Leftists, all ya’ll…come over here. We have, in real time and in a real country, a case where a leader is trying to implement Socialism on his country. It started out all right. The people were very happy to hear that they would all get to go to the circus and have ice cream before bed. Longer summer vacations and shorter schools years too. The people were happy, the boss was givin’ away the joint and all the while claiming the “rich” would just pay for it. Balance it out, after all. It’s only fair ya know.
Not really working out for him now. But then again, he is inefficient and needs to bribe h is friends:
The state oil company, PDVSA, produced 3.2 million barrels per day in 1998, the year before Mr Chavez won the presidency. After a decade of rising corruption and inefficiency, daily output has now fallen to 2.4 million barrels, according to OPEC figures. About half of this oil is now delivered at a discount to Mr Chavez’s friends around Latin America. The 18 nations in his “Petrocaribe” club, founded in 2005, pay Venezuela only 30 per cent of the market price within 90 days, with rest in instalments spread over 25 years.
Not only has the company failed to keep up with technology and INCREASE its production, he has reduced it. And on top of that, he is robbing his country of the money that he COULD be making by asinine payment terms. But hey, the people are happy with this Socialism, right?
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans opposed to President Hugo Chavez took to the streets Saturday, blaming him for rolling blackouts, water rationing, widespread crime and other problems they say are making daily life increasingly difficult.
Ooops. Not so much.
Viva la Venezuela.