Could Venezuela Become The Next Syria?
- Mandy Martindale
- Dec 5, 2016
- 2 min read
The USA does not need Venezuela cozying up to Iran. The collapse of this nation in our hemisphere will allow a base of operations for Iranian terrorism:
Could Venezuela Become The Next Syria? by Tyler Durden
No, Miduro is so desperate and everybody knows it. Venezuela is a powder keg for anyone getting involved. Both Brazil and Colombia will get involved real quick, though, if Miduro tries anything. Even Russia has backed off. He's hopefully on his final throes because the parliament has pretty much thrown their hands up calling for his office. He's gone beyond any pale of acceptable conduct. Everyone knows he's been robbing the country blind. In desperation he's fighting hard because he knows he's doomed and will be hanged at some point. His type of "Chavismo" leftist movement is all but anachronisma. If there was another type of Administration in the USA, Venezuela would have changed governments by now. This sort of desperation and consequences is not new to Venezuela. Everyone thinks it is such a stable country, por su puesto.
Such leaders promise economic parity and freedom, but so often resort to tyrannical tactics mostly lodged against the peasantry. Without the peasantry wanting for more, such groups would not take hold. A false characterization is presented that this is typical with oil-rich countries that fail to save when oil is high. It is difficult to save when the populist dictators run off with the dividends. One facet of the problem is that the flood of money which inevitably leads to corruption, inefficiency, and waste.
Venezuela has a long line of failures: Marcos Jimenez, Carlos Perez, and Hugo Chavez. He mimicked his predecessors promising to make everybody rich through gross gov't spending (because he actually didn't give money back to the "people" because the "peasants" don't know how to handle money!) From 1999–2014, the Venezuelan government (not people) earned more than $1.3 trillion from oil. That is 13 times more than the Marshall Plan expenditures (adjusted for inflation) that allowed Europe to recover from World War II. Where did it go?
The people of Venezuela, too, have issue: they continue voting for populists simply to keep their gross entitlements. These entitlements include tens of thousands of unsustainable government jobs; subsidized food, electricity, water, and phone/internet service; cheap public housing; artificially low interest rates; subsidies for businesses; low taxes; cheapest gas, and an overvalued exchange rate that makes imports cheap. In short, Venezuelans believe they should enjoy life when oil prices are high, because they know that prices will eventually fall, leaving them with nothing. A free fall.
- Matt Caldwell
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