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iNsaNe-
Finland5201 Posts
On February 27 2014 06:05 nunez wrote: you're right... i should me more specific. everything done under chavez or madure is done in response to criminal activity. Indeed. The protesters are all fascists and the security forces have done nothing wrong, am I right? | ||
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nunez
Norway4003 Posts
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silverman-LG
United States6 Posts
Most posts have discussed pretty much the heat of the situation going on here, so I guess there is no need for me to hit further on that. Instead I'll explain a bit of the causes and predjuces happenning, from a business economic oriented point of view. The first thing that struck me -actually the one that stuck me most- coming here, is the cultural division between the people of the country. I have never seen anything like it, and I've been around some real crazy divided countries. Here, the officialists (gvt supporters) and the opposition, literally can't stand each other. It's not like Democrats or Republicans, Conservatives or Liberals, right or left wings, no no. People here can literally shut you down, if you don't share their political/socio/cultural beliefs. By people, I mean everything: actual individuals, businesses, and public branches. I'll go more into this later. Let's start with something simpler: the economy and the exchange rate control. I work for a service product provider, and needless to say most of our products are under intellectual property rights. I mean, you don't see Apple giving away their iPhone diagrams right? So that being said, the last couple of years for the company I work for were a bit tough, given the fact that access to foreign currency (Dollars, Euros) was restricted. People could have access to buy, but within certain limits and under specific conditions. This principle applied for companies like mine too. Pretty much since mid last year, the access to foreign currency became really uphill. Here's the procedure: You have three entitties MILCO CADIVI Venezuelan Central Bank Let's say my company needs $1 million to purchase parts to supply our inventory. This amount of money covers let's say 100 different types of parts. The procedure to get the $1 million is as follows: You submit a list of the 100 parts to MILCO. MILCO is the government department that authorizes whether if a specific part may or may not be purchased with foreign currency. The principle for them is simple, and it goes something like this: "MILCO will grant you permission to import a given part, if and only if, that part CANNOT be manufactured by Venezuelan labor" Now this is a pretty vague definition, because as you can imagine, anyone can make about everything. The thing is, how actually true to the original fabricant product is we are talking about, regarding parameters like safety, funcionality and efficiency. Needless to say, until last year my company had received authorization from MILCO to import some parts, and rejection to import others. I kid you not, when I tell you that some of the most important parts our clients need to acquire DO NOT have authorization by MILCO. Let's keep on our example and we'll move on saying our of those $1 million on 100 parts, MILCO authorized 50 parts. By the way, MILCO doesn't pay attention how much worth are the parts. That is CADIVI's task. Now we must go to CADIVI. CADIVI is the government institution that regulates approval of acquisition of foreign currency, it regulates who receives foreign currency and how much do they recieve. More importantly, they also dictate, WHEN does anyone get the approved amount. So as I was saying, let's say MILCO authorized me to import 50 parts and they are worth about $500,000. CADIVI now has to approve how much of those $500,000 can I get. Let's say they approve my solicitation for the 50 parts, but they only allow me to purchase $300,000. Sounds impossible? It's real, very real... and here comes the kicker: they approved I can purchase the money, let's say in about 4 months. So yes, that means I actually have to wait 4 months to go on with the purchase. Finally, they "honor their word" for about 1 month. That means that counting from the 1st day of the month I am able to go on with my purchase and I recieve my $300,000 from the Central Bank, I have 1 month to get all the shipment into Venezuela's customs, otherwise the company will face audits for attempted smuggling and potential penalties and fees. So let's say I purchase the $300,000 in the now let's say uhmmm 25 parts (because of course there is no way I could make it to the 50 I needed), and for whichever reason, 20 parts make it on time and 5 don't. I now have to send an employee of my company to whichever port the 5 supplies arrived, and spend one or two days with a government official trying to proove that the 5 parts are of my possession, they are intended to be supplies for the company I work for and I should not pay any penalty fees. Let's say the government doesn't buy it and they hit me for the pieces. So from $1 million in 100 parts that my inventory needed, 5 months later I'm now down to a break taking $300,000 in 20 parts and had to pay some ridiculous fees to get the other 5 out of customs. Who is hurt? Our clients for starters. They had to wait 5 months for a part they should have got right away. Our company. We can't make money if it takes so long to get things going. Plus, we have frustrated clients, who have their operations shut down because of us not being able to supply our inventory in a swift matter. The end user (or, our client's clients). They get angry with our clients. So what happed in 2014? The government shut down CADIVI, on the base that it had served its purpose for the past year. Reality is, many many small businsses had been using CADIVI as a laundry machine to sell US Dollars in the Black market. The method was as simple as it gets: you buy cheap US Dollars (or Euros) from CADIVI, you sell them in the Black market for a 3x or 4x profit. Even if you applied for $100,000, if CADIVI approves you $40,000, you are still making a huge profit at a ridiculous price. Of course, huge multinational corporations, like the one I work for, or Procter & Gamble, IBM, Telefonica, Toyota, cannot jump on this bandwagon. The reason is simple of course: firstly, we get repeatedly audited, both by the government and by our corporate headquarters, and secondly the Sabanes Act (Enron, anyone?). So we are left with no other choice but to do business with what we can, how we can. Now the big question: are the money laundry accusations for real? Yes of course. There is a local retailer called CompuMall. Sort of like a Venezuelan "Best buy" if you may. About three months ago, one of the government institutions that audit financial operations, discovered that the owner of CompuMall had been repeatedly applying for $100,000 a month to CADIVI, having received approval from MILCO to import Computers and computers parts... but the owner had been purchasing the computers from a US provider based in Florida, whose owner was no other than his own brother. Needless to say, they were immediately accused of theft and all the related charges you can imagine, and they were forced to reduce their prices to 90%. Today their stores are nearly empty and are on the verge of bankrupcy. Were their doings illegal? Of course they were, but here comes the question: CADIVI has been existing since 2004. How is it possible it took TEN YEARS, for one of the many (more than twenty) government institutions that regulate these operations, to figure this out? The answer is obvious: corruption. Extrapolating the case of CompuMall -which like I said is a known company here-, can you imagine how many small businesses applied the same formula over and over for ten years? Let's not be as pessimistic. Let's say five years. Even so! Anyone in Venezuela could set up a five person company, that retails say... "thumb cushions for computer type employees who spend all day typing", and get cheap Dollars from CADIVI, buy cheap merchandise and sell it at an exhorbitant 15x price. It's just mind boggling. Are there any businsses doing legal transactions with CADIVI? Yes of course. Like I said, most major players, like corporate multinationals and of course even some small businesses with strong ethics. But it doesn't matter, because as CADIVI kept approving less and less requests, our providers kept asking for more and more Dollars, and our companies kept requesting more and more credits or extensions. On February 13th, Toyota shut down their operations because CADIVI had a tremendous debt of high hundreds of millions of Dollars not liquidated for approval. CADIVI also has debts around the billions of Dollars to most airline corporations. Last year, the liquidated $0 to airliners, so in response airlines issued a statement: they won't sell airline tickets to Venezuela, unless passengers pay using US Dollars upfront. CADIVI owes Polar, which is the local largest food supplier, over $400 million. CADIVI owes my company nearly a $1.5 billion. So it all comes to this: how can a country run, if there is no currency to trade with other countries, and purchase the raw materiels that are needed to keep the country running? I'm talking about production plants, car parts, elevator parts, air condioner parts, water pump parts, you name it. The reality is as follows: When CADIVI was born, the Venezuelan Bolivar vs US Dollar exchange rate was around 2004 = 1.600 2006 = 1.900 2007 = 2.150 2009 = 2.300 2011 = 2.600 2012 = 4.300 2013 = 6.300 2014 = 6.300 and 11.300 (then 11.700) while the black market has been somewhere around 2004 = 2.400 2006 = 2.900 2007 = 4.000 2009 = 4.800 2011 = 6.600 2012 = 8.400 2013 = 25.000 2014 = 80.000 while the international reserves sit somewhere around the premises of: 2007 = $50.000 million 2014 = $18.000 million one third of that being in liquid US Dollars, while the rest is distributed in gold and foreign bonds. So it's all sums up to all simple equation that the government somehow has not been able to figure out: SUPPLY vs DEMAND During the initial times, MILCO and CADIVI were happiliy doing their job approving requests for acquisition of foreign currency. It didn't matter whether if the intent was valid or not, or how big or small your operation was. Money was there. Now that money is short, CADIVI is simply not able to liquidate as it should or as fast as it should. There is high demand but no supply, which creates a market distorsion that results in the mess we have today. I am being utterly serious when I say, I have clients with paralyzed operations. I'm talking about clinics, malls, hospitals, industries, factories, personal businsses, because of this. Moreover, with a black market Dollar sitting at 7x the value of the official rate, it's almost impossible to a client to acquire the product using their own means without hurting themselves. To put things on perspective, imagine you want to buy a brand new Toyota Corolla, official market price tag is $15.000. But oh now.... since you can't buy at official rate, the actual price is 7x, meaning $105,000. How does that sound? It sound like being kicked in the balls in the middle of the night. That is that about the access to foreign currency. On my next post, the division I was talking about at the beginning | ||
KwarK
United States41386 Posts
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
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icystorage
Jollibee19343 Posts
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silverman-LG
United States6 Posts
I guess it's common knowledge that both sides are characterized by their distinctive outfits. Officialists sympathize with read, wearing red t-shirts and caps and hats, while the opposition normally wear whites. But that is just the beginning... there is something out there called "La Lista Tascon". La Lista Tascon (translated means Tascon's List), is a list of names... as far away as you can imagine from Schindler's list. You see, like it or not.... Schindler's list was used for good, I mean, it was used to save people's lives from suffering living hell on concentration camps. Tascon's List on the other hand... well, let me explain: I got to say, I was a bit skeptic when I came here and I heard the stories, I even thought that some people were just paranoid and borderline schizo, on the fact that there was a list that could potentially ruin your life... but when you start to listen to the same story, over and over again, from different people who have nothing to due with each other, and are shown the proof of that happens to you whether how your name is labeled on the list, the evidence just starts to pile up and it reaches a point where is simply overwheliming. There is no other choice to believe that the List exists and it is true. The stroy goes, in 2004 there was a public consultation on whether if the Venezuelan people wanted Chavez to keep as president or not. People had to sign a petition, which would be taken to the electoral branch of the government to call an election. While many political figures supported (or detracted) the idea to sign a petition, one parlament representative who was a Chavez supporter, had a *brilliant* idea. Let's create a nationwide database of everyone who goes on the petition. Moreover, if you sign against the president, the database will show that you are an opponent of the president, and if you sign for the president, then you'll be shown as a president supporter. The representative's name was Luis Tascon, hence the name The Tascon's List (or La Lista Tascon). Luis Tascon was known as a very "day-dreamer" politician. He was the kind of guy who spoke a lot and did nothing, so most people didn't really pay attention to his idea, or actually thought that he would go through with it... especially opposition people. To be honest, it seems that they underestimated Tascon's ability. The officialists at first didn't really care, since they would sign the petition for the president to continue, so what was to hide? A couple of weeks before the petition day, Tascon was named "government consultor" for operations of installing the computers on all voting centers. Tascon was an engineer and actually one of the few engineers who worked in the parlament, so again, it didn't really sound strange. The day of signing the petition came, and rumours began circulating heavily that Luis Tascon had indeed moved forward with the list, and that the actual individual signatures of every venezuelan going to the voting centers, was being collected by Tascon's equipment. Again, keep in mind this was 2004, so like I said a lot of people didn't really believe, whether Tascon was able or even if he was, the technology was able, or that it would be reliable, etc... The petition went and Chavez won, by a pretty decent margin... about 55-40, (with the reminder being undecided or void voting). Then came the breakthough. In the following days for some unknown (or soon to be known) reason, people who signed against Chavez, coincidentally suddenly found themselves being laid off. Some with poor severance pay or poor whatever end negotiations. The excuses were many, some of them being company restructure, company capacity, whatever whatever, but some businesses were more sincere and straight to the point: "I can't have you working for me. You signed against the president" It gets more interesting. People who signed FOR the president, somehow found themselves, either promoted or receiving huge bonuses, vacations, settlements, 401k (well the actual 401k doesn't exist here, but the equivalent) retirement funds, etc. It gets even more interesting. Unemployed people who applied at jobs (mostly government jobs) were now asked one particular question at their job interviews: "Interesting qualifications, but... did you sign for or against President Chavez?" Needless to say, those who signed for, got the jobs, while those who signed against, didn't. At this point you're probably as skeptic as I was when I heard the story. Then one day last year I got undeniable proof. I was on a meeting with this client and we started talking about pretty much the situation in the country and somehow we got to the subject of the Tascon's List. He said something like "oh yes, my daughter got screwed over by it at an PDVSA job interview" (PDVSA is the government own oil company). Then he said "do you want to see it?" I said "see what?" Which he replied "the list. I have it right here. I bought it a few years ago" Turns out the list somehow found itself on public domain for a month or two, as probably a hacker (or a government traitor), made copy of the original file and sold it in sort of a pirate operation. The government however was quick enough to act and retrieve it in a matter of days, but by that time, hundreds if not thousand had already acquired it, including my client. He then opened his desk drawer and pulled out a CD. labeled LA LISTA TASCON, with a Venezuelan flag on the background and a hand holding a pen as a cover. I was shocked. He inserted the CD and is as simple as you can imagine a visual basic program made by a college freshman of computer science: a search engine, that allowed you to query by name or by "Cedula" (the government ID), and a search button. As soon as you clicked on it, after a few seconds the screen would show the individual's: 1. Full name 2. Full address of his voting center 3. Full ID number 4. Whether if he had signed FOR or AGAINST the president. I was speechless. It took me a few seconds to utter the words, "is this for real?" He answered "I was walking on a street one day and I came across this street vendor who sold pirated DVDs, movies, playstation games, software, and he had it sitting there. He only had one copy, and it was prized Bs 45.000 (a very expensive amount, considering a pirated movie costs around 5.000). Let's play a game. Imagine, picture someone... anyone... anyone you know. Think of his political inclination, or at least what would you think is his/her political inclination, and let's find out how true they are" I gave name after name after name. It consistently kept reporting whether if that person had signed or not, which would pair up from what I knew that person political affiliation was. I gave him clients names, coworkers, subordiantes, superiors, friends, neigbors, anyone. One day I had this meeting with this accountant who was part of a project my company was incharge of. He was (is) an officialist. I knew this because he kept talking about Chavez and how good he was and etc. Apart from that he's very friendly and quite professional, so after meeting with him many times before, I asked him if he'd like to quit his job at the government and work for us. It took less than a second for him to say "no thanks". "There is no way your company can compete with my current package" - he said "which is...? - I replied "dude, I get 10 months of salary as Christmas bonus" Again, I had been shut up. Of course my company can compete with that, I thought. The real phrase is "there no way my company is going to compete with that". Again, more and more I pondered within my network... and again and again I was hit with overwhelming evidence. The Tascon's List, put you on the spotlight with the government, for good or for bad. I had this crew once, and one of the guys applied for a credit at a government bank. It was a real small credit, but still a credit for that being. Point is, he hadn't even left the bank when the credit was already approved. Then came the doctrine. Those working for the government, receive special instructions to attend any related political government activity: a march, a concentration, a festivity, whatever. If the government says you have to come naked to the office tomorrow, then hell, you WILL come naked into the office tomorrow. And the people of course come naked into the office (I'm exaggerating, but you get the point). The Tascon's List has therefore created one of the greatest divisions (if not the greatest) seen in the history of the country. Ever since its public awareness, now every election is shadowed by the ghost of another Tascon List (or whatever name), and people who are against the government, are afraid to vote against the government because of all the benefits they may lose, if found out who they voted for. As an expat, I live in a building with other expats from other corporations. One day, we held sort of a party here, and one of them invited one of their clients, who was a government official. This woman started talking to me and she was definitely not a Chavez follower per se, or at least that's what I could feel from her. She was in her late 40s, divorced with two kids. I guess it was the few drinks she had, or maybe she just liked me, but at one point she just let it all out: "look, I'm not going to tell you what my political affiliation is. I work for the government yes, but listen: they pay for my kids school, They give me 9 months of bonus every Christmas. Most companies give 1 and in the best cases 3. I'm a single mom, I want my kids to have a happy life. What am I supposed to do? Throw all of that away ? I'll never find a job where I can be so relaxed in these terms" So to me, what she meant was that she was not going to throw away her stability, only to stay firm with her political beliefs, which was sign or do anything against Chavez. How would she? If so... she would have to have guarantee that she would find another job which such secure financial conditions. I thought to myself: "how many more people like this are there in this country?" But more importantly, who am I to judge them ? What would anyone do if placed on his/her shoes? As I started to work with more government projects, I found myself more and more impressed by the mind job that is being pulled by the government. A client for instance, receives text messages.... yes, text messages on his cell phone, everytime he has to attend a government activity. He once showed it to me: "My fellow revolutionaries. You are reminded to attend tomorrow's concentration at avenue -whatever- at 9am, dressed appropriately to defend the revolution" I asked -"so what happens if you don't show up" he replied -"well, maybe your paycheck will be a little late, maybe you'll get demoted, maybe fired. who knows...nobody wants to find out" I replied -"even if you have a sick day with a medical recipe" he said -" once a guy tore his arm the day before and coulnd't attend. He's still looking for a job today" The division created by the Tascon's list is real, it exists and more importantly, it has created a profound fear within the people. On my next post I'll discuss shortage and denial. | ||
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icystorage
Jollibee19343 Posts
i need an adult. | ||
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Guilty
Canada812 Posts
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eeChiama
Argentina96 Posts
I'll look for more info because this definitely has my attention | ||
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silverman-LG
United States6 Posts
Apart from the mentioned economic issue with the access to Dollars and the social division, the country has been facing many consequences of these two issues: I call them, Shortage and Denial The first one is pretty simple and straight forward to explain, as long as you have basic understanding of the market, the economy and consumers: 1. With no money, production slows down (or shuts down in some cases). 2. No production, no products (or services). 3. No products, creates desperation among consumers, who in response start mass-buying, instead of simply buying. 4. Mass-buying leads to increase in production, but you can't increase production if you have no money or no means, and instead, you are forced to slow down or shut down production. 5. (Mass-buying) + (Slow down production) = Shortage I wasn't living here when it began, but from what I can collect from my contacts, it first began with milk. Somehow suddenly, milk started to dissappear from the supermarkets. The government (MILCO, CADIVI, etc) didn't allow producers to import their factory parts, the government began subsidizing costs, the government began taking possession of the land... etc... point is, it came down to the point that IMPORTING milk was cheaper than PRODUCING milk locally. I'm talking about MILK. Not nuclear warheads, iPhones, hadron colliders or Rolls Royce. Plain pasteurized milk. So producers began slowing down until eventually they had no choice to shut down. I dare anyone. In fact, I'd give that person $10,000 if that person goes to a supermarket right now (or tomorrow all day) and finds me a gallon of milk. I'm willing to give 100 to 1 odds that after 24 hours, that person will return to me with no milk in his hands. Then it began spreading to other products, Milk derived products such as cream, baby milk, powder milk and then came a real big one: flour. Then it spread more and more to other products such as salt, oil and sugar. So what happens then (and this is something the government FAILS to understand). Then comes a day when you arrive at your local supermarket, and for some unknown reason, there it is...sitting in front of you as if it was a pack of gold bars coming right from Forx Knox, only it's not gold bars. IT'S MILK !!! What do you think the consumer will do? "Hell, I found Milk, Instead of the normal 1 or 2 gallons I normally get, let me buy 3 or 4 gallons, cause who knows when I'll ever see it again" and that wait to see it again, which you projected to be two, three weeks maybe ? becomes two or three months. So the next time you see milk you'll go: "Hell, I found Milk, let me buy 6 or 8 gallons, cause who knows when I'll ever see it again" Repeat the process with sugar, salt, oil and flour and you have a bunch of people in supermarkets with their grocery carts so full it looks like the armageddon is coming. Moreover, this is a mindset the the consumer begins adopting into his daily routine of shopping. Now he doesn't shop like a normal human being (from a normal country). Now he shops in bulk. They buy milk in mass quantities, sugar in mass quantities, tuna in mass quantities, cookies in mass quantities, and so on. They buy so many stuff in mass quantities, that eventually some products you'd thought to be impossible to suffer from shortage, are now somehow missing! Three weeks ago, the girls at the office were getting worried, because they couldn't find razor blades for their legs. I kid you not. Two weeks ago, it was deodorant. Now, it's concrete. So whether if it's food, health or construction product, shortage has hit the country from all sides, which leaves me to the second consequence: denial. The government has chosen to deny the shortage. To the government the shortage exists because of two reasons; 1) There is an international conspiracy -captained by the US- that prevents Venezuelan industries to meet their production rates. 2) Consumers are poorly educated on consumption, and have become mass-buyers instead of purchasing what they actually need. I'm not going to bother on explaining the reasoning behind (1), as yours will probably be as good as mine. (2) On the other hand I'll expand. This is where the government has proven to be inefficient and very poorly educated on the system that we call market, supply, demand, which together creates the economy. The government BLAMES the shortage on the consumer because they think the consumer buys in order to storage the products. So the government now calls consumers "the storage people", pretty much like those guys from The History Channel show, Storage wars. The error here is quite simple: consumers CANNOT storage. A regular house size is ... let's say 2000 square feet. Out of that space, how much do you think, one can take in order to store large amounts of sugar, milk salt, oil, toilet paper, deodorant, razors, cream, etc. Not much right? Plus... it doesn't make sense. Even if you had the space, you would need the conditions: a closed closet, a proper fridge, whatever... because you're not going to risk having rats, roaches or bugs coming to get all that food, which like I said, it's physically impossible. Consumers are now mass-buyers because they have been driven to do so, not because they like to. I mean who likes unloading their car with 40 bags of groceries? Maybe 1 out of 10, but certainly not 10 out of 10! Moreover, I remember arriving at this country, while the company was finding me a house, I stayed in a 5 star hotel. I can assure you: There was NOT a single day... or let's be more specific. I'm an american, which means, I like either my cereal for breakfast or my eggs and fried bacon with 1 fresh glass of milk. So, as I was saying... there was NOT a single day in that hotel, in which I went to the morning restaurant and there wasn't fresh cold milk for my cereal breakfast. Every single day I had a choice of either cold or warm milk, to drink with either my cereal or my eggs and bacon breakfast. So where does this lead to? Corruption. Who is and has the means to store hundreds of gallons of milk? Well, I can tell you. Not any of my neighbours or co workers. Not even myself. 5-star Hotels on the other hand, yes. Restaurants?, yes. Bakeries?, yes. Supermarkets ? no. You see what the government fails to understand is a simple concept of accounting, that people can call a variety of ways: rotation, resupply, or even the most beautiful way to call it: FIFO The government doesn't understand, that consumers gain nothing if they were supposedly using their consumism for storage purposes. The same applies for supermarkets. A supermarket makes no money if they store products. On the contrary, a supermarket makes MORE money, if they get rid of their inventory. Hence the acronym "first in, first out". So instead, what does the government do ? Denial. The government doesn't acknowledge the shortage because: 1. The sitting president quit school after 6th grade 2. The vice president is a sociologyst who graduated with a 2.0 GPA 3. The secretary of the economy is not an economist, nor an accountant. Instead, he's a colonel! 4. The vice president of the economy is an electrical engineer, who graduated with a 2.0 GPA from one of the most unheralded colleges in the country, without a masters degree or any degree in economy or accounting. 5. The president of the congress branch is a lieutenant colonel. 6. The former president of the country (Chavez) was a lieutenant colonel. Please forgive me if you think I am judging, because I am not. I actually have a lot of respect towards the military and those people who graduate from non-Ivy League schools, let alone state schools or well-known schools. What I'm saying is to each his own. It takes skill, both academic and professional, to run a business, let alone a country. And some jobs are simply out of the league of some people if they don't have the ability to hold their own. Either way, the news are out there and you can simply login to BBC, Reuters or whatever source you prefer. The government's position when question about the shortage is simply to deny it and to blame an international conspiracy against the country. Facts are facts. The government simply doesn't understand the flow of the economy and has no other alternative but to make up an excuse to justify the problems. Let's say there is an international conspiracy. Even if it was, it is the government's responsibility to stop it and to assure the population feels no impact from any conspiracy -international or not- on their daily rutine as venezuelan. Instead, how does the government respond? Last month, they passed a law that forbids ANY business to profit over 30% of the cost of ANY product or service sold. That is 1. Your company sells a product "A" 2. It costs $100 to make that product "A" 3. You may sell it for whatever amount you wish, but no more than $130. Oh and by the way, when the law states "costs" it doesn't include indirect costs or taxes. Again, basic concepts of accounting 101 -if you may-. This is called "the law of fair prices" (I kid you not) and it was issued about three weeks ago. The government believes this law will: 1. Put an end to speculation on prices of products and services 2. Put an end to shortage 3. Increase production 4. Reduce mass consumption. in a country where (as you read from my previous posts) 1. There is a currency exchange control, with a difference of 7x between official rate and blackmarket rate 2. MILCO and CADIVI drag down requests for currencies, to 20 to 25% 3. Multinational corporations have had no other choice but to reduce their production 4. People have been for over a year mass-buying products that suffer from shortage. 5. It is cheaper to import basic products (milk, cheese, cream, sugar) than to produce it locally in Venezuela. On my next post, I'll discuss regionalism and economy stimulation | ||
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Boblion
France8043 Posts
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Silvanel
Poland4656 Posts
Same goes for the list, its an old story. You are supporting the governament- You are receiving benefits. You are against it-You are being repressed. Maybe old time comunist didnt have computer list, but they did have secret police. | ||
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Silvanel
Poland4656 Posts
Same old shit. Nothing new. All this shows is even petrol cant suport overregulation in economy. | ||
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silverman-LG
United States6 Posts
The people with us are: 1. Cuba 2. Argentina 3. Nicaragua The people against us are: 1. USA 2. USA 3. USA ... ... ... 10. USA 11. Colombia 12. The EU This has been something cultivated since the days of Chavez, who liked to called those against him using words like 'fascists, imperialists, capitalists" and so on. Like it or not, Chavez was a colourful and popular leader. Outspoken and very good at imposing himself. That is what made him stand among the poor, who found on him, the voice of them. One of the earliest Chavez episodes was when he kept calling Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist" on a meeting where the sitting President of Spain, Zapatero and the King Juan Carlos were sitting. At one point Chavez simply lost it and kept repeating that Aznar was a fascist and on and on, so Zapatero asked him -quite politely- that while people can have different views and opinions on others, there must be respect among a meeting of such caliber. Chavez kept on ranting and kept interrupting Zapatero, until the King of Spain finally had had enough and yelled at him "why don't you shut up?" You can view the whole episode here: The main idea I want to bring with this, is that Chavez set a mindset on to all his followers and acquintaces, that either you are with them, or you are without them. However, this mindset ocasionally does not ring true within them. I never knew Che Guevara. I wasn't born when he was around. Much less Lenin or Stalin. But to me, countries like the Soviet Union (yes, the old USSR) or Cuba, were proud of who they were. The soviets were proud of Sputnik, Laika, being always winners at the Olympics, having all the world chess champions, and stuff like that. You would never see a soviet doing a Nike commercial, or drinking Dr Peppers. Ivan Lendl's legacy was banned from Czechoeslovakia in the 80s when he played an exhibition match in South Africa. My point is, whether if some may consider your ideology right or wrong, if you are true to your beliefs, you have to live your beliefs. This is one subject, that the opposition has been quite resentful towards the government and there have been times in which they have gone as far as to make it as public as possible, although in my opinion, not as much as it should. What I'm getting at is, that in a country where its government thrives for socialism, wants the poor to stay poor, sets so many barriers and walls at private industry, you'd normally expect that the government officialists would also follow this idea too. I tried to search for this video with subtitles but I couldn't find it. Try taking a look at it first and then read my translation: At that time Pedro Carreno (interviewed) was secretary of some government institute (I don't have handy which one). He has been known for some time as one of the government most loyal individuals. In the video he's saying (and Spanish speakers can back me up): "The only path towards true justice is socialism. The bible says so and so does Commandant Chavez. The path is not that capitalism, that cannibalism that they want to implement..." and then the woman reporter interrupts him to ask an interesting question: "secretary, isn't contradictory to talk against capitalism, when you youself are wearing a Louis Vouitton tie and a pair of Gucci shoes?" as you can see in the video, Mr Carreno was caught on the spot. He is stunned and has now words at first; then he tries to mouth and make something up. He says: "I don't know what..." "of course th...." until he's finally able to say coherently "it's not contradictory, because I would like that Venezuela could produce all of that, so I could buy it here and not import it instead like 95% of the products we consume" The same mindset happens on lower sections of the officialism, like in their youth party. In this video a reporter questions a government youth representative's loyalty to his beliefs, again I couldn't find it with subtitles, so Spanish speakers back me up: She tells him: "I find a huge contradiction between what you say, and what you do. What brand are the shoes you are wearing? What brand are your pants and your shirt? Why don't you buy clothes from some of the local producers that have factories in Venezuela. she goes on to say: "there must be cohesion within your speech, but instead all you have is contradiction. If you are truly against the empire (The United States), then why do you keep supplying them with oil? Because here's the thing: the oil we sell them, they use it to fuel their planes and those are the planes that go to fight the very wars you are against" As you can see, the kid is mute, silent and with no answer. This happens in all parts of the spheres here. And believe me, the opposition people are no angels. It's not like the opposition leaders wear poor clothes or are against the US, or whatever. The opposition make huge political errors, over and over again, but if there is one thing they never do is contradict their beliefs. Either way that is not the point being here, because I want to talk about regionalism. The first video shows Chavez in ranting mode, simply going over the same issue over and over again. He doesn't listen and doesn't let others to speak, which brings me to the question: How is anyone supposed to sustain a conversation with someone who doesn't listen and doesn't let you speak? Keep in mind this was a public worldwide president's conference, televised for millions all over the world. If he does that to the President of Spain, one can only wonder what could he do to his inner staff behind the scenes? Puzzling, right? Chavez created a school of tunnel vision, with blinders and black and white glasses, which now his followers and his successor Maduro has enforced even more. Perhaps because he knows he's not Chavez, perhaps because he knows he's not as a natural leader as Chavez was. Either way, it is what it is. The second video shows one of Chavez most loyal men, implementing that mindset into action, again in front of reporters, viewed by thousands. When questioned he found himself with no answer. He just replied whatever words he could find to get out of the heat. Reality is, a Louis Vouitton tie is very expensive; a pair of Gucci shoes are very expensive as well. I have nothing against anyone wearing expensive clothes, shoes or accesories, and I guess most of the opposition don't have anything against that either. The question is: if you so much preach about socialism, regionalism and country identity, then why act exactly the opposite way? I mean, why not buy another brand of tie? or say a cheaper one perhaps? For $100 you can buy a decent pair of shoes... so why buy ones that cost $600? I mean, you yourself JUST SAID capitalism and cannibalism were bad. Why not buy a pair of good homemade Venezuelan shoes and ties? Say whatever you want about Evo Morales (president of Bolivia); if anything the guy has done it that he has always been true to his roots. He is an indian, and I don't say this to be classist or anything... I say it because he actually IS an indian. Everytime I watch him on TV he is always wearing an indian made apparel. I find that very interesting, because it is a message of identity of himself with his people. We can later have the discussion whether if it's appropriate or not for a President to wear that. Back to the point, several government officials, employees, contractors, followers, etc... have been caught "on the spot" under this same pattern (or variations of it), and like I said before, this is something that angers the opposition, because you have: 1. Country leaders that despise capitalism 2. Country leaders against consumism 3. Country leaders against importations (or at least doing anything possible to prevent them) 4. Country leaders preaching about socialism 5. Country leaders who ask for respect in a country where you have: 1. Country leaders who wear expensive ties and shoes 2. Country leaders who supply the US with fuel 3. Country leaders who buy imported clothes from brands that come from the US 4. Country leaders who are never seen wearing/using national products 5. Country leaders who do not respect others This happens because the so called regionalism has blinded their vision. Cuba and Nicaragua are the utopy for them and end of story. Is there any logic behind the fact that in his final days, Chavez was taken to Cuba to receive treatment for his cancer? People ask questions like: 1. Why wasn't Chavez treated in Venezuela? Is there that low of confidence on Venezuela's health system? 2. Are hospitals in Venezuela not capable of treating cancer? 3. Why did a president had to be treated in another country? 4. Why Cuba specifically? Why not more advanced countries in medicine? 5. Couldn't cubans be flown in to Venezuela, so that the president could BE with his people?, even if he was not going to make it, as it turned up 6. Why all the secrecy with Chavez's sickness? To this day, no Venezuelan is certain of what Chavez was sick of. And it's not to be morbid or anything, but doesn't the people who elected (and even those who didn't) have the right to know what is wrong with their president? and perhaps the two most important question of all: 7. Why on Earth, if Chavez knew (or was given) a fatal diagnose, did he run as presidencial candidate in 2012, when it was very likely he was not going to live past his presidential term, as in fact he died four months later? Why not be honest to the people of Venezuela? 8. How much money was spent flying Chavez over and over to Cuba (along with his family and friends), in the sense of the matter that well... he may be the president, but what hope does someone, an average individual who has cancer and who doesn't have the means to do so, and is doomed to be treated and/or die in a Venezuela hospital or clinic? The answers to these questions remain part of a big puzzle, and are part of the issue why the Venezuelan economy is not stimulated, which is my second topic of the post. How can the government stimulate the local economy, when the government itself doesn't believe in the local economy? As a matter of fact, it does everything to stray away from stimulating it. Whether if it is wearing expesive clothes, supplying its worst enemy with the product they need, being disrespectful to potential allies just because they think different than you, and having your own president being treated outside your own country. -What would the US citizen would think if Obama got cancer and he was treated in say Denmark? -Or germans if Merkel got cancer and was treated in Mexico? -What would Mexicans think if Pena would relate more with Justin Bieber than with his own culture? So what occurs in Venezuela goes beyond from the political, sociological or economical conflict. It has now reached the morale boundaries of their very own system. A local manufacturer would probably think something within the lines of: "why should I bother creating a shoe industry. My shoes will always be seen as cheap and no one will wear them?" or what a friend who is a physician from here once told me: "why should a high school kid bother and study medicine? apparently the best medicine practice is now in Cuba" Any grad school atendee or graduate should know about monetary policy and fiscal policy, and that one of the ways to stimulate the economy is to inject money into investments relating transportation: better, safer, larger, more convenient roads, highways, trains, airports, ports, etc. You see the system needs to flow, otherwise the system gets slower if there are barriers on it. In 14 years, the government has built a handful number of roads, none of them vital to the geography of the country. Caracas has only two highways and one major avenue, that's it. Also, if you want to drive from east to west (and viceversa), you MUST drive through Caracas, so this collapses even more the transportation system. Well, you can actually drive around Caracas, but it would take you like 8 hours, instead of 3 hours of having to go through the city. Also, Caracas has only one major airport, that has only 26 gates (if I correctly recall). Any of the eight concourses of Miami's airport has more gates than Caracas' airport; or Atlanta's airport, or Paris' airport, or London's airport. How is the economy supposed to flow, if there is only the bare minimum ways for it to flow? Now let's add the elements we have of the equation and see what do we have: 1. Institutions with heavy restrictions on acquisition of foreign exchange. 2. Forced shortage due to a bottleneck policies on national production 3. Zero ability to have a friendly dialogue 4. One of the greatest sociological divisions ever seen in the history of the country (if not the greatest) 5. A delusional belief towards a regionalism that doesn't exist 6. Poor stimulation to the economy. Feel free to do the add up, and post the result as you may. On my next post, I'll discuss government achievements, because well, you have to be fair and there have been some good things achieved. | ||
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
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silverman-LG
United States6 Posts
To be fair, the government has had some major achievements. After all, it has successfully stayed in power for 14 years. In fact, let's name that the first one. Not since the 1920s has a Venezuelan government remain unchanged for more than 10 years. The last one, was a dictator who ruled for 27 years. The current officialism has been in power since 1999, winning a total of five presidential elections, plus the petition signature. In my opinion that's quite remarkable, whether if they achieved it by legal means or the previously mentioned of intimidating the population with the named unorthodox methods. Placed that aside, the biggest government achievement has definitely been letting know that poor people are now heard. It does not necessarily mean, better quality of life of course. It may mean, slight empowerment over the middle class. It's like that movie "Goodfellas", when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) is chatting with Jimmy Conaway (Robert De Niro), and they talking about that Tommy (Joe Pesci) was going to be "made" a boss. They say something within the lines of: "Having Tommy made is as if one of us was being made, because well he is one of us. Neither Jimmy nor myself could be made, because we're not italian" Poor people will likely never be president of a country, or governor, or major, or secretary of a major institution. I'm not talking about financially poor people. I'm talking about mentally poor people. The poor people who WANT to stay poor. The poor people who don't work, don't want to work, or barely work and want the government to give them everything and take care of them for the rest of their lives. Poor people who do not want to evolve, who don't have aspirations, dreams, goals, who wish for a better life. That's the kind of poor people I'm talking about. Of course that financially poor people can become president, or successful businessmen, or celebrities. I mean there are countless examples. I think it was Jim Carrey who I read once built on a trailler. Roman Abramovic was an orphan. They were born FINANCIALLY poor, but they had ethics, will to work, and ambition. Unfortunately, those are not the poor people who live in Venezuela. Poor people in Venezuela, are the ones I described. They live in free houses, built by themselves, with stolen electricity from a nearby plant, stolen water, stolen phone, etc. They don't go to school or don't care to go to school. But they have a voice, just as any human society has, and for several years, this voice was never heard in Venezuela... until Chavez. The government for the first time in the history of the country, paid attention to the poor and it gave them something nobody had given to them ever: hope. Though several institutions and activities, the government has created means to give a high school diploma to poor people in less than two years, and college diplomas in less than two years as well. How prepared are these people and how good are those degrees is part of another conversation, but your guess is probably as good as mine. The main point is, the people feel empowered. People who never knew how to read or write, or add or divide, all of a sudden find themselves high school graduates. People who under normal circumstances, would never be able to join a respectable college for academical reasons, (or even economical reasons on the case of private collges), suddenly find themselves able to attend a government college where you get a college degree. Who cares if that degree is only valid in Venezuela and you can't work anywhere else in the world?... the world is like ... too far away. I want to work and live in Venezuela. Screw the US and the EU.... we don't need them. As I see in the population's faces, I would rank this as one of the greatest achievements of the governments. Then you have your typical achievements related to socialism policies. The government has created a network of institutions and government owned corporations, with the sole objective of taking care of the poor. There are four or five banks who give small credits to entrepeneurs, to stimulate start up businesses. There is a remarkable number of cuban run mini-hospitals, where mostly primary cares can be assisted, and there is of course a large sense of national socialism and adoration -if you will- of the Venezuelan socialist figure, alive or dead. That is, historical figures who were overwritten in the past have now gained notorious popularity, while the more noble figures have been slowly scrapped out of the books. The government has also gained large control over communications, which some consider as achievement while some don't. The largest phone and internet provider is owned by the government, and so is the equivalent of the US's FCC. This has made that the local radio and television has been modified to suit a more national content and less imported programming. Some people question this policy at it leads towards censorship. Major deals have been struck with China, Iran and Brazil on hundreds of projects involving cars, subways, construction, oil and gas exploration, and even two satellites. Some local producers have been lucky enough to find a way into a very tight competitive market, and benefits such as "socialist computers" and "socialist cell phone" are among the products that have been made. On the development side, an expat friend and neighbour works for Odebrecht and he tells me 90% of major government projects are run by them, including the conclusion and recovery of many unfinished or unstarted projects from previous governments. To be fair... if someone asked me, I would say the scale doesn't balance when it comes time to measure achievements against faults. I would say, it's one of those cases where maybe the idea was good, it just was pooly executed. However illusion is a powerful thing and painting a picture is better than living in the reality. Those who understand business like myself, have to deal with the task of finding a way to make the business work, and the reality is that in Venezuela, at the current time, it is very very difficult to make a business work. If the world didn't revolve around money, businesses, trading, goods, supply and demand, transport, and all those things, maybe Venezuela would be a great place. But we live in a world where the rest of the countries care about those things. My laptop's battery has only a few minutes left and I want to go get some sleep. I hope you enjoyed the reading and more important than that, I hope that one way or another (preferably sooner than later), things start getting better in Venezuela. It's a really beautiful country and all the talk about their gorgeous women is completely true. Unfortunately the people have been driven to live in a system, that for whatever reason you consider, has divided them unequally and driven the country to the point we are today. | ||
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walsh_walsh
United States200 Posts
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nunez
Norway4003 Posts
On February 28 2014 15:40 Boblion wrote: Really nice posts, way more interesting and informative than the usual marxist babble written by the resident philosophy grad students. don't be a bitch bobli, i have mostly been posting relevant articles, not all of them from a colored source either (i study robotics for the record). tl's first astroturfer arrives to deafening applause. On February 28 2014 17:13 silverman-LG wrote: Poor people will likely never be president of a country, or governor, or major, or secretary of a major institution. I'm not talking about financially poor people. I'm talking about mentally poor people. The poor people who WANT to stay poor. The poor people who don't work, don't want to work, or barely work and want the government to give them everything and take care of them for the rest of their lives. Poor people who do not want to evolve, who don't have aspirations, dreams, goals, who wish for a better life. That's the kind of poor people I'm talking about. ... Unfortunately, those are not the poor people who live in Venezuela. Poor people in Venezuela, are the ones I described. holy shit. | ||
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mcc
Czech Republic4646 Posts
On February 28 2014 16:16 Silvanel wrote: Again nice posts. But the problem isnt the education of governrmnt officials (they cant adress real isuees even if they understood them).. Its systemic flaw (belive me it was the same in Poland before 1989). The system is bad, but governemnt cant acknowledge it. Otherwise they would be throwing away the revolution (they would be denying superiority of their system over the capitalism).they cant to that. So they have to find other reasons. Who/ what is to blame? The sabotage of course, the enemies both outside the country and inside. The people that wish ill to our glorious revolution. Let us work toghter and fight them. For the revolution comrades! Same old shit. Nothing new. All this shows is even petrol cant suport overregulation in economy. Plus even if they could and had the understanding to do so the officials are more often than personally motivated to keep the system going as it is. They are not the ones that suffer, they actually gain (at least temporarily). | ||
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