Apparently our friend Chavez thinks that his country is moving towards socialism too slowly, and wants dictator style powers to solidify his rule.
This is scary, considering how much gas they send our way.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
He will implode sooner than later. He is starting to do the things that all petty dictators do, consolidate power, remove opposition, put everything under their control. I find it hard to believe that the good people of Venezuela will tolerate the loss of their freedom, particularly if this lunatic starts to harass it's neighbors in that area of the world and his supporters finally see what he is. I see Chavez as somehow feeling he becomes the "rightful heir" to Castro's view when that old goat finally kicks the bucket.
If he nationalizes all the private investment and ownership of oil in his nation by the big oil companies, everything will come crashing down. Production will suffer, as will repairs, etc. And, it is doubtful that much of their oil is going to be hitting our markets any longer. I can easily see an embargo against Venezuela occuring.
Note that as of Oct 2006, Venezuelan crude and oil related imports represent something of a little more than 10% of our total imports as a nation. It isn't gonna kill us if we cut it down. Hurt, yes, but it can be replaced from other sources. It is just a matter of economic and efficient refining of a different sort of crude at the refineries that were built to handle Venezualen heavy sour crude.
-- Edited by Cat Herder at 12:40, 2007-01-19
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I'm not a big Sean Hannity fan but he was interviewing Cindy Sheehan on his radio program. That lady is crazy. She thinks Chavez and Castro are great, freedom loving people. If Chavez can consolidate his power and effectively end the little opposition he has, then he will succeed. His infrastructure may not be as efficient but I think he is angling to sell more of his oil to China anyway and China will probably give him what he needs to run his state owned assets at least well enough to enrich himself. These socialist dictators never have to live in the poverty and problems of the system they create. Like Kim Jong Ill and all the other petty socialist dictators, their lives are of ease and comfort. The money goes into their bank accounts. While the people struggle to work in substandard conditions at the state owned businesses, they are relaxing on the beach, eating steaks, and sipping expensive champagne. Just look at what Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe. His people suffer while he grows more powerful. I'll take british colonialism any day over that madness.