Hugo Chavez Asked To Resign

Former Chaves loyalists call for his resignation

Oil-rich Venezuela is suffering from proliferating problems including water and electric power shortages, high crime rates and corruption, all of which signers argued just "added more elements to disqualify Chavez as a leader."

Former Chaves loyalists call for his resignation - JamaicaObserver.com

 

I guess this shows the problems that will come with over-regulating an economy? Who here supported Chavez's handling of the economy?

 

Who the hell still supports Chavez period.(answer, there's a lot of people)

All South American countries are leaving recession, Venezuela despite massive oil reserves and revenue is still in it, 3rd highest inflation rate in the world, and Chavez's answer to dealing with inflation? Raising the miniumum wage, good job failing economics 101.

Oh, and let's not forget last month his take over of more stores because they raised prices because his awesome economic policies made him have to devalue the currency by more then 1/2.

 

I don't get why so many Hollywood celebs support socialist like Chavez??

All you get from these people are over-regulated economies that they end up hurting and a lot of artistic censorship that I thought most liberals were against.

 

I think Hugo Chavez needs to be seen in the context of Venezuela’s socio-economic history.

http://www.geographia.com/Venezuela/history.htm

And the US was implicated, and possibly very involved in the early coup against Chavez, and his ‘defeat’ of that coup just made him more popular amongst the ‘have nots’ (and more hated amongst the ‘haves’).

Hugo’s a demagogue and his actions to me aren’t those so much of a socialist although the vocabulary of socialism is often used to describe them. He has basically been attacking his opposition (the haves) while pandering to his supporters (the have nots). That is just politics for example Margret Thatcher did the same thing she attacked her opposition (the organised labour of industry) while pandering to her supporters (the financial sector).

Wiki

And a that time

But and this is the big but, the policy seems to have been a basic redistribution of oil wealth through subsidies and grants rather than to me the more socialist policies aimed at improving housing, education, social mobility and other social and infrastructural needs, although some of that has taken place (where it seems to have been virtually totally absent before).

*

As to the messing up on the economic front I don’t think places like the US and UK can preach or crow.

 

oh god, Balbus comes to defend Chavez because Chavez isn't as bad as what could've been. No, wrong, Silva in Brazil proved you can be a south American leftist without being a jackass. Near every south American country is expected to have growth this year.....except Venezuela. The country swimming in oil resources and money is facing the longest recession. Chavez has the third highest inflation rate.....in the world! His money is worthless, they had to devalue the currency by more then 1/2 for "essential" things and even more for non essential thing.

Except.....

Everything in Venezuela is imported, including the majority of food.

He passed an enabling act in 2007 to rule by decree despite having beyond a super, duper majority in the national assembly.

He passed a bill allowing him to now be voted in for president for life, well, I mean abolished term limits for everyone. And what happened when it failed the first time? He threw more money at the poor and closed more media stations so it passed 2 years later

He continuously has media outlets opposed to him shut down despite the fact his TV show airs on every public TV station for hours every single week.

He blames all his problems on entities from outside his country, then for example like last month seizes a foreign supermarket chain because they raised prices...........because he had to devalue his currency by over 1/2.

He was rolling in oil money for years, and did nothing to invest it, and now they're facing gigantic electricity and water shortages.

Oh, going back to inflation, you know what his course of action to fight his rampant inflation is? Raising the minimum wage, good job Chavez, you failed economics 101

Also, do we forget the fact some 20 years ago Chavez himself tried to stage a coup to seize power??? He's nothing but an ego centric, power hungry, jackass who uses populism to stay in power.

The rest of South America has basically got it's shit somewhat together but you still defend Chavez because well he's not screwing the poor as bad as past leaders did. No, fucking no, he's a power hungry jackasses who even the opposition have stopped doing anything now but to sit back and watch as Venezuela begins to implode underneath him.

You know what it's not helping the poor when their money is going to be worthless to buy anything that isn't handed out to them by Chavez

 

The enabling law had a fixed time limit of only several months and could have been revoked at any time by a majroity vote in the parliament. It has long since expired. But you're either too lazy or too busy trying to stuff facts with your own distorted vision of the world. Right?

Term Limits for life are standard in many countries around the world, aslong as the elections are free and fair. It's an irrelevency.

The Venezuelan Government refused to issue public broadcasting licences to two news organizations. Which is the right of any State, as the airwaves belong to them, not corporations which are complicit in attempting to undermine and overthrow a democractic government. The United States would not stand for it. Infact, if private news stations ran the kind of garbage in the US that they do in Venezeula, many an executive would be convicted of Treason. The private news orgnanizations in question are also still in business, available on Cable and Satellite.

Chavez is not a mastermind pulling every lever in the country, the government of Venezuela consists of many people, each with varying degree's of input into the economic process. As far as living standards go, they've greatly improved for the vast majority of the mostly poor country, as the WHO has attested to in its numerous findings. The transition from Capitalism to a Society based on a co-operative Participatory Society is a painful one, especially if you've got the United States gunning for you. Learn a little history about US involvement in South America and you'll see that the Chavez goverment is not jumping at ghosts here. It's a complex economic issue, which doesn't boil down to... IT DA CHAVEZ DUN IT.


Chavez did indeed attempt a Military coup whilst an officer in the army, he and his co conspirators failed and were jailed. It was a reaction to a massacre in which the government shot dead over 3000 of its own citizens because they were protesting the rise in price of.... bus fare. If that's not a reason to revolt against your government, i don't know what is.


I personally think Chavez has taken the much needed reform in Venezuela as far as he can and should not run for re-election again. But to suggest that the US or its failed economic policies are the answer to Venezuela's problems is folly. Capitalism is slowly but surely contributing to the destruction of the worlds Eco-System, which unfortunately we need to survive as a species, this is beyond refute and a completely seperate issue from global warming. I commend any country or people who seek an alternative to the monster that is Captialism. Stop focusing on one man so much and realize that the changes in Venezuela are the ideas born from the minds of many, many people. Even if you don't agree with them, stop Personifying them!

 

lol capitalism is failing as you sit at home in your fancy first world luxury because of capitalism while Venezuela runs the 3rd highest inflation in the world.

1. The enabling act was passed for 2 years, and Chavez's party had over 80% of the seats in the national assembly, why does he need an enabling act. Enabling acts are the hallmark of the rise of every dictatorship.

2. Using populism to remove term limits is also the hallmark through history of ego centric maniacs who plan to president for life in the name of reform.

3. 2? Dozens of opposition TV stations and radio stations have been closed. Why is not ok for them to "air" their garbage when Chavez is on national TV weekly for hours on his show.

4. Chavez is by in control of Venezuela, there is no party action, Chavez is the party.

5. lol, the caracazo, yes, most people did die because of security forces. To the readers out there what he fails to mention is that a state of emergency wasn't declared for several days, and Caracas had mass rioting and looting around it especially in the poorer districts. You know what, if a government has the right to close down private media, it sure as hell has the right to keep law and order, I mean that's one of its main jobs.

Anyone in the military, who's sworn to uphold a country's constitution, and try to coup said nation shows themselves of having no respect for constitutional law. Political systems and the law doesn't work on by doing what one's heart feels is best.

6. Chavez's reforms will be the end of Venezuela. This is why the populism sucks, look at the teabaggers, look at the state of California, both opposite ends of the spectrum where populism has ruined the state's fiances/will if they're given a chance in power. Normal people don't know shit about economics, they just want. Chavez's reforms against the great satan are so great, which is why he needed to take a loan from the IMF. No offense but the IMF isn't in the business of destroying countries as people like to think, and in the long run they actually have a pretty good success rate, people just don't like the initial shock.

You want to know who gets hurt the worst when you squander all of your nation's resource wealth without actually investing it and having the 3rd highest inflation rate in the world? The poor. The rich have tons of money, they have assets, if their money devalues by 1/2 overnight it doesn't phase them much. You know who's going to suffer the most when this comes crashing down? The poor

2010: Venezuela despite huge oil resources fails to see growth unlike the rest of latin america, Hugo Chavez again fails economics by fighting inflation by raising the minimum wage.

 

Hmm, who else, a former soldier, attempted a coup in regards to a growing crisis, became leader of the country democratically with a majority in parliament, passed an enabling act, closed down opposition media under bogus new regulation laws, took away term limits, blamed everyone else but especially one specific target for all his country's problems, and had a guise of helping the poor and middle classes while real wages continued to decline.

Yes, Hitler.

Obviously Chavez is not homicidal, but he's just as power hungry and ego centric.

What if it wasn't Chavez doing this, what if it was someone from the opposite side of the political spectrum, then what, is it still good.

 

It's a shame that Chavez is capable of seeing through the Illuminati bullshit that rules so much of the world; yet still can't quite get his own country on track. I think news regarding him is certainly filtered and reworded to paint him in a poor light quite a bit by the time it hits most of us...but the fact remains that he's still not very good at his job.

 

Chavez can't even hate right, his head is so full up his ass, at least when Ahmadinejad gives a speech hating on the US he can do it like a country's president is supposed to. Chavez is a fool. If you want a reformist leftist look up to Silva in Brazil. Point is near every other country whether it's lead by left or the right in South America has its shit together in the past 10 years better then Venezuela. Next on the list, Bolivia, Morales is a Chavez wannabe, I forsee using a long history of social strife to use populism to try to gain a mandate for life while ruining the country's gas and tin resources.

Rule of thumb, don't trust anyone who's good friends with Fidel Castro.

 

Mad

I don’t think you understand what I was trying to say, probably my fault for not making it clearer.

You seem to have got into your head that I’m “defending” Hugo Chavez, I’m not, in fact I’ve said many times here that I’m very wary of the man, I don’t trust him or his policies.

But what I am saying is that given the context of Venezuelan socio-economic history, it doesn’t surprise me that there is a Hugo Chavez or someone like him. Oh I would have dearly loved for someone more noble and more thoughtful, but I’m still not surprised at a Hugo Chavez exists.

The problem I find with many people is that they become too cantered on individuals than on the context in which those individual exist (although some such as DharmaBum do see it).

Hitler was a symptom of his time fascistic types of nationalism were common throughout Europe grown to prominence by economic depression, the prevalence of social Darwinist thinking, and fear. You see it was well supported by many in positions of power and wealth who very much feared the rise of left wingers (communism). If the left had been worked with rather than opposed through support of fascism, things could have been very much different.

The same anti-communist attitudes that guided US foreign policy which lead it to oppose virtually all progressive movements in Latin America and the world, has often had tragic results (e.g. long civil wars in such places as Guatemala, the Vietnam war, the Mullah dominated Iran, massacres and ‘disappearing’ of left wingers and union workers from Argentina to Mexico)

I’m not a fan of Hugo Chavez but I don’t think the way to try and ‘defeat’ him is by just blindly supporting the ‘opposition’ the very same group that have been exploiting the Venezuelan people for years (which was basically what the Bush Admin policy seems to have been)

In my view the best thing would be to undermine Chavez’s base by backing the true socialists, but for the US that would be a real sea change.

 

You're still incorrect. No matter how much you insist otherwise.

The enabling act had a fixed limit of 12 months, which has already expired. It gave Chavez the ability to legislate on issues related to the economy, reorganization of government ministries, and crime for one year.

Populism?, respecting the wishes of the majority of Venezuleans.

Dozens of Tv stations have not been shut down. You're clearly one of the soft headed fools who watch US mainstream news. On 23 January Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission CONATEL termporarily suspended the broadcasting licences of six for failing to adhere to the bare minimum of broadcast standards. If you've never watched these stations, which i suspect is the case, then you'll not understand. But by the end of january, all of the sanctions were lifted.


Chavez is the party? A comment so idiotic it's not worth responding to.

Yes, the caracazo. People rioting because they were tired of being treated like non-people by a government that ignored and repressed them for decades. Slaughtering thousands of them is the sign of a government that failed to represent its people, and then when they rise up, butchers them. There are plenty of protests against Chavez, these people are not butchered in the streets when they riot.


As for your nonsense about inflation, let's take a look see at the inflation figures from 1990-2010 in Venezuela, shall we?

2010 26.90
2009 30.70 29.50 28.50 29.40 27.70 27.40 28.30 28.80 28.90 28.90 28.60 26.90
2008 24.10 24.40 29.10 29.30 31.40 32.20 33.70 34.50 36.00 35.60 32.70 31.90
2007 18.40 20.40 18.50 19.40 19.50 19.40 17.20 15.90 15.30 17.20 20.70 22.50
2006 13.10 12.50 12.10 11.40 10.40 11.80 13.50 14.90 15.30 15.50 15.80 17.00
2005 18.49 16.86 15.80 15.81 17.36 15.88 15.29 14.86 15.96 15.98 15.30 14.40
2004 26.61 21.88 23.55 23.14 21.78 22.34 21.83 21.92 20.81 19.72 19.49 19.19
2003 33.80 38.68 34.09 33.51 35.04 34.19 31.85 30.38 26.59 25.70 26.07 27.08
2002 12.27 13.74 17.63 18.74 18.33 19.57 22.03 24.18 28.19 29.92 30.72 31.22
2001 12.58 12.67 12.50 12.06 12.61 12.48 13.01 12.86 12.29 12.34 12.70 12.28
2000 19.40 17.92 17.54 18.00 16.85 16.41 15.74 14.96 15.94 15.10 14.15 13.43
1999 30.18 29.46 27.61 24.88 23.37 23.59 23.04 22.29 21.19 20.16 20.07 20.03
1998 36.79 36.69 38.26 39.59 39.74 39.01 38.05 36.44 34.34 32.64 31.01 29.91
1997 92.92 82.77 74.81 64.86 51.00 43.54 40.52 39.39 39.10 38.47 38.15 37.61
1996 64.17 73.17 78.11 85.81 99.52 108.13 112.63 114.68 115.18 114.39 109.25 103.24
1995 68.94 69.74 70.41 71.70 71.17 61.21 55.80 52.70 51.76 51.06 52.95 56.62
1994 47.83 46.76 47.51 48.13 51.60 60.26 65.26 68.59 69.69 69.93 70.96 70.84
1993 34.05 34.05 34.16 35.00 35.30 35.93 36.22 37.35 39.05 42.56 44.13 45.94
1992 29.68 30.82 31.46 30.71 30.92 31.96 31.65 31.59 31.83 32.08 32.02 31.86
1991 36.44 36.17 36.10 36.33 36.18 34.94 33.97 32.89 33.33 32.74 32.33 31.02
1990 83.22 81.06 51.95 37.37 32.37 31.84 33.66 34.95 32.67 32.19 34.21 36.48

Read more: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Inflation-CPI.aspx?Symbol=VEB#ixzz0g9D72gIR



You'll notice as Chavez comes into power(1998), the inflation rates for the subsequent years show gradual decreases, and even today, compared to the 90's, when your free market heroes were in power. The rate is substantially reduced, considering the strain most economies are under with the international crash of the last few years, and with a closer inspection of inflation rates before Chavez came into power, we can see that he's doing far better than the opposition parties have in the past.

Your humble pie is served.

 

Alright, the fact you said the enabling act has a power of 12 months when it's 18 months, and actually have no response to the enabling act itself makes the rest of the post pointless to argue against.

And guess what, the populist idea is not always the best, i.e. look at California, or America in the 1890's when we could've been on the damn silver standard instead of gold.

See the point of inflation is Chavez has brought around economic turnaround..........................where is this turnaround?

Hmm, inflation begins to drop right before Chavez enters office, and begins to rise again after he's taken it.

Excuse me class, what leader recently had to devalue their currency by more then half.

Notice there was one lull in inflation in the mid decade, and what Chavez do, not invest in the economy, and instead throw enough money at people so he'd be able to scrap the constitutional term limits instead.

 

Most ordinary Venezueleans who've seen their lives improve substantially would, i'm sure, attest to an economic turnaround.

I'm hearing nothing from you (Of worth) About the inflation issue, you've been using it as a hammer to beat the Chavez government around until it was pointed out to you that under previous governments it gets much worse. And by the way, i suggest you check out the inflation figures in the 80's too. They're much worse. But of course, you never bothered to educate yourself on the countries inflation issues did you? You presumed in your ignorance that current inflation rates, as bad as they are, were a direct result of Chavez, his government... and his policies. This has been pointed out as false. Time to shift your shapeless arguement into something else now methinks!

 

Here's how Argentinians are responding to the policies of a Chavez ally.

Argentina policies blamed for shortages | Marketplace From American Public Media

 

The difference is previous governments did try to institute nationalizations, price controls, and currency pegs with inflation. Chavez's policies lead to Venezuelan money being over cut in 1/2 in value overnight, which in turn only really affects the poor. Great you have like 2-3 years worth of inflation overnight.

 

Motion

Federico Thomsen a free market economist, unsurprisingly has a neo-liberal outlook on things.

Thing is that the Latin America (and North America) are being effected by two things at the moment, a recession and El Nino.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-11-07-argentina-economy_N.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1922952620100219?type=marketsNews

 

^
Why are Argentine president Cristina Kirchner's policies so unpopular with farmers there? These farmers have had problems with her policies ever since she got elected.

Buenos Aires Herald

Argentine farmers protest export taxes - CNN.com



Also Argentina seems to be having some issues with inflation. President Kirchner's numbers on this seems to be getting questioned by several independent economist.

Argentina’s inflation third highest in the world, say private consultants — MercoPress

 

The government is desperately trying to raise tax revenue to deal with the global recession and the El Nino drought.

The farmers don’t want to pay the taxes.

The farmers claim it will ruin them the government says it won’t.

Now why are we talking about Argentina?