LOL, now we have the trifecta completed, of pathetic uber-leftist idiots in power.
So Evo Morales, fresh after praising Mao, and claiming that Fidel is a democrat finally gets his wish and now runs at least half of Bolivia. Starts off nicely too, appointing some total ignoramuses to high posts. Don't know what is worse: the inevitable corruption and clientilism, or someone actually trying to impelment the outdated socialist crap these retards are spewing.
In sheer stupidity he rivals Hugo Chavez who recently accused the Jews of somehow ousting Simon Bolivar from power a couple of centuries ago, something straight out of the Lyndon Larouche book of paranoia.
It was the Illuminati Hugo.
And Fidel is Fidel of course.
13 comments:
Unfortunately the people of Bolivia and Venezuela are going to have to learn first hand about communism. It's too bad they were asleep during the Nicarguan and Cuban tragedies.
Boli-Nica...how do you think Santa Cruz will react?
If anyone has followed this campaign closely, they would know that this is nowhere near communism.
I think Santa Cruz will ecstatic. After all, the amount of royalty money pouring into the prefecture and municipalities will continue to increase. With that money, they will be able to improve on health, education and other poverty-reducing programs. There has been a guaranteed referendum on autonomy, which the whole country has asked for. Diesel coming from Venezuela will undoubtedly benefit the large agro-industries in Santa Cruz.
Eduardo: Santa Cruz is upset because they feel they aren't getting enough royalties and tax dollars today. How or why would Evo change this fact? I worry that the new assembly may try to centralize rather than give autonomy.
If Morales raises royalties on the private sector, or worse yet expropriates, he will drive out all the wealth-creating, job-creating machines in Bolivia. I can see Chavez shovelling just enough money to get through the referendum, but after that, the gloves come off and expropriation in the name of 'the people' will be the order of the day. Morales is already salivating about breaking the energy company contracts just like Hugo Chavez told him about. What Chavez and maybe Morales don't know is that those companies in Venezuela that got their contracts broken are bitterly angry about it and have no intention of making new investments. The best way to get money for public services is not through confiscation - as Castro did and just look at the place - but through empowering the private sector so as to create a tax base.
On the matter of the cabinet, some of these people don't look very promising - a Marxist journalist in the Energy Ministry - scary! That said, I don't want to be impossibly hard on them until they have really given me good material to work with. Inexperience and naivete are not the worst thing in the world, except if they are combined with pride. Eric Hoffer used to say that naivete, combined with vanity, is indistinguishable from stupidity. Nobody in Morales' cabinet, so far, has signalled any pride or vanity, so I am going to try to be hopeful that all is not lost yet.
"If Morales raises royalties on the private sector, or worse yet expropriates, he will drive out all the wealth-creating, job-creating machines in Bolivia."
That's what they have been saying all along. Did anyone leave because of the new Hydrocarbons Law passed last year? No.
0h Eduardo, get some basic facts straight before you say anything:
The hydrocarbon act, cost Bolivia billions of dollar of direct investment in the hydrocarbon sector, production is slowed down, and proven reserves of gas have dropped. Natural gas requires constant investment.
Brazil, which depended on Bolivia's natural gas for its energy grid, has begun allocating billions of dollars to develop its own production capacity. Peru, with much less proved reserves than Bolivia is also receiving billions of dollars in investment in its gas sector.
The Evo led gas war of 2002 cost the country dearly, since it lost the opportunity to get the capability to produce LNG, which it could have exported.
Eric: Don't be silly.
Eduardo: The loss was about 80% in exploration investment in 2005 and 40% in all other investments according to the hydrocarbons association. What is scary is that it happened in about 6 months, and about $300 million of it went to Peru. It's really sad what's happened to investment in Bolivia.
Energy companies have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on often speculative investment and sometimes they come up with dry holes. With those kinds of costs, they don't want to take any chances if there is someone out there who wants to expropriate them. The investment fled because investors were afraid Morales would take it.
In Venezuela, existing investment is frozen, and new investment is on a real downward slide over 6 years. This year it is almost totally absent. But Venezuela is comparatively big and developed so that is why only Exxon pulled out and the others stayed.
Bolivia, being less developed, stands to lose its investment very fast if a friendly investment climate is not established.
It will be very hard for Morales to please both his constituents and his potential investors at the same time on his current plans. I think he should try to educate his base that investment is good and not just to expropriate.
I would add to this debate this:
In quebec (french canadian province), we have a public investment fund which tend to invest in what we need to control.
Its making the government more prone to pragmatist measures, because they have to deal with the rest of the investors (since minority are having a voice by minority investment group).
so two thing chavez and morales must do:
-expropriate what has been gain through unfair measures (expropriating indigenous people to avoid paying for the space they take has been done many times).
-create a democratic and independant on its financing, group which goal is to protect the rights of minority investors
-create the public investment fund to influence company through the shareholding powers.
Love those debating skills Eric! When are you going to call him a fascist?
Eric really is stupid, ignore him
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