will have to nationalize the rice packaging cottage industries when they refuse to work without compensation of supply products given away to "big rice" industry.
:sarcasm:

btw
they should put a presidential term limit on the ballot..... until it passes

.

[Chemical Bill]

144. Nationalize the health insurance industry too.

Some things are too important to leave to the profit motive.

Bill

[creeksneakers2]

30. It doesn't sound like a good prescription

31% inflation and food shortages? That's the economic plan you want to copy?

[originalpckelly]

65. Precisely. I can't even begin to imagine why inflation is 31%.

It's like hearing a God awful crash and asking your kids, "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

31% is an awful rate of inflation, and I ask, "WHAT DID THEY DO?" :P

[ohio2007]

81. just lower the price of rice by 32%....problem solved...everybody wins

except everybody working at the fixed wage...well...givem a 35% wage increase.... and keep the money printing press workers on overtime... they can take their OT cut from the new piles
:sarcasm:

[Wilms]

84. According to the OP, the rice plant was working at 50% capacity.

What would that do to inflation...supply and demand and all?

[TheWraith]

102. They built their economy on the astronomical price of oil.

When it went back down to even marginal levels, CRASH.

[Igel]

118. I've always enjoyed sentences like that.

There was a work published, I think in the 1970s, under the pen-name "Petr Fidelius" called "Language and Power." Jazyk a moc. Don't know if it was ever translated.

Among other things, it looked specifically at the word "people" in use in public discourse in an E. European country. Dear Peter found a pattern in speeches.

First, he wrote, politicians in public speeches said the people had all the power, and they as a whole delegated their power to the party. The people were diverse, and included all, well, people. They and their humanity must be respected. It is the basis of right thinking.

However, the people formed the party, and so the people elected the leadership of the party. So the party represented the people, as any idiot could understand.

However, the party was the defender of the people, and the only representative of the people. Anybody who disagreed with the party obviously wasn't one of the people. They, therefore, had to be dealt with as less than human, since, well, they weren't part of the people. They were subhuman animals.

However, the party as defender and protector of the people had the job, first and foremost, to police its own ranks. Anybody in the party who disagreed with the party wasn't one of the people and, well, couldn't be in the party.

Since the party was the defender and protector of the people, those in charge of the party were the true defenders and protectors of the people. Therefore all people who wanted to be part of the people, and all party members who wanted to be part of the party, had to defer to them and acknowledge their goodness and that what they said was good.

Because, the party was the people. In other words, the only people that were "the people" were the party leaders and those agreed and supported the party leaders considered people by virtue of their support.

To be against the party was to be against the people, and to be against the people was to be against the party. The party is mother, the party is father. (with apologizes to JMS)

Fortunately people--apparently not "the people"--disposed of that government. And the not-the-people showed themselves more human than the the-people. The not-the-people rose above the humanity of the true people and forgave them, of course, showing that the entire framing was upside down. This had been evident to many who weren't for "the people" but were for people. It was PR disaster for many, but while the ideologically pure stuck to their framing and discourse style the savvy and wise abandoned it when necessary.

"This government is here to protect the people as opposed to bourgeois people or rich people." Fidelius would have been proud. Personally, I like people, by and large. That said, I've always been curious as to gets to decide who forms "the people"--I'd hate to like people were weren't in "the people." In other words, who gets to decide which bipedal mostly hairless language-possessing mammals shall be considered people and which shall be judged chattel, ready for the auction block or the livestock yards, suitable for baking. There are numerous examples of this in history and I want to get it right, lest in being a people-person I'm not a the-people-person, but wind up like liking--horrors--some not-the-people people. Because first we, those with compassion for all people and who hate epithets because they dehumanize and sow hate, have to dehumanize our enemies in an ideologically correct form before we can treat them like the subhumans they are and show them the purest kind of hate, by which I mean love, that we can.

[McCamy Taylor]

11. A rice industry that cuts production to jack up prices in times of recession/depression

is one of the reasons that people line capitalists up against walls and shoot them. If all Chavez does is nationalize the industries that have been starving people, they have gotten off easy.

No one has a god given right to price gouge and starve the working class.

During the US Depression they were throwing away good food that unemployed people needed. Someone should have taken over their fields.

[Grinchie]

22. The food today is poisoned GMO shit

They can't give it away if people actually know the source, which explains why they don't label GMO ingedients here in Corporate America.

[acmavm]

42. Sounds like American oil corps and their shutting down of refineries,

doesn't it?

[fascisthunter]

51. EXACTLY!

[fascisthunter]

52. self-delete

[IndianaGreen]

108. In US terms, the banks that refuse to refinance loans to people in trouble

or lower credit card rates, all the while they are getting bailed out by the people.

I think that lining up capitalists against the wall and shooting them is a time proven concept.

[mbperrin]

109. Yes, and not used nearly often enough.

nt

[backwoodsbob]

114. let me know where you plan on shooting the first capitalist

amazing how brave people are on the internets

[IndianaGreen]

116. When we Reds take over after capitalism collapses

They will go the way of the dodo bird, after due process of course.

[anigbrowl]

149. LOL, keyboard revolutionaries

Keep fantasizing, comrade.

[mbperrin]

147. Well, my grandfather was beat to death by some employees of the

oil industry here in west Texas as he attempted to organize for the IWW.

Don't you think they owe me one?

I was lamenting that it doesn't happen often enough. That should have given you the clue that I wasn't volunteering. I'm just as gutless as keyboard jockeys who point out how gutless other keyboard jockeys are....

[Grinchie]

21. He sure did, but with all the Coup attempts and all

I mean, actually knowing that the CIA was financing your downfall? Thats gotta take some energy away from running a country.

[acsmith]

29. did you read the story?

He is taking over the plants because the people that own them are not producing enough food and the people are struggling with food prices inflated by reduced supply. Please think about the context before offering the usual shrill response that is based in out-right Venezuela bashing. Annoying!

[Mika]

123. The Hugo Haters don't read stories. Like Pavlov's dogs, they hear/read the name "Chavez" and get...

.. all hot and bothered. :crazy:

[bitchkitty]

36. Promises that he made good on.

The people have decided on Hugo Chavez, and probably will continue. With or without the CIA's interference.

[lsewpershad]

122. Hope

you are being sarcastic unless you believe in dictatorship of the rich to benefit the rich. Hopefully our President will change that.
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.

[leftstreet]

2. Good for him! The Rice Cos. hoard it and/or sell it on the black market

or try to wait out price caps.

Screw 'em.

[ohio2007]

39. Sounds like the milk farmer cartels smuggling their products over the border

illegally trading products for a buck or two.

They will be watched closer for these illegal activities soon;



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3330748&mesg_id=3330748

Is it a flash back or is it a flash forward ?

Depends on how many more enemies he needs to appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x10199#10226

[Doctor Cynic]

4. What could possibly go wrong?

[ronnie624]

8. There's no telling.

But it is likely, the deliberate, politically motivated shortages of rice will soon come to an end.

[Doctor Cynic]

13. And get replaced with...what?

I'll tell you a secret: there's no deliberate plot to create shortages.

The true question is why there is 30% inflation when the rest of the world is experiencing (except Zimbabwe and Iceland) deflation.

It's all going to go terribly wrong.

[ronnie624]

14. I don't believe you are as much in the know as you pretend.

From the article:

Polar's Primor-brand rice plant, located in the western state of Guarico, has been operating at less than 50% capacity in violation of federal regulations, according to Vice Minister of Agriculture Richard Canan. He said the government would guarantee maximum output at the plant

[Doctor Cynic]

16. I don't know who's ignorant here...

...but it's clear that somebody has yet to shake off his background in the military.

The article talks about price controls, inflation, and shortages.

Anyone who has not failed high school civics can tell you that price controls do not work, and that shortages and inflation will occur regardless. The real problem is why there is 30% inflation in the first place, and that is almost certainly because of money printing (at least in the absence of a deflationary event, like in the US at the moment).

I think we have enough examples in history to prove that collectivizing agriculture ends rather poorly.

If they're serious about solving inflation, they should shut down the printing press instead of blaming producers who react to the newly printed money by asking for more of it.

[ronnie624]

18. "price controls do not work...

shortages and inflation will occur regardless."

Can you elaborate? Must someone snap their fingers or wave a wand; recite an incantation perhaps?

[Doctor Cynic]

19. Ask Richard Nixon...

...or Jimmy Carter, or the British in the 1970s, or literally thousands of other examples.

They *are* effective if rationing is required, like during wartime, but last I checked rationing food during a time of peace is not a sign of a healthy society.

There's simply no possible reason (other than the government relying on the printing press) for 30% inflation when 1) the rest of the world is entering deflation and 2) there is no massive inflow of foreign currency now that crude oil is sow low.

So many governments thought they can print money and control prices at the same time. All of them failed.

[creeksneakers2]

31. Its a basic rule of economics

that price caps cause at least some shortages, unless the price cap is higher than any price being asked. If I set the price of milk at $6 a gallon, all those people who pay over $6 a gallon for milk, like those in super expensive geographical areas, will go without milk.

If the price caps were taken off rice, the Venezuelan plants would go back to full operational capacity. Taking over the factories is just one more step down the road to Mugabe economics.

[ronnie624]

88. You and the other poster seem to be simply reciting truisms.

Is it not possible to isolate the mechanisms for inflation? It doesn't just happen as if by magic, or simply because economists say so. If price caps cause inflation, we should be able to analyze cause and effect.

"If the price caps were taken off rice, the Venezuelan plants would go back to full operational capacity. Taking over the factories is just one more step down the road to Mugabe economics."

This statement says nothing except that you are willing to employ slander with the suggested association to a dictator in an attempt to discredit Chavez. It is unlikely that you could draw any serious comparisons between the economy of Venezuela and that of Zimbabwe.

[creeksneakers2]

98. Nationalization

And command economies are what's in common. Both Venezuala and Zimbabwe have price controls. The same thing happens, whether its Venezuela or anywhere.

Price caps don't cause inflation. Price caps cause shortages. Higher prices increase supply. Inflation happens when demand exceeds supply. These aren't just things I'm reciting. These are real forces that eventually will overcome any obstacle.


Other articles posted on this thread trace the Venezuelan inflation to the oil profit sharing plan. More people have more money. Demand grew faster than supply. So Chavez put price caps on. But now food producers are closing and food is being smuggled out of the country to be sold at higher prices. Hence, shortages.

[ronnie624]

104. If food companies are smuggling food out of the country,

then they are in violation of Venezuelan law. You and other posters are desperately trying to skirt and/or justify this overarching fact by invoking universal 'laws' of economics and attacking Chavez, ad hominem. It's not really working. It's completely irrational.

Any company found to be smuggling food should have its factories seized and the owners prosecuted, just the same as would happen to you or me or the average Venezuelan if we were caught breaking the law in a similar fashion.

I offer no deference to the rich.

[Judi Lynn]

107. Some of these people still contend Chile developed a superior economy,

and have taken the time to try to argue that here, as well, bless their hearts.

They won't back down, they can only rest if they imagine we will someday be able to kill enough dissent in Latin America, as we almost did in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, leftists will all finally either be dead, or so scared they won't dare to speak up again, and we will own them all, can hire them to work for pennies a day, or even for NADA, to work themselves to exhaustion providing whatever some bloated blob in the U.S. might next desire to tempt his palate, or imagination, or in some way stimulate him/her to deeper, more intense levels of even more satisfaction.

That's exactly why all of Latin America is coming together, working hard on pulling themselves up from the ashes. They're not going to live that way any longer as victims of spiritual perverts.

[ronnie624]

111. I thought about that as well.

And the fact that the U.S. economy is, even as we speak, being bailed out to the tune of trillions of dollars.

So much for the 'laws' that govern U.S. capitalism.

[WriteDown]

59. You a fan of Richard Nixon?

Looks like Chavez is.

[ohio2007]

85. Hugo ignores the advice of LBJ advisor's

Bloomberg's index: "Venezuela has the highest rate of misery among 60 countries"
High inflation rate has adversely affected economic measures


.....

The measurement, created by Arthur Okun, an economics adviser to US President Lyndon Johnson, is the result of the sum of the unemployment and inflation rates for each country which, according to the late economist, showed if a country developed disastrous or successful economic policies.

Venezuela, which showed by the end of last year an unemployment rate higher than 6 percent and an inflation rate close to 31 percent, ranked last in the list, accompanied by the following countries: South Africa, Ukraine, Egypt and Iceland.

.....
http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/02/24/en_eco_art_bloombergs-index:_24A2235015.shtml

building a great society
one constitutional amendment change at a time


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvPoCWElOc&feature=related

[WriteDown]

89. Your subject line literally made me laugh out loud.

Awesome.

[ronnie624]

97. That's Bloomberg's perspective.

This report doesn't seem so dire:

UN report: Venezuela’s Human Development Index ranked 61 of 179 countries

The report, published in the official web site, has been calculated for 179 countries and territories and presents a delay of two years.

This index is calculated in a range from 0 to 1. That is to say, the countries with levels under 0.49 show a low human development; between 0.49 and 0.79 middle human development; and from 0.80 to 1, a high human development.

*****

According to INE’s report, these results evidence the political and economic policy implemented by the Bolivarian government; since in 1990 the HDI was 0.787. However, in 2000, for the first time, Venezuela overcame the barrier of 0.800; in 2004 it reached 0.810 and one year later it obtained 0.816. Finally, in 2006, it ended up in 0.826.

<http://www.vicuk.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=379&Itemid=65>

[ohio2007]

120. So what is your perspective ? You don't find a Johnson era advisor's formula "up to date" with the

the current times of today's models ?

You feel Hugo is leading a cultural revolution.....into the history books on a glorious method this time ?

Oh
but any food shortage will be the fault of his gringo enemies next year.

At best, he will have a few years time of riding the tide of price controls. I remember last years Hugo bash threads where the price controls set by the dear one led predictably to Caracas running out of milk, eggs and flour; the prices that were set did not justify the production of consumer goods, so
goods magically started to disappear from the store shelves and made a run for the border.

Currently,producers disobeying Hugo's orders to lower prices, Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country.No free trade agreements in place so are these actions by Hugo giant leap improvements to Mao's mass famine caused by the collectivization of farms ? <gasp>

Well,let the rice farm situation ferment for a year or two for and revisit to the Feb '09 decision as it plays out to an obvious expected result.

Seems people already forgot about the bartering done by peasants and commoners along the border to make ends meet with the imposed price control results of last years "gas and milk for chocolate revolution". At least the oil revenue saw them ride out that wave of civil disobedience.

Things may get bloody this time around.

[ronnie624]

127. Um, yeah. Alrighty then, ohio2007.

Thanks for your input.

:hi:

[Psephos]

131. A tour-de-force exhibition of the debater's art n/t

[ronnie624]

136. I suppose I'll just have to take your word on the matter. n/t

[Peace Patriot]

132. Bloomberg--right. Why not ask Venezuelans about their "misery"?

Gallup Poll: Venezuelans More Satisfied Than Other Latin Americans

December 5th 2008, by Erik Sperling - Venezuelanalysis.com

December 4, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Venezuelans are among the Latin Americans most satisfied with their lives, according to a Gallup poll commissioned by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). Venezuelans' satisfaction with their system of public education, health care, work situation, and housing also rank well above average for the region.

(snip)

With ten being the most satisfied with life and zero the lowest rating possible, Venezuelans’ happiness averaged 6.5, the fourth highest score of a Latin American country. Compared to average scores around the globe, Venezuelans ranked just below the industrialized nations of North America and Western Europe, but higher than all other regions. Although the study showed a tendency for a negative correlation between economic growth and happiness, Venezuela was an exception, as the happiness of its citizens remained high despite experiencing robust economic growth in the last four years. (more)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4016

-------

Poll: Venezuelans Have Highest Regard for Their Democracy

December 20th 2006, by Gregory Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com

(venezuelanalysis.com)--Venezuelans view their democracy more favorably than thecitizens of all other Latin American countries view their own democracies,except Uruguay,according to a new survey released by the Chilean NGO Latinbarometro lastSaturday. Also, Venezuelais in first place in several measures of political participation, compared toall other Latin American countries.

According to the Latinobarometro survey, Venezuelans rank theirdemocracy as being more fully realized than the citizens of all other surveyedcountries do except Uruguay.On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means a country that is not democratic and 10 isa country that is completely democratic, Venezuelans, on average, gave their owndemocracy a score of 7.0. The Latin American average was 5.8, with Uruguay having the highest score, of 7.2, and Paraguay thelowest, at 3.9. (more)

[Grinchie]

24. Doctor Cynic sound like Ben Bernanke trying to divert the message to someone else.

Condescending BS about High School Civics.. Hogwash. Show me one school that teaches this past the mid sixties.

You date yourself.

Yep, I agree about collectivizing agriculture through history. Look at waht motivated Gandhi to take india away from the British. They forced the Indians to grow their cash crops, and when that industry transformed, the Indians we forced to pay without any income. Yep, thats a good example. Unfortunately, it was a foreign Capitalist imperialist that forced the people to grow what they did not need.

I just watched the movie Gandhi tonight, and after slogging through the whole three hours, I was amazed at the similarities we see today.

He was an amazing man, and able to do things armies could not accomplish with unlimited budgets and manpower. May we all learn from his example.

[Doctor Cynic]

25. I'm diverting the message?

The onus is not on me to prove that somehow you can print money, control prices, and assure supplies (you can ask Richard Nixon how that works).

Perhaps in Fantasyland, but no one is interested in that. The fact remains that you cannot run away from the laws of economics even in a socialist state.

As for your example about Gandhi, you're implying that Venezuelans are being forced to grow rice which they don't want or need.

I would have looked at Hugo Chavez positively, until he became increasingly paranoid after the 2002 coup. Unfortunately it's the average barrio-dweller who will suffer the most when all this comes terribly wrong.

[zeemike]

27. And what laws of economics would that be.

There are no laws in economics except that if a individual or company controls a commodity or product that they also control the price of it.
And he who controls the price also controls inflation.
Nixon bucket the corporate world and paid the price for his insolence.

[creeksneakers2]

32. Not if inflation causes the price of production

to go up above the imposed price cap on the product. Wages go up. The cost of supplies goes up. Eventually, the operator has to either raise prices too or get squeezed out.

[zeemike]

38. And just what is it that causes inflation.

The financial industry that has a hand on the valve that controls The flow of money?
For instance the energy crisis in california that Enron caused by "trading" in energy that caused people to pay very inflated prices for there power.
Or the oil companies that manufacture shortages and restrict refining until the prices go up so much that they make obscene profits.
or commodity traders that manipulate prices to serve their agenda.
i am not so brain dead that I believe what is taught in the Chicago school of business, and how the invisible hand of the "free market" sets prices by supply and demand...if you control supply or demand you control price.
We should have learned that from the Robber Barron's of the 19th century.

[ohio2007]

44. Can't be the price of oil But Hugo was counting on a $200 bbl surge to the revenue pile

That oil spigot isn't the money maker he hoped and is most likely blaming the Obama admin for the oil bubble burst.

Venezuelan lawmakers claim that Clinton is trying to undermine oil sovereignty


http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/02/26/en_eco_art_venezuelan-lawmakers_26A2236649.shtml

[zeemike]

47. Somehow I doubt that

I am sure he knows who controls the oil in the world market...and it ain't Obama.

[ohio2007]

So who controls the oil price and why did "they" burst the bubble?

I am sure he knows who controls the oil in the world market...and it ain't Obama.

but it was claimed the potus controlled it only a few short months ago.
only the NWO tin foil crowd knows for sure
http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/02/26/en_eco_art_venezuelan-lawmakers_26A2236649.shtml
Here is a ridiculous comparison bc we know Zimbabwe has no oil....
and Hugo looks nothing at all like "Robbie" ....but they have a lot in common by dictating prices then blaiming external 'forces' for the negative results

Mugabe: Zimbabwe land seizures will continue

Zimbabwe's President Robert (Hugo) Mugabe said land seizures from (rice) farmers would continue and vowed to press ahead with plans for locals to take majority stakes in foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler for nearly three decades, is holding onto power despite economic and political turmoil that have forced him into a unity government with the opposition.

"There is no going back on the land reforms. Farms will not be returned back to former (white rice) farmers. That work will continue, but those farms have to be used properly.
"Again I want to say, the farmers who owned these farms, which now have been designated and offered to new owners, must respect that law. They must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms."

Thousands of ZANU-PF supporters in party regalia turned up for Mugabe's 85th birthday rally at a sports field at Chinhoyi University about 100 km west of Harare.

snip

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/mugabe-zimbabwe-land-seizures-continue-2507971

Only vetted croonies and close family members are worthy to partition the last self sustained farms.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/02/24/en_eco_art_bloombergs-index:_24A2235015.shtml


http://www.economistblog.com/2008/01/29/food-fight-and-the-failure-of-price-controls/

[zeemike]

80. An interesting comparison.

And who ruled Zimbabwe before Mugabe?
It was not the British Empire was it that came in and took over the land and turn them into "productive" farms? Productive meaning to them that it made money for some, mostly themselves.
Productive as opposed to the sustainable system they had before where people fed themselves from the land.

The same situation in Venezuela They were colonized by us, but in a more subtle way and with all that kingdom shit. We let our corporations do it by going in with a truck load of money and buying some men with guns. Now they could do to South America what the king did to Zimbabwe...exploit the resources of the land.

Of course the difference is that Chavez is a populist and Mugabe a king...big difference there alright.

[ohio2007]

93. Chavez put price controls on food BUT did not control the prices on items farmers need to produce

Chavez is presidente for life, just like Mugabe. See the oppression in Zimbabwe today and you will see what the future holds for Hugo.

What hasn't Hugo nationalized? When oil was $147 bbl, was Hugo buying butter or bullets from Russia ?

Now at $37bbl, the oil tap is rusting and breaking down, he will have to control the mobs wanting their nationalized social reform paychecks purchasing power what is was back in the heyday of 2008.

COLOMBIA–More than a thousand additional Venezuelan troops have been sent to the Colombian border to stop food and fuel from going to Colombia. Normally, twice as much stuff (over $3 billion worth) comes FROM Colombia, than goes in the other direction TO Colombia. But Venezuela is suffering from inflation and food shortages, and president Hugo Chavez addressed the problem by putting price controls on food. But he did not put controls on the items farmers have to buy to produce the food. Thus farmers are being forced to sell food at a loss and go bankrupt. To avoid that, farmers are smuggling their products to adjacent countries like Colombia, where they can be sold at market rates.

VENEZUELA–Venezuela’s top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tons of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez’s campaign to stem shortages. The campaign has also included government crackdowns on accused smuggling, with the military seizing 1,600 tons of food and sending 1,200 troops to the border with Colombia.

Troops said they halted the transport of 350 tons of food to states along the Colombian border on suspicion of smuggling, he said. Another 165 tons were impounded in an eastern state on accusations of hoarding.

Bottom Line:
The lessons from economics and history are very clear: Price controls haven’t ever worked, they won’t work in Venezuela, and they won’t ever work anywhere. Chavez can attempt to ignore or circumvent the laws of economics, but he can’t prevent the inevitable shortages that will inevitably result as a direct consequence of his artificial price ceilings

“The market be a harsh mistress.”
http://www.economistblog.com/2008/01/29/food-fight-and-the-failure-of-price-controls/

Hugo Chavez addressed the problem by putting price controls on food.
But
he did not put controls on the items farmers have to buy to produce the food.


Food supply is tied to Brazil, Argentina and Colombia
From 2005 to 2008, the value of food imports heightened 299 percent
....
http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/02/27/en_ing_esp_food-supply-is-tied_27A2237869.shtml


And "some" of those farmers growing crops are in other sovereign states outside of Venezuela
so, you know what he will have to do

[zeemike]

117. I think the sources you quote are telling

But I won't comment on them.
But if I am to take your reasons seriously then I would have to believe that it explains why the oil from Prudo Bay mostly went to Asia while we imported the oil from the middle east.
It make sense to me now...it is all a shell game where you shift stuff all around to scramble any hope of finding out just where the money goes.
Shortages can then be controlled and created or erased at will by the companies that do the dealing and wheeling.
Then too economist can develop complex theories to explain it all away and blame the gentle hand of the "free" market.

More and more people are not buying that crap...i know I don't
i stopped buying it back in 1976 during the oil shortages of that time when I discovered with personal experience that there were no shortages and in face there was a glut of oil, and this shortage was all a sham.

[ronnie624]

133. These "laws of economics"

that the worshipers of the unregulated "free market" genuflect to, are 'enforced', if you will, by greed, avarice, illegality and the corruption of the state, as is clearly illustrated by the illegal smuggling of food by Venezuelan producers to the detriment of their fellow citizens, and the acceptance of it, by even presumed liberals on a democratic discussion forum. Some people are so thoroughly bamboozled, that they even regard smuggling and corruption as a legitimate enforcer of the elusive yet unassailable and universal "laws of economics". With this lunacy, I'm supposed to believe that these "laws" are the only possible governing principle for the production and distribution of resources and capital; that greed is the only possible prime mover of an economy, an idiotic notion, in my opinion.

This sort of collective insanity is a very clear indicator of how much we must mature as a civilization, before we can even hope for the long term survival of our species.

[zeemike]

141. All valid points that I had not thought to make

And I thank you for making them.
That Greed is the only possible prime mover comes from Ayn Rand and her nutty philosophy of the virtues of selfishness that has become the religion of economist. that is what they are taught at business schools.

[ronnie624]

145. With your first article as 'evidence',

you say the Venezuelan government claimed that the potus controls the oil market, but the article doesn't say that at all. Here is the relevant paragraph:

"The voracious consumption of oil by the United States has not declined with the global financial crisis. It is a reality that places the US in a fragile situation. For that reason, their leaders are trying to impose their strategy of ideological manipulation and military power to control major suppliers of oil."


Your second article is just one more attempt at character assassination with a ridiculous association between Mugabe and Chavez. No one has yet bothered to articulate how this association works, or how the Venezuelan economy is the same as the Zimbabwean economy. You just say it and post pictures of Mugabe and hope that repetition will make it stick, apparently.

In the Economist Blog article, the foundation for the author's premise is, again, the unbreakable "laws of economics". He doesn't define the "laws" ore explain why no one can "ignore or circumvent" them. He makes a lot of authoritative proclamations, but he doesn't bother to support any of it with evidence.

It's rather amusing that you can post such a convoluted mess and actually believe it supports your 'position'. You've littered the entire thread with this sort of nonsense, and non of it amounts to a clear and logical theses. You must not be very easily embarrassed.

[Peace Patriot]

128. "...collectivizing agriculture ends rather poorly." You know what kind of agriculture

they had in Venezuela before the Chavez government? NO agriculture, that's what kind. Venezuela was IMPORTING almost all of its food, due to the mismanagement and corruption of previous rightwing regimes. The high-living, import-dependent, urban, rich, rightwing oil elite had completely neglected Venezuela's food security and every other goddamned thing, including local manufucturing of tractors, trucks, automobiles and shipbuilding. They were even IMPORTING machine parts for the oil industry! That's why most people were dirt poor. There were no jobs. Nobody was making anything. The oil profits were going to imported Gucci bags and Jaguar sports cars, and into Exxon Mobil's bloated coffers out of country.

You know what kind of agriculture they have NOW in Venezuela? You don't even know. You are mouthing off without knowing a thing about it. So, you can read my comment below, where I will post the UN report on Venezuela's current food security and agricultural practices.

[Judi Lynn]

33. Hoarding food until there is a crisis, then increasing prices has been a recurrent practise

in Venezuela going back far longer than Hugo Chavez has been the President. Often, this has taken place around Christmas, for whatever reason, which has undoubtedly put a special sting in the problem for citizens who might be otherwise expecting to do holiday cooking for guests, etc.

DU'ers who've been watching Venezuelan events for years have seen this happening already. I imagine you recall "conversations" of this quality about the subject here in earlier times.

Here's a quick grab from google I found which approaches a part of the problem:

Largest Venezuelan Food Producer Denies Hoarding

February 20th 2008, by James Suggett Venezuelanalysis.com
Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food distributer

Caracas, February 20, 2008, (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuela's largest food producer, Polar Foods, denied that it is withholding food from the market and assured that "all of Polar's plants are producing at maximum capacity" in a statement released Monday by the company's Executive Vice President, Ramón Carrizales.

The statement came in response to declarations by President Hugo Chávez in his Sunday talk show Aló Presidente that Polar is a "clear example" of a company that will be "immediately intervened in...and taken under control of the government" if it is caught hoarding food.

Polar has been subject to more than 70 inspections in the last four months by several government entities including the National Consumer Defense Institute (INDECU), which Carrizales said proves that the company is operating normally. In addition, Polar does not produce many of the foods in scarcity, such as milk, chicken, meats, sugar, coffee, and eggs, Carrizales emphasized.

Also, Polar does not supply food to Mercal, the government's subsidized food market which has suffered severe food shortages recently, although Polar has offered to sell corn flour to Mercal and been rejected, Carrizales claimed.

Carrizales argued Polar is removed from the recent wave of price speculation, because the company does not sell directly to consumers, but rather to a network of over 50,000 independent distributors, at wholesale prices "marked on the package of each product."

Price speculation this month has been pervasive among essential foods such as pasta, rice, and potatoes, meats, oil, sugar, some vegetables, and personal sanitary products according to reports released this week by brigades made up of local community councils, Municipal Consumer Education and Defense Offices (OMDECU), and the Finance Ministry's customs service (SENIAT). INDECU fined and temporarily closed at least 3,200 businesses for price speculation in January.

More:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3182

[ronnie624]

55. From your article:

According to Food Minister Félix Osorio, in many regions food deliveries are disproportionate to local demand, especially in the immensely over-supplied states along the border with Colombia. In response, the government met with private industries and registered 6000 businesses in a system of centrally managed "mobilization guides" to monitor food distribution and prevent smuggling. The armed forces have also been deployed to supervise the transport of certain foods, such as milk, and will handle all distribution for 541 new food markets called "little PDVALs", which are run through the state oil company PDVSA.

[Judi Lynn]

57. People are even smuggling gasoline, as well as food, to Colombia for big profits:

Smuggling is thriving despite Chávez policies

Smuggling is thriving despite Chávez policies
One of President Hugo Chávez's key efforts to prevent smuggling and put food on the shelves in western Venezuela is failing.
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/455938.html
Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2008

BY TYLER BRIDGES AND JACK CHANG
tbridges at MiamiHerald.com


CUCUTA, Colombia -- A dozen young men with surgical tubing in hand here represent the failure of one of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's key economic policies along the Venezuelan-Colombian border.

Chávez stationed National Guardsmen at border check points in Venezuela beginning in January to try to prevent the smuggling of gasoline bought at the pump in Venezuela for pennies and sold on the Colombian side for many times more.

He also reduced delivery of gasoline to western Venezuela by 20 percent.

The Venezuelan president tried to tighten his grip on the cross-border contraband when diplomatic tensions exploded earlier this month between Chávez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe over a Colombian raid on guerrillas in Ecuador.

Already long lines to cross into Colombia grew longer, and protests by residents dependent on the smuggling trade erupted in the Venezuelan border town of San Antonio.

The standoff eased a week later after a round of diplomacy. But by all accounts, the border controls have continued, albeit with less intensity.

The controls have not stopped the young men of Cúcuta, who continue to do a thriving business siphoning gasoline through the tubing into five-gallon jugs from cars that have just crossed over the Táchira River from San Antonio.

A parallel Venezuelan effort to stem the smuggling of government-subsidized food products into Colombia has achieved only marginal success.

More:
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/smuggling-is-thriving-despite-chvez-policies/

[Judi Lynn]

90. Reference to food hoarding in a speech given in England in 2006:

Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution
By Darrall Cozens, Hands off Venezuela and NATFHE, West Midlands
Tuesday, 14 March 2006

Darrall Cozens, a member of NATFHE West Midlands Region and of the Hands Off
Venezuela Steering Committee spoke to a meeting of NATFHE Regional Council
Members on Saturday 4th February. Here we publish his speech.

Since President Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Movement won the elections in December 1998 with 56.2% of the popular vote, they have embarked on a programme of social reforms called Misiones to alleviate the plight of the poor, unemployed and landless. This programme has earned the odium of the Venezuelan rich elite, the oligarchy, as well as the USA and the international capitalist media.

The anti-Chavez diatribe in the media has been subtle, blatant and relentless. Chavez is accused of taunting the US government and illegally taking over idle land. Pat Robertson, a US televangelist with close ties to the Republican Party, calls for Chavez’s assassination and the White House calls his remarks “inappropriate”. The Economist magazine in the UK calls for regime change i.e. the physical removal of Chavez. Condoleeza Rice calls Chavez “deeply troubling”, a “negative force in the region”. Despite winning 11 election victories, the Bush government has called the Chavez government an “elected dictatorship” and an “authoritarian democracy”!!

Why do the rich and powerful hate Chavez so much? Firstly, he has challenged the rights of private property and is seeking to utilise national wealth for his social programmes. Secondly, he and his movement have woken the Venezuelan masses to political life as he attempts to establish a revolutionary democracy. Thirdly, Chavez has become a beacon to the downtrodden masses of Latin America due to his social reforms and his calls for a new society, Socialism in the XXIst Century.

For decades, Venezuela has been a deeply divided society. Between 1989 and 1995 the real purchasing power of the poor fell by 35% with average incomes reaching the level of the mid 1950s. The bottom 10% of the population “enjoyed” 0.8% of consumption and the top10% had 36.5%. Some 40% of the population lived in critical poverty. 33% of the poor lived on less than $1 per day. 60% of agricultural land belonged to 1% of the population with 7 landed estates alone totalling 1.7m hectares. When peasants seized land to alleviate their plight, the hired thugs of the landlords attacked them. 180 peasant activists have been murdered in the last 7 years. Factory owners too were closing their plants, working them below capacity or indulging in economic sabotage.

~snip~
Food stuffs are being hoarded by distribution monopolies to create false shortages and thus destabilise the Chavez government.

More:
http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/venezuela_bolivarian_revolution_natfhe.htm

[Grinchie]

23. There is a worldwide 50% overproduction of food

Unfortunately, it is thousands of miles away from where it is needed.

For those that like to perpetuate the myth that there is a food shortage, I laugh at your ignorance. It is a myth.

[ohio2007]

41. but they also say peak population is the result of food shortages

btw
the surplus food is produced by which type of countries ? What model for their success? Should they be looked at with envious eyes and destroyed ?

[harmonicon]

71. You're an executive of a Venezuelan rice company?

That's how you know this? Did you miss the part where it was stated that these places were in violation of existing law for under producing? What is wrong with law enforcement?

[Igel]

119. Well, at least regulation.

Then again, regulation and law are, in some senses and some locales, equivalent.

I personally tend to think that in situations where the law isn't determined by one person or a junta, but by a legislature, that they're distinct. The legislature passes laws, authorizing an executive to make regulations. That's how it works in the US, for instance.

But I'm sure you know better than I about Venezuela.

[AngryAmish]

48. The Rice Wreckers of Venezuela fear Chavez!

Damn wreckers. We need trials, on TV, to show what a menace they are.

[Swagman]

20. "What could possibly go wrong?"...CIA ?

[Lost in CT]

5. Venezuela grows rice????

[ohio2007]

49. Actually, they have partners in central and south america that do

Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, and Dominica created a joint food production company and laid out plans to guarantee food security in the Caribbean, Central, and South American regions during an extraordinary summit of the regional trade bloc known as the ALBA in Caracas on Monday.
“We are going to create a supranational company, like a transnational company, but in this case with the concept of a great nation, to produce food with the goal of guaranteeing food sovereignty to our people,”

snip

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4165

Creating a supernational company ? ....seems the tormented will become the tormentors in the upcomming food fight

http://www.economistblog.com/2008/01/29/food-fight-and-the-failure-of-price-controls/

[Proletariatprincess]

9. Sounds reasonable to me.

Corporate scumbags need a little correction from time to time...especially if they are withholding production of an essential commodity like food.
Ahhh...if only it would happen here. Putting the public interest above corporate profits...What a concept!

[Dreamer Tatum]

10. So Venezuela goes from rice farmerS to rice farmeR

Now then, where is that economics text I put away...I think I tabbed the chapter on monopolies...

[bitchkitty]

43. Don't be so unsure -

It's not likely to happen quickly, but I have hope that our troubles now will spark a quiet revolution, to the way things should be.

[Judi Lynn]

77. UN Food & Agricultural Org. "Says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis"

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis

February 27th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, February 27th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Venezuela, Francisco Arias Milla, said the Venezuelan government’s investment in domestic food production and regional food security will strengthen its ability and that of its neighbors to withstand the worsening global food crisis.

“The FAO recognizes the efforts of the national government to introduce policies, strategies, and programs to confront the global economic crisis and the volatility of food prices, and at the same time to protect the food and nutritional security of the Venezuelan people,” Arias told the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) on Thursday.

Arias specified Venezuela’s national subsidized food market, Mercal, its growing system of public cafeterias, and the state-run Venezuelan Food Production and Distribution company (PDVAL), which sells food at regulated prices, as examples of policies which “permit greater access to food for the most vulnerable strata of society.”

Venezuela has implemented several policies that the FAO recommends, including the fomenting of local food production through the strengthening of social networks, Arias pointed out.

Arias also praised the increase of state investment in the agricultural sector, efforts to organize producers, the expansion of citizen access to arable land through land reform, and the promotion of family farms under the administration of President Hugo Chávez.

Venezuela has also reached out to other Latin American countries to prepare joint strategies to deal with the food crisis. The trade bloc called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, which is based on principles of mutual benefit and includes Venezuela and six other countries, has created a joint food company with funds pooled in a joint food security fund.

Arias said these efforts have paid off for the countries involved. “We believe there is a group of countries, including Venezuela, that is better prepared to confront this crisis and whatever other crisis that may come,” he said. “This is due to the institutionalization of food security in the region,” he added.

More:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4254

[Igel]

121. Oddly, that's an issue that the article seems to skirt.

Were they withholding production? And is it hoarding?

Well, the price of rice hasn't increased for a year. So it's possible that there's a bit of a problem reaching break-even in rice production and processing. Given price controls, it stands to reason that some will try to smuggle the goods out. Famers--both small and large--like being able to not lose money on a crop. This reduces supply.

Processors face the same constraints: Take American the recycled glass and paper industries. With prices down, a producer will save money by not processing the recycled glass--they can't sell it at a break-even price. Running the plants loses them money. Have Venezuelan rice processors hit that point? Dunno. If so there might be pressure on them to just not run the plants.

Of course, it might be that they want to hoard the rice and produce a deficit in the marketplace, pressuing Chavez to rise the price, which hasn't changed for a year. That's the politically expedient, albeit facile, conclusion we can leap to. Let's not leap just yet. Let's think of other possibilities before deciding that we can turn off our critical thinking faculties.

From a Google search I've gleaned that there are rice crops in Venezuela in September/October and in April/May. I have no idea what their relative sizes are.

I note that it's March. A rice crop is less than two months away, and so farmer's silos should be getting empty, unless there's a large rice surplus (in which case you'd expect rice production have dropped). There's also been out-smuggling, reducing the rice crops in-country. I wonder how much unprocessed rice is in silos--will it keep the plants running >50% capacity between now and when the rice comes in? If not, what happens to the workers and the rice distribution mechanisms when the plants shut down?

Now, with price controls and increased money in society, Venezuela's seen increased demand. From Google, as well, until something like 2007 there'd been a 37% increase in production and rather more than a 40% increase in consumption of rice; we can rule out rice overproduction. Chavez insists on food sovereignty, keeping what farmers small and large produce as a national good for national consumption at a fixed price during times of inflation; he really dislikes buying rice from abroad. So the stock draw-down's outpaced stock increases. That can't be good, and reinforces the importance of the question: What are rice reserves?

Seems that the articles on the net assume that there are large reserves left. Chavez certainly wants us to infer that. I don't often trust politicians when they make convenient assertions to support their actions, though, and I trust them even less when they put us in positions where we're all but forced to make very specific pragmatic inferences to support their actions.

[davidinalameda]

12. I'm confused

are the employees still going to get paid or are they going to be working for the greater good of the state?

[ohio2007]

46. If the plant was operating at 50% capacity, seems the company is obliged to bring more workers back

onto the payroll to double the output.
Dunno who is going to pay them.
Maybe they will work for a bag of rice...then they can take that rice to the border and barter ?

[tonycinla]

86. Love of the state!

They will be working for free because of their love of the state and Hugo Chavez.The reason why Communism and hard core socialism never works out well for the citizens of a country in the long run is because human beings are not ants.What motivates most human behavior is self interest,cynical but true.Uncontrolled capitalism is not the answer ,but a vibrant,robust capitalism with rules and regulations that are strictly enforced with a strong safety net for the truly vunerable is the ticket.A large part of the reason we are in trouble now is rules were changed ,such as short selling, and rules that were in force were not enforced.We need to produce a bigger pie AND slice it more fairly.

[ronnie624]

15. deleted

[Eryemil]

26. Sweet.

Of course, now the US will be forced to send assassins after Chavez.
Wait what, they've already tried that? Darn it.

:evilgrin:

[zeemike]

28. Don't worry they have back up plans I am sure.

There is more than one way to take out the uncooperative heads of state.

[ohio2007]

34. It's those damned "white" rice farmers cabals at it again

Mugabe had it right ;)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3761286

It's your birthday

[bitchkitty]

35. Holy humanitarian!

Is Chavez actually putting the people's interests first again? That wascawy wabbit!

[Judi Lynn]

40. Last year the Venezuelan military caught food producers smuggling their merchandise

next door to Colombia to sell for greater profits:

VENEZUELA PREVENTS SMUGGLING OF 5.000 TONS OF FOOD
National Guard intends to preserve food security.


National Guard Commander General Fredys Alonso Carrión said the moves intended to preserve food security in Venezuela have resulted in 4.93 tons of food items seized so far this year.

Alonso Carrión explained that even though food items have been seized nationwide, the largest seizures took place in the states of Táchira and Zulia, on the border with Colombia. Therefore, they assumed the food was to be smuggled to Colombia.

The National Guard has seized sugar, rice, corn precooked flour, powder milk, and chicken, among others.

Source: El Universal

Redigeret 30. januar 2008

http://www.gkcaracas.um.dk/da/menu/Eksportraadgivning/Markedsmuligheder/SidsteNyt/VenezuelaPreventsSmugglingOf5000TonsOfFood.htm

You have to question the morality of food producers who hold back food from their own countrymen/women then have it driven across the border to sell to people in other countries at a greater profit.

These guys have been doing this for ages.

You may remember that not only around Christmas do they hoard things, but they can be counted on to shut down food availability in the run-up to national elections, as well, to try to breed such dissatisfaction in the country it will throw out in its Boliviarian candidates. They use food to try to apply political pressure.

[bitchkitty]

115. I want to see revolution, not violent but Bolivarian

If I had to guess my most fervent wish, should I be at my deathbed, it would be that one day the Bolivarian revolution would reach our part of the Americas. Socialism in my own country. I am not registered Democrat, I am registered Socialist, although I call myself a Socialist Democrat and have voted with the Dems for anything major. And Obama is making me smile more and more, damn it! I might have to avoid the media, he he.

If not here, at least in Mexico? My ex predicted 20 years ago, that Mexico would one day have a socialist government.

We are all America - North, Central and South. Wouldn't it be something to have all the nations united? A crazy dream, no doubt.

[ileus]

45. All food production should be nationalized; everywhere.

[Lost in CT]

60. Yeah that is a recipe for success....

I'm assuming you forgot the sarcasm tag.

[WriteDown]

61. I'm sure family farmers would be happy with that.

:sarcasm:

[originalpckelly]

67. I know, it worked so well for the Soviet Union.

[antimatter98]

50. We need Chavez to run America for a decade or so...

and this ought to be ok with the GOP since they view the US as a
Third World country anyway. Chavez would jail the bankers and CEO's
which is what we need done here to get control back and give it to
the people, not the elite financial terrorists.

[WriteDown]

63. He already has....

His name was Richard Nixon back then though.

[creeksneakers2]

68. No thanks

31% inflation and food shortages? Why would we want that?

[originalpckelly]

70. How high are you? 31% inflation is something that cripples an economy...

this is not progress for the people of Venezuela. Why is inflation so high? Anyone have any information as to this?

[Odin2005]

94. Populist "economics" leads to inflation.

Hugo probably has the printing presses on overdrive printing out Pesos to pay for government spending Venezuela's economy cannot afford.

(We were able to do that kind of spending because being the #1 country we could use other countries to hold out debt)

[iamthebandfanman]

129. if you knew their economic history

youd know how high inflation got before hugo even got into power.

edit: someone beat me to it, see post 105

[fascisthunter]

53. What a Humanitarian. Putting People before the Profits of the Wealthy

very good

[WriteDown]

64. Reminds me of a child....

who helps his or her mother by cleaning her laundry with a bottle of bleach or something of that nature.

[originalpckelly]

66. Smart answer...

this guy is just wrecking his economy. Trying to interfere with the same physical forces that cause life itself, evolution, and causes the self-regulation of Earth. It's not a smart plan, and doesn't work out well.

[JackRiddler]

103. Market fundamentalism as bad as anything the religionists have to offer.

Equating capitalism with "the physical forces that cause life itself." Dumbfounding.

[originalpckelly]

106. No, the underlying physics is the same.

It has to be, life and an economy exist in the same universe, they should follows the same laws of physics.

[JackRiddler]

110. Feudal economy existed for longer than capitalism so far...

and the Catholic Church even longer. All follow the same laws of physics, right?

By the same token Venezuela's economy, come to think of it, also does, or it couldn't even exist. So why is your vision more "natural" than Hugo's?

Please have the last word - I won't argue with a religious fanatic.

[originalpckelly]

146. Very true, and that's why the others ultimately failed.

Corporatism and capitalism are two very separate things.

[fascisthunter]

92. I Love Irritating Fascists

especially paid fascists who troll websites to shit on socialism, democracy and humanitarians.

[Judi Lynn]

99. Gotta be employees doing their job. Real people wouldn't assume

progressives would want to hear that crappola.

It's always the same, year in, year out. Never changes. Complete lack of depth, lack of awareness of history, lack of identification with the vast majority of human beings.

Damned odd!

[fascisthunter]

100. They Stay on Message and Never Concede to any facts you offer

and it's consistant

[creeksneakers2]

112. I assume progressives

believe in everybody having a chance to offer an opinion.

How about this history? When price caps were removed from Eastern Europe, how long did it take for shortages to end?

[JackRiddler]

148. Oh? & how long did it take for the people to be impoverished even worse than before?

[bluesmail]

54. He's price-fixing to help the people. Stop twisting his words. (you know

who you are).:evilgrin:

[Bacchus39]

56. rice production at gun point, yeah that's what we need n/t

s

[Sultana]

58. mmmmmmmmmmmmm, rice

:9

[originalpckelly]

62. Why is inflation rising in Venezuela? Inflation doesn't just rise all by itself.

Especially at 31%.

Instead of trying to figure out the cause of the inflation, which probably a result of government intervention, he's just making things worse by placing price caps, and then of course, seizing the means of production.

He's just going to nuke what economy they have down there in Venezuela. Capitalist oligarchs are a real problem, but capitalism is not a problem. It's just a behavior that we humans exhibit en masse, as a result of the same laws of physics that cause humans to self-regulate or the planet to self-regulate.

[MellowDem]

69. Well, that's what you get with price controls...

I think it's hilarious people believe the companies are purposely hoarding the rice and cutting production. But the price of rice cannot be controlled by just the rice companies, so that's not the answer. After all, there are many other international rice suppliers in the area that would quickly fill the supply void. The reason they have cut production is price controls set by the Venezuelan government. So basically, a food shortage caused by Chavez and his policies is now being blamed on the rice companies.

If someone sets price controls in a country with 30% inflation, a lot of companies will simply have to either cut production or shut down all together. How the hell is a company supposed to even break even or pay its workers if it can't adjust prices to keep up with inflation caused by the Venezuelan government?

Chavez's policy: Relying on oil prices being high based on an oil industry and infrastructure that is steadily degrading (since they did not build or maintain it). And when oil prices are low, using shitty economics that hurt the poor the most, all along claiming to be helping those you are hurting and blaming the "evil capitalists".

[Judi Lynn]

73. Brilliant. You should have taken the time to inform yourself on Venezuelan history.

Food hoarding to create better prices in Venezuela has been going on far, FAR longer than Hugo Chavez has been the President, starting February 1999.

Take time to know something about the subject, if you can manage it.

[originalpckelly]

75. Do you mean the food hoarding started in '99 or Chavez's Presidency?

[Judi Lynn]

83. It has been going on long BEFORE he was inaugurated in 1999. n/t

[ohio2007]

72. (Hugo:) Venezuela land seizures will continue ( how many years removed is this article ? 15 yrs ? )

of course, it's a ridiculous comparison. Zimbabwe has no oil....
and Hugo looks nothing at all like "Robbie"

Mugabe: Zimbabwe land seizures will continue

Zimbabwe's President Robert (Hugo) Mugabe said land seizures from (rice) farmers would continue and vowed to press ahead with plans for locals to take majority stakes in foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler for nearly three decades, is holding onto power despite economic and political turmoil that have forced him into a unity government with the opposition.

"There is no going back on the land reforms. Farms will not be returned back to former (white rice) farmers. That work will continue, but those farms have to be used properly.
"Again I want to say, the farmers who owned these farms, which now have been designated and offered to new owners, must respect that law. They must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms."

Thousands of ZANU-PF supporters in party regalia turned up for Mugabe's 85th birthday rally at a sports field at Chinhoyi University about 100 km west of Harare.

snip

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/mugabe-zimbabwe-land-seizures-continue-2507971

Only vetted croonies and close family members are worthy to partition the last self sustained farms.
freedom is slavery

[Peace Patriot]

138. This article has no relevance. And Chavez is not Mugabe. That is ridiculous.

Chavez is NOT evicting anyone from any farms. His government is INCREASING farmed land, first of all by finding unused arable government land, and land with challengeable titles (that are duly challenged, and paid for if title is established), and encouraging FAMILIES and coops to grow food again. His government is providing technical support, help in developing markets and loans to WILLING farmers, and IF THEY PRODUCE FOOD, they can earn title to land. Their children can inherit it, but they cannot sell it. There is no racial element to this. There is no coercion. It is a sensible, well-thought out program of land reform and food security.

Furthermore, Chavez is a properly elected, democratic leader--empowered by elections that are far, far more transparent than our own. He is a sane man, and a fine leader, of whom Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, has said, "They can find a lot of excuses to criticize Chavez--but not on democracy!" Chavez created the Bank of the South, helped create ALBA (the South American barter trade group), and was key to the formation of the new South American 'common market' (UNASUR). He is a highly respected leader in South America, and is close friends with many other leaders.

This comparison to Mugabe often comes up in rightwing commentary. It is completely inaccurate and malicious.

[paulk]

74. why aren't the rice producers working at full capacity?

Is it because the price caps are preventing them from charging enough for their product to maintain a viable business? Is the 31% inflation rate contributing to their reluctance? Can a viable business be run under those circumstances or will Hugo be forced to nationalize the entire private sector? Which model will he opt for to achieve this, the Soviet or the Chinese? Will he be forced to purge dissenters or will they all run off to the US (the Cuban model)? How large will the military have to become in order to enforce Hugo's mandates? How is Hugo going to pay for all this with the price of oil now so low?

[originalpckelly]

76. What's ironic here, is that he has railed against globalism...

but he failed to plan ahead and make sure his economy wasn't reliant on the global demand for oil.

Basically, Venezuela only had one killer app: oil. Now that it's not as highly priced, it can no longer enjoy the same lifestyle as before.

[Judi Lynn]

78. You should give the benefit of your views to the U.N.

See link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3761922#3762308
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis

[originalpckelly]

82. They may grow enough, but that only serves to prove my point.

It suggests that a legitimate reason for food shortages, like drought, is not the causes behind this food shortage.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot rid humanity of its lesser motives. While it's a nice thought that people will only do good for others, one cannot rely on that idea when creating a system of good/service regulation/distribution. You have to plan that people are greedy, and will do really shitty things to one another. The idea of capitalism is that we check these greedy motives with the greedy motives of other people. By turning greed against itself, we check greed.

Please do explain to me why Venezuela is going to end up differently than the Soviet Union?

[Odin2005]

95. Hugo is showing himself to be the typical populist idiot who can't run an economy properly. n/t.

[Peace Patriot]

137. Chavez has overseen an economy with a nearly 10% growth rate over five years,

to last year when it started slowing down (amidst the Bushwhacks' Financial 9/11). The most growth was in the private sector (not including oil). As to the oil, Chavez renegotiated the oil contracts, from a 10/90 split of the profits favoring the multinationals, to a 60/40 split favoring Venezuela and its social programs, cut extreme poverty in half, instituted universal health care, wiped out illiteracy, supported other education efforts including a free college education for qualified students, instituted the first intelligent land reform and food security policy Venezuela has ever seen, jump-started numerous small businesses and manufacturing facilities, built a new bridge across the Orinoco River with Brazil, attracted billions in international investment, created joint development projects with Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, China and numerous other countries, and socked away $42 billion in international cash reserves for a rainy day.

I only wish that Hugo Chavez had been in charge of our economy these last eight years!

--------

"Hugo is showing himself to be the typical populist idiot who can't run an economy properly. n/t.
Posted by Odin2005"

You are wrong and miserably uninformed.

[RedCloud]

79. Venezuelan industries hoard food to panic the market

This happened also during the times of the Tienanmen Square massacre. Hundreds of Venezuelans were killed during the food riots when the secret storage facilities were discovered. Barely a peep out our MSM who were too busy trying to provoke the Tienanmen square protesters into doing something more rash.

More Venezuelans died than Chinese back then, but since our oil whore ally was still supplying and no Chávez, this was hardly deemed important.

[Judi Lynn]

87. Thank you so much for your post. I went to check on the date for Tienanmen Square's massacre,

and as soon as I saw it I recognized it as the year of the food riots in Caracas, and the answer from Venezuela's President, the later impeached Carlos Adres Perez.

Here's a very quick look:

These testimonies, narrated 20 years after the social outbreak known as the Caracazo, gather the repression of the Army and the police against the people, who went out to the streets to protest the economic measures implemented by the CAP Administration, the hoarding of staple food and the disproportionate increase in prices.

Four million bullets were shot against an unarmed people, in accordance with a research carried out by the Venezuelan Jesuits' SIC magazine (Seminario Interdiocesano Caracas - Caracas Interdiocesan Seminary).

More:
http://abn.info.ve/noticia.php?articulo=171543&lee=17

Simple, easy to grasp. There's so much more for anyone who feels the urge to find out more about "El Carazo" massacre, and the hideous impact on the Venezuelan people by having a President who turns his police and military against unarmed protesters, killing so many of them they threw many into unmarked mass graves.

Thank you, RedCloud, for putting some perspective on this.

[RedCloud]

143. You're most welcome Judi Lynn

To my great shame I am so pressed for time I cannot get over to this site as much as I would like. Thank you for following up.

I hate to see my predictions come true:

e.g. "They will use pro POW sympathy to deflate the huge anti-war movement and years later those who were involved in it will be branded as traitors."

"Just watch. They can only give weak explanations as to how the Trade Center Towers fell. As years go by they will keep saying two towers fell, when in fact, four have fallen."

And Judi I recall from my Venezuelan friends that the hospitals during the food riots were so full of blood the hallways were like streams of blood everywhere.

[Odin2005]

91. Gee, price controls, what did he expect?

Price controls cause shortages. Price floors causes oversupply. Chavez obviously doesn't understand basic microeconomics, or he does understand but he just doesn't care because it's much easier politically to go the route of populist stupidity.

[Judi Lynn]

96. See Malaise's comment in the G.D. thread on this subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5160038&mesg_id=5161427

She said the same thing happened in Jamaica, with U.S. pressure until they elected a candidate the U.S. wanted, back in 1978.

[DS1]

101. Whole lot of stupid in this thread

[JackRiddler]

105. Inflation in Venezuela has been lower under Chavez than in the previous 20 years.

It was at 120 percent in '96-97.

VENEZUELA’S INFLATION

Well I see the rightwing propagandists are once again ignoring reality in favour of spewing their hatred of all things socialist. This time they’ve worked themselves into a deluded froth over Venezuela’s rising inflation and are predictably blaming it all on Hugo Chavez and socialism. It should come as no surprise to any of my readers that once again the propagandists don’t have a clue.

Venezuela does have a problem with high inflation but this problem did not begin with Chavez and his socialist revolution. It began in the mid 80s; long before Chavez’ time.

Inflation in Venezuela
REUTERS
Published: June 20, 1989

LEAD: Inflation in Venezuela will rise by 65 percent to 70 percent this year, almost double last year’s increase in the cost of living, the Planning Minister, Miguel Rodriguez, said today. The rate for 1989 so far, 52.7 percent, may slow down in the second half of the year as the Government’s austerity program takes effect, Mr.

Inflation in Venezuela will rise by 65 percent to 70 percent this year, almost double last year’s increase in the cost of living, the Planning Minister, Miguel Rodriguez, said today. The rate for 1989 so far, 52.7 percent, may slow down in the second half of the year as the Government’s austerity program takes effect, Mr. Rodriguez added. Venezuela, which had one of Latin America’s lowest inflation rates for many years, saw its cost of living rise by 35.5 percent last year after increasing 40.3 percent in 1987.

Contrary to Mr. Rodriguez’ happy talk, Venezuela’s inflation did not slow down in the second half of the year. It only continued to worsen until it peaked at an unprecedented level of nearly 120% in `96; again, before Chavez’ and socialism’s time.

http://myblahg.com/?p=1888

People who live in a country where a minority party just seized power for eight years by election fraud, declared a doctrine of executive absolutism, suspended habeas corpus and waged aggressive war on the opposite side of the planet need to STFU about the Venezuelan "dictatorship" of a government that has won overwhelming popular election results many times - and which the CIA attempted to overthrow.

.

[Judi Lynn]

113. Thanks for your post. Was quick to save it to files for future reference, absolutely.

So very glad to see this information.

[Peace Patriot]

140. Thanks for the chart, JackRiddler! It won't shut the know-nothings's up, because...

...well, they know nothing, but at least it makes clear to people who base their opinions of the facts that part of the rightwing debacle the Chavez government has had to overcome--fucking rightwing inflation of 120% in the mid-1990s.

And that is just one part of it--as I have tried to describe in other posts. Chavez was elected president in a disaster of a country, that had been controlled by a selfish, greedy, stupid rightwing oil elite for decades. They had utterly neglected local manufacturing, education, health care, food security, development of every kind, job creation, local and regional creative arts, anything you can name that creates a decent society and a viable economy they had neglected. And they were furthermore giving away most of the profits from the oil industry (which had been nationalized long before Chavez, back in the 1970s), to multinational oil corporations, and had indebted Venezuela to the World Bank.

Chavez's problems were much like Obama's--but far worse, because of long-standing grinding poverty of the majority of the people. The country had been looted. How do you repair all this?

The idiot rightwingers who post anti-Chavez "talking points" at DU, from fascist talk radio, have no clue how to save a country and a people. They only know how to trash those who try.

Chavez and the many new leftist leaders of South America that he is closely allied with are rebuilding an entire continent that has been trashed and looted--mostly by U.S. monsters like Exxon Mobil, Chevron Texaco, Chiquita, Monsanta, Bechtel and assorted U.S. war profiteers (imposing the corrupt, failed, murderous U.S. "war on drugs" on Latin America), the U.S.-run World Bank and the CIA (ever active to destabilize Latin America and re-install rightwing dictators). Under the Bush Junta, all of the above evils were intensified, with South America fighting back, with ever increasing success and passion--fighting for their lives and their democracies and their future. Chavez has led that fight. He is great hero to most Latin Americans, and to his fellow and sister leaders. Chavez and his government have taken each of those problems, listed above, inherited from rightwing mismanagement and greed, and have attempted to solve them, one by one. And they are solving them. The social indicator data from Venezuela during the Chavez government is astounding.

The country has problems. What country doesn't? Inflation is too high--but deflation is far worse for working people and the poor. The street crime rate is too high; the murder rate is too high (too many guns). And air pollution in Caracas is also a problem. But, Lordy, Lordy, the Chavez government has totally turned Venezuela around from a basketcase to a forward-looking, progressive, decent country, making advances in every sphere, including democracy itself. 70% of the people voted in the last referendum. International election monitors praise Venezuela, and go out of their way to visit Venezuela to learn new good practices. The Chavez government encourages maximum citizen participation. And the government has enjoyed a 60% to 70% approval rating throughout its tenure. The people of Venezuela themselves poured out of their homes in the tens of thousands to defeat the Bushwhack-supported fascist coup attempt in 2002, and succeeded in peacefully defeating it. It is their government and their democracy. Chavez is their choice for president. He is their FDR.

But the idiot rightwing posters here don't care about that. And they have no respect for facts, such as your chart reveals. It is irrelevant to them what the people of Venezuela want, what the truth is, and what the problems are of rebuilding a broken country.

Well, they had better start schooling themselves in that--how to rebuild a broken country--because their little dictator Bush has certainly broken this one.

[Zhade]

124. Good.

NT!

[unkachuck]

125. since our wall street casinos....

....and our New York banks have crashed the global economic system, people around the world are getting hungry and desperate....

"Polar's Primor-brand rice plant, located in the western state of Guarico, has been operating at less than 50% capacity in violation of federal regulations..."

....Hugos' actions seem reasonable under the circumstances....

[PM Martin]

126. So much ignorance in this thread.

Does Sean Penn post under multiple usernames?

[Moochy]

135. ...

yeah cuz he's all librul and shit!1111

[clixtox]

139. Those who post scattergun thread criticism without being specific,...

about which posts they believe are "ignorant" make no sense at all.

Perhaps some sort of obscure joke?

I could make my own list of the post numbers of ignorant posts and/or posters in a thread.

There are just a few indefatigable reactionary shills trying to maintain a patina of reasonableness while arguing out of their expansive asses every time Hugo Chavez is mentioned.

I appreciate those posters who actually contribute actual documented facts, they tend to shut down the "know nothing" blowhards quickly.

I am one among throngs who would warmly welcome Sean Penn if he was to post on DU!

Robin Wright Penn also! I have been an enthusiastic fan of hers since THE PRINCESS BRIDE!

[zeemike]

142. Ain't it the truth

For all the no nothings that post right wing talking points there are also some very valuable and informative posters here that makes this thread valuable and important...And I am proud of every one of them.

[Peace Patriot]

130. U.N. Food and Ag Group says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis

Posted by bananas at
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5163276

Original at
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4254

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis

February 27th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, February 27th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Venezuela, Francisco Arias Milla, said the Venezuelan government’s investment in domestic food production and regional food security will strengthen its ability and that of its neighbors to withstand the worsening global food crisis.

“The FAO recognizes the efforts of the national government to introduce policies, strategies, and programs to confront the global economic crisis and the volatility of food prices, and at the same time to protect the food and nutritional security of the Venezuelan people,” Arias told the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) on Thursday.

Arias specified Venezuela’s national subsidized food market, Mercal, its growing system of public cafeterias, and the state-run Venezuelan Food Production and Distribution company (PDVAL), which sells food at regulated prices, as examples of policies which “permit greater access to food for the most vulnerable strata of society.”

Venezuela has implemented several policies that the FAO recommends, including the fomenting of local food production through the strengthening of social networks, Arias pointed out.

Arias also praised the increase of state investment in the agricultural sector, efforts to organize producers, the expansion of citizen access to arable land through land reform, and the promotion of family farms under the administration of President Hugo Chávez.

Venezuela has also reached out to other Latin American countries to prepare joint strategies to deal with the food crisis. The trade bloc called the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, which is based on principles of mutual benefit and includes Venezuela and six other countries, has created a joint food company with funds pooled in a joint food security fund.

Arias said these efforts have paid off for the countries involved. “We believe there is a group of countries, including Venezuela, that is better prepared to confront this crisis and whatever other crisis that may come,” he said. “This is due to the institutionalization of food security in the region,” he added.

According to Venezuela’s Agriculture and Land Ministry, agricultural production in Venezuela rose by 3% last year, bringing the total increase in agricultural production to 24% since Chávez took office a decade ago. Specifically, corn production has increased by 205%, rice by 94%, sugar by 13%, and milk by 11% over the last decade, reducing Venezuela’s dependency on food imports.

In 2007, Venezuela became the first Latin American country to help the FAO finance agricultural production projects in third countries when it contributed $4.6 million to FAO small scale irrigation and water conservation projects in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The FAO predicts that the world food crisis will get worse over the next two years. The financial crisis is expected to push down food prices, providing a disincentive for farmers to plant. This will result in a decrease in the food supply and increase in prices in 2009 and 2010, further victimizing the world’s most vulnerable populations, according to Graziano da Silva, an FAO representative in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Moreover, the global economic crisis will continue to pressure states to contribute less to eradicating hunger worldwide, according to FAO General Director Jacques Diouf. The FAO says $30 billion is necessary for this task, and that so far member countries have contributed a total of $22 billion, only 10% of which has actually been deposited.

Although 2008 statistics on hunger are still being processed, many FAO officials predicted that in 2008 the number of people suffering hunger in the world has risen above the record 923 million who suffered hunger in 2007, which was an increase of 75 million over 2006.

-----------

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/963

Venezuela's Agrarian Land Reform: More like Lincoln than Lenin
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February 25th 2005, by Seth DeLong - COHA

In the history of land reform, the most accurate analogy to illustrate what is transpiring in Venezuela is not Zimbabwe or Cuba – Chavez officials have repeatedly emphasized that they are not emulating the Cuban model of land reform – but the U.S.’ own Homestead Act. Signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the measure declared that any U.S. or intended citizen of at least 21 years of age could claim up to 160 acres of government land. Like Chavez’s Vuelta al Campo, there were many restrictions in the Act which benefited the recipients by ensuring that the new reform could not be manipulated by entrenched, moneyed interests. Under Lincoln’s legislation, the land could not be sold to speculators or used as debt collateral, and only after five years of “actual settlement and cultivation,” according to Section 2, could the homesteader submit an application for a land patent. Similarly, in Chavez’s plan, only after three years may the peasants obtain legal ownership of the land, and only then after they have rendered it productive. The Homestead Act was one of the most progressive and far-reaching government initiatives in U.S. history insofar as it helped to develop and secure an agrarian-based middle class, which had an epic impact on the future democratization of the nation. That Chavez is trying to emulate it in his own country, as part of his plan to extirpate Venezuela’s entrenched inequality, is an effort that all right-minded people should applaud.

(MORE)

[Peace Patriot]

134. Venezuela Solid Despite Global Crisis, Says Finance Minister

Venezuela Solid Despite Global Crisis, Says Finance Minister

February 26th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, February 26th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Venezuelan Finance Minister Alí Rodríguez announced Wednesday that Venezuela is in a strong position to weather the global financial crisis for at least three years if oil prices remain at their current level, and that Venezuela will propose a new reduction in oil production at a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) next month.

"In comparison with other countries, Venezuela is in much better conditions to confront the crisis, although this does not mean that we are unaffected by the crisis," said Rodríguez in a televised interview. "We can sustain the economy for three more years without great sacrifices."

Rodríguez said Venezuela's bi-national investment funds with China and Iran, its $42 billion in international reserves, and the $57 billion already earmarked for projects through its National Development Fund will help the country sustain its growth in coming years.

Regarding the viability of the government's extensive public works and social programs, Rodríguez said, "The socialist policies of the national economy do not depend on the price of oil or if the country has a lot or a little income."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has also asserted that Venezuela will make the necessary adjustments in order to maintain its commitment to social programming even if the price of oil drops further.

Possible adjustments that are being considered are a devaluation of Venezuela's currency and an increase in domestic gasoline prices. Since 2003, Venezuela has kept a pegged exchange rate and exchange controls on its currency to cheapen imports and prevent capital flight, and subsidized domestic gasoline to stimulate the economy and keep oil accessible to all Venezuelans.

However, changes to these policies must be considered with great caution, said Rodríguez. "If we decide to devalue, automatically imports get more expensive, at a time when we still have high levels of inflation," the minister explained.

Rodríguez said a key component of the government's economic policy in coming years will be to increase national food production. He said the private sector is "necessary" for this endeavor, and that "it would be good to develop a dialogue" with private businesses that are willing to accept the "social character" of the government's economic policies.**

Venezuela's greatest vulnerability will be volatile oil prices, which peaked at close to $150 per barrel last July but have averaged $36 this year and recently rose above $40, said Rodríguez. Oil accounts for more than 90% of Venezuela's exports, and the government's 2009 budget is based on an estimated $60 average price per barrel of oil.

To stabilize the price of oil, Venezuela will propose an OPEC supply reduction, Rodríguez affirmed. "In the next meeting of OPEC, jointly with other countries and in accordance with what the supply monitoring committee reports, Venezuela will propose new cuts if necessary," he said.

Since the onset of the global financial crisis with the collapse of U.S. mortgage firms last year, OPEC has cut back its supply twice, by 1.5 million barrels per day last October and 2.2 million barrels per day in January.

Minister Rodríguez is one of the Venezuelan Left's main oil industry experts, having served on the oil issues committee in congress before Chávez's election in 1999, and as Minister of Energy and Mining, OPEC President, and president of the state oil company PDVSA under the Chávez administration.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4249

-------------------

**(It looks like the rice industry didn't cooperate! Barack Obama should do the same thing to the banking industry on loans for small business, mortgages, cars and other items, and on credit card usury--seize them and force them to comply--as Chavez just did to the rice industry. When your people are in peril from criminal profiteers, you take action or you go down in history as Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.)