Here is, I think, a good example of too much Socialist Central Planning by a leader like President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela going, "I'm tho tho thmart (like a lisping seven year old) so you must do what I thay!" (or else always in the background). Instead of the Rule of Law as we have in NorAm & Capitalism, research, consumer surveys etc. Chavez gets a bee in his bonnet, thinks whatever he thinks is a Good Idea because he thought it & then gets it implemented.

Thus: Venezuela's electrical grid & power generation (mind you NorAm is way behind in refurbishing our grids too, we're just not as bad...) is way behind where it should be. Which no doubt holds back the economy. Which is dumb. You can't tax people or steal money from them that they haven't made. Oil production is apparently falling there too do to lack of investment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081023/...la_electricity


"SAN FELIX, Venezuela (Reuters) – Despite having some of the world's largest energy reserves, Venezuela is increasingly struggling to maintain basic electrical service, a growing challenge for leftist President Hugo Chavez.

The OPEC nation has suffered three nationwide blackouts this year, and chronic power shortages have sparked protests from the western Andean highlands to San Felix, a city of mostly poor industrial workers in the sweltering south.

Shoddy electrical service is now one of Venezuelans' top concerns, according to a recent poll, and may be a factor in elections next month for governors and mayors in which Chavez allies are expected to lose key posts, in part on complaints of poor services."

It was best said, "diversify yo bonds, nigga!" In other words, they need to invest more in infrastructure.

So do we in NorAm. It's no joke, that everything built 10/20/50+ years ago is wearing out & is often not repaired or replaced. Bridges/roads/power grid & generation I wouldn't be surprised if there is some bad failures before too many years pass. Only time will tell though.

I'm not going to dispute the fact that it's poor management, but the article only tells half the story.

Between 2004 and 2006, the real income of the poorest 58% of the population increased by 130% after allowing for inflation (Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce). Take into account the free education and health care and the state subsidised supermarkets (which sell products at an average 39% below the market price), that's a huge increase in disposable income for the poor, and a massive increase in electrical demand.

When the writer says "Venezuela for years has skimped billions of dollars in electrical investments" it sounds like he's trying to infer that the government has been intentionally cutting spending, which isn't the case, it's more a case of not having the foresight to anticipate how much consumption would increase as a result of the poor having more disposable income. Again, for the leader of a country this kind of negligence isn't really defensible, but you can't help but feel the shortages are being falsely used as arguments against Bolivarian socialism.

As mvpena alluded to in another thread, some of the steps Chavez needs to take (lifting maximum tariffs & charging the poor who illegally hook up to the grid) will be unpopular with his traditional supporter base, the Venezuelan poor, so he's between a rock and a hard place on this one.

Hi.

Slightly offtopic here, but I am thinking that maybe it's not poor planning/lack of foresight? Could it be that Chavez HAS been trying to keep up with the energy demand, but simply fails to do so, due to not having enough resources (time, money or the technology), since infrastructures like the power grids are not easy to build.

Just a thought.

Well...it would be interesting to see a deeper study. Has he been buying new equipment for the grid & the petroleum industry as fast as he's been buying Russian weapons?

Source please.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=ven...ch&fr=ush-news

I'm always seeing news about his arms buying.

I see. Well there's nothing wrong with buying arms. Are you accusing that he spends so much money on arms-buying that he doesn't have enough for power grids? Cause if that's what you are suggesting you better man the fuck up and come right out and say it, instead of going about it like a sneaky lil cunt.

Money definitely isn't a problem, or at least it shouldn't be in a country as oil rich as Venezuela.