quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Bumpity boo...serious power consolidation continues. Seriously, tell me he's a populist.

That's not "power consolidation", that's, well, nationalisation of Venezuela's natural resources, exactly what Hugo said it was. And I love the way you hate criticism of your government's economic policy, despite the fact it keeps people below the poverty line, yet when a government introduces economic policies to help people out of poverty you bust a nut!

quote:

Originally posted by Krypton Could it possibly be about curtailing inflation caused by such heavy state nationalization?

Staunch the consequences of heavy nationalization by using more nationalization?

George, given his extensive track record of nationalizing every industry under the sun down there, how is taking over something as significant as their gold industry not a massive power play? This is the epitome of the Golden Rule! He who owns the gold makes the rules.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka This is the epitome of the Golden Rule! He who owns the gold makes the rules.

In democracies we also have a similar saying: He who wins the election makes the rules!

It's a shame the same cannot be said for our capitalist societies...

Anyway, how the hell can you justify a Canadian company getting rich off Venezuela's gold resources?!?!?!?!?

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley In democracies we also have a similar saying: He who wins the election makes the rules!

I've never heard that saying. Even if there were a modicum of truth to that statement(which I'd question), it's hardly an apples-to-apples comparison to a guy like Chavez.

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Anyway, how the hell can you justify a Canadian company getting rich off Venezuela's gold resources?!?!?!?!?

How am I trying to do that? How do you suppose Crystallex gets rich by this? It certainly wouldn't explain their stock dropping by 25% on the news.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka I've never heard that saying. Even if there were a modicum of truth to that statement(which I'd question), it's hardly an apples-to-apples comparison to a guy like Chavez.

So you're saying Venezuela isn't a democracy? Do you have anything to back that up? In fact, please post me a report from a Venezuelan news source that criticises Chavez...

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How am I trying to do that? How do you suppose Crystallex gets rich by this? It certainly wouldn't explain their stock dropping by 25% on the news.

You're criticising Chavez for allegedly planning to nationalise Venezuela's gold industry. You therefore must support a foreign country's company getting rich off Venezuela's natural resources. Surely the people of that country should be the ones to decide how their natural resources are used?

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley Surely the people of that country should be the ones to decide how their natural resources are used?

and i'm sure it was a Venezuelan who signed a mutually agreeable contract allowing such companies to enter their country and mine their resources.
bah! that foreign investment jargon is evil!

___________________
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire

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Originally posted by Dupz and i'm sure it was a Venezuelan who signed a mutually agreeable contract allowing such companies to enter their country and mine their resources. bah! that foreign investment jargon is evil!

That's correct, one Venezuelan, not "the people of that country" as I said in my post above.

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley That's correct, one Venezuelan, not "the people of that country" as I said in my post above.

but who's better to manage those resources? the owner of the land, or the collection of peasants on the street selling kebabs?

Chavez is quickly turning his country into a North Korea - bankrupting his country for the sake of a halfwit and disproven ideology

___________________
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire

quote:

Originally posted by Dupz but who's better to manage those resources? the owner of the land, or the collection of peasants on the street selling kebabs? Chavez is quickly turning his country into a North Korea - bankrupting his country for the sake of a halfwit and disproven ideology

North Korea?! Do you honestly believe that?

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley In fact, please post me a report from a Venezuelan news source that criticises Chavez...

I would expect to find none, which is case in point. I can find any newspaper in the U.S. that criticizes George Bush. We've discussed media censorship in Venezuela ad nauseum before.

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You're criticising Chavez for allegedly planning to nationalise Venezuela's gold industry. You therefore must support a foreign country's company getting rich off Venezuela's natural resources. Surely the people of that country should be the ones to decide how their natural resources are used?

As Dupz pointed out, Venezuela had no problem letting them in to develop the resources and Venezuela was certainly already collecting a delicious royalty stream from said actions.

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Originally posted by Shakka I would expect to find none, which is case in point. I can find any newspaper in the U.S. that criticizes George Bush. We've discussed media censorship in Venezuela ad nauseum before.

Damn! You didn't fall for it!

The Venezuelan press, as you know full well, is rabidly anti-Chavez. The criticise him daily and to a much much greater extent than Bush is criticised by the American press.

Here's (the only) one I found in English (based in Caracas) if you want proof that the press is free:

http://english.eluniversal.com/

I can't speak Spanish but maybe you do so feel free to have a look at some other Venezuelan media sources (which may or may not be anti-Chavez):

http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/p_contenido.php
http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/
http://www.diarioveaonline.com/vea/.../home/index.php
http://www.venevision.net/
http://www.globovision.com/

And last but not least, the definitely definitely definitely banned and illegal RCTV:

http://www.rctv.net/

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As Dupz pointed out, Venezuela had no problem letting them in to develop the resources and Venezuela was certainly already collecting a delicious royalty stream from said actions.

Before Chavez, Venezuela was ruled by the elite for the elite. They all got a kick back from letting foreign companies milk Venezuela dry while the poor got nothing whatsoever. That is why you hate Chavez, not because you hate poor people, but because Venezuela's elite have carried out a very successful international propaganda campaign (esp in America) to portray Chavez as a dictator and, which really gave you a hard on () - a "socialist"! As soon as you heard the magic word, all reason and logic flew out of the room and you refuse to listen to any FACTS or TRUTHS about Venezuela because you got sucked into the lies spread by Venezuela's rich who despised Venezuela's wealth being spent in the poor and needy...