posted on March 20, 2009 07:52:12 PM new
MARCH 20, 2009, 10:11 P.M. ET Chávez Expected to Announce Effort to Shore Up
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is expected to unveil an economic plan on Saturday that includes steps to raise revenue to help his government navigate a financial crunch brought on by the global crisis and declining oil prices.
Speculation grew on Friday that the program could include a devaluation of Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, which would help the government narrow a growing gap between spending and income by making each dollar of oil revenue worth more in local currency.
Venezuelans who can't buy dollars at the official 2.15 bolivar exchange rate are paying almost three times that in the black-market, where -- amid devaluation fears -- a dollar rose Friday to 6.4 bolivars, a level not seen since late 2007.
Venezuelan officials have been tight-lipped about the program's details, which could include tax increases and rises in public-sector prices like gasoline. Venezuela has some of the cheapest gas in the world, at $0.17 per gallon. Economists say Venezuela needs to devalue the currency and rein in government spending to prevent worse problems down the road.
Some analysts say there is little indication that Mr. Chávez plans to change his populist formula of high government spending and attacks on private capital -- a strategy that helped him win a vote last month that allows him to stay in office as long as he keeps winning elections.
This week, Mr. Chávez reassured voters he wouldn't make painful cuts in certain areas. "We won't cut investment in infrastructure projects. We're also not going to reduce social spending, we're not going to freeze wages and salaries," he said on Thursday.
Those promises are getting difficult to keep as the price of oil, which contributes about 50% of state revenue, remains well below the $60 a barrel the government needs for its budget.
There are no easy choices for Mr. Chávez. A devaluation could unleash steeper price increases by making imports more expensive in local terms. The inflation rate in Venezuela is already among the highest in the world.
These moves, while advocated by economists, would be deeply unpopular and spawn comparisons between the Chávez administration and past governments that binged during times of high oil prices and later had to pass tough economic measures that prompted protests and street riots.
Mr. Chávez, a former army officer, is trying to avoid such similarities, even ordering the creation of a special government committee to draw contrasts with other administrations' responses in times of crisis.
Alejandro Grisanti, an economist with Barclays Capital, says the government will try to postpone these hard-to-sell reforms until later in the year. "He thinks he can ride out the decline in oil prices for some time," said Mr. Grisanti, who predicts the economy will contract 4.1% this year.
There are few signs that the government is about to change its socialist-inspired polices. Even as Caracas seems to be running short on cash to pay oil contractors, Mr. Chávez pledged Thursday to restart the nationalization of the local operation of Banco Santander SA, which could raise the tally for his proposed nationalization drive to more than $11 billion.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 20, 2009 09:32:09 PM new
Hwa, I am saddened by your repeat onslaughts of Obama, by your naming evil mentors that he never laid claims to. We are in dire straits now, a crisis which Obama did not create but he (only with the help of a determined, unified country), can solve. The election is over. The reality is here. Can you bring yourself to join Americans in the rebuilding of our country or will you be the thorn in our side that prevents our progress?
posted on March 20, 2009 10:33:35 PM new
I'm calling you out hwa. You're a troll. Nothing but a troll. I dare you to make a liar out of me and come back after your drive by post and defend your calling Chavez Obama's "mentor". This is the second time you've said it. The first time you didn't come back, and I'm betting this time you won't either. You won't because you CAN'T.
posted on March 20, 2009 11:51:29 PM new
Hwahwa: Double-dare ya. Hit and run postings just reflect against you.
_____________________
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who ***dared to dissent*** from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, ***may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."*** --Eisenhower
posted on March 21, 2009 12:25:00 AM new
To be charitable: my advice to Hwa: Sober up before you post! You may have posted it before and regretted it...
posted on March 21, 2009 06:21:23 AM new
Triple dare you and I won't be charitable. This isn't the first time Hwa has posted and ran. Maybe he/she was drunk!
posted on March 21, 2009 09:13:09 AM new
Quadruple date you! We were all chastised for saying anything derogatory about Bush. Seems now that the shoe is on the other foot, they are all being loyal little kettles.
Deichen has it right! No need to be "charitable" with someone who has failed to link Obama with the failed policies of Chavez yet continues to spread the suspicion and innuendo that "Chavez is Obama's mentor". Hwahwa doesn't reply to questions regarding this propaganda because she has no answers.
Obama and Chávez Start Sparring Early
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 19, 2009; Page A15
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 18 -- In an interview shown in the past week on the Spanish-language network Univision, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said that Venezuela's firebrand president, Hugo Chávez, has hindered progress in Latin America, and he expressed concern that Chávez's leftist government has assisted Colombia's biggest guerrilla movement, a group the United States considers a terrorist organization. Chávez responded this weekend by saying that Obama had "the same stench" as President Bush, a frequent target of Chávez's remarks.
"There is still time" for Obama to correct his views, the Venezuelan leader said, but he added: "No one should say that I threw the first stone at Obama. He threw it at me."
The interview with the president-elect, shown in two segments that aired Sunday and last Tuesday, included Obama's most extensive comments to date about Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico -- countries that are expected to require swift attention from the new administration. Mexico is convulsed by drug violence that is spilling into the United States; Cuba's longtime leader, Fidel Castro, is suffering from a serious undisclosed illness; and Chávez's government is reinforcing ties with such U.S. adversaries as Iran and, authorities in Bogota say, Colombian rebels.
posted on March 21, 2009 04:31:17 PM new
hwa has been indoctrinated well in the use of "straw man" propaganda techniques, just like her mentor's handlers used to use, and like them, she hasn't figured out that it no longer works.
posted on March 21, 2009 06:58:35 PM new
profe51.
I had never heard that term. This is so accurate and I see another one of our posters (Hit and run), that this describes as well!
Wikipedia lists several different ways to set up a straw man:
1. Present one of your opponent’s weaker arguments, refute it, and pretend that you have refuted all of their arguments.
2. Present your opponent’s argument in weakened form, refute it, and pretend that you have refuted the original.
3. Present a misrepresentation of your opponent’s position, refute it, and pretend that you have refuted your opponent’s actual position.
4. Present someone who defends a position poorly as the defender, refute their arguments, and pretend that you’ve refuted every argument for that position.
5. Invent a fictitious persona with actions or beliefs that are criticised, and pretend that that person represents a group that the speaker is critical of.
posted on March 21, 2009 09:26:40 PM new
When I taught 8th and 9th grade English and social studies, I always included a few weeks devoted to propaganda. It was eye-opening for the students, and some of them have told me in later years that it helped them in their lives, sorting out what's what in the media.
_____________________
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who ***dared to dissent*** from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, ***may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."*** --Eisenhower
posted on March 24, 2009 07:16:42 AM new
You know the old saying "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen". That is HWAHWA, she/he is hiding.
posted on March 25, 2009 07:21:57 AM new
This is funny...that HWAHWA thinks he/she has much credibility to post and run. And some wonder why the only posters here are liberals, well the conservatives can't back up their outrageous claims, most of the time and when they can, at least we can see they have a valid point from their perspective and can admit it.
posted on April 7, 2009 08:11:47 PM new
In that case, here is a valid point with which you can agree. Holding up Hwahwa as a spokesperson for conservatives is a straw man argument.
posted on April 8, 2009 08:27:40 AM new
"In that case, here is a valid point with which you can agree. Holding up Hwahwa as a spokesperson for conservatives is a straw man argument."
Yes, calling Hwahwa a "spokesperson for Conservatives" would indeed be a misrepresentation of anyone's thoughts expressed in this thread.
The role of "spokesperson" implies speaking with some degree of authority and credibility. Like Hwahwa, Rush Limbaugh has tried to suggest without basis a comparison between Chavez and Obama and failed. Would he be considered a "spokesperson for Conservatives?"
