In Venezuela, Land 'Rescue' Hopes Unmet

[hack89]

Source: Washington Post

Chávez's so-called back-to-the-land movement calls for the redistribution of land -- increasingly properties that the state has taken over in what officials term a "rescue" or "recuperation." The objective is to ensure "food sovereignty," thereby reducing dependence on imports. But nearly five years after the measures were implemented, farmers and agriculture experts say, Venezuela is not only far from self-sufficient in food, but also more dependent than ever on foreign countries. Food imports rose to $7.5 billion last year, a sixfold increase since Chávez took power a decade ago.

That has not stopped the government from accelerating its policy of dismantling big haciendas, holdings that officials often describe as unproductive...

"...that land is not yours. The land is not private. It is the property of the state," Chávez said last month on an episode of his weekly television show broadcast from rural Barinas state, where he grew up....

But production of some of the mainstays of Venezuelan agriculture -- beef, rice, sugar cane, milk -- has fallen off, economists and food producers say. They attribute the contraction to the chilling effects of the land-confiscation program and government-set price controls. With consumption increasing, food prices have soared in Caracas, and there have been occasional scarcities.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903400.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Got any more

right wing shit with which you'd care to enlighten the rest of us ?

[MADem]

4. Come ON. It's the Washington Post, not the Washington Times.

If you take issue with the article, go for it. Point out the flaws. Tell us what isn't true.

But calling a WAPO article out like it's from NEWSMAX isn't a good point of contention.

To me, this does not sound like success:

Today we are going to recuperate other lands," he added. "Give me the list to announce it at once before it gets late." He then checked off one farm after another, while his ministers applauded.

Among the once-productive farms put out of business earlier this decade was this 33,606-acre ranch in Cojedes state owned by the Vestey Group, a British company. El Charcote used to turn out 3.3 million pounds of beef a year, making it one of the country's top 10 producers. Today, the 13,000 head of cattle that once roamed here are gone.

The small farmers working the property have a few cows, but those animals, and the small corn patches here and there, are mainly for personal use. New farm machinery, painted the government's trademark red, gathers dust in a lot on the outskirts of this town.

"If there is a word to describe all this, it is 'stagnant,' " said Carlos Machado, an agriculture expert at the Institute of Higher Administrative Studies in Caracas and a former agricultural consultant for the Organization of American States. "The government policy to increase the crop production in the country is a complete failure."

I don't know anything about "Juan Forero" the author of this piece, but it isn't like it was penned by George Bush. And he does cite statistics and quote real live people--and name them. Where are his arguments flawed?

[imdjh]

7. Family farming is hard work, especially in a third world country. And, it's over.

So what was the plan here? Was there one? What was Chavez' model? It seems like Zimbabwe might have been his model.

One thing is that there are rich people for a reason. We all have extended family members with varying degrees of success based on their decisions, so framing everything in "colonialism" is horse shit. If you break up (confiscate and redistribute) the huge agribusiness land holdings in the US to the 40 acres and a mule, within 50 years you will be back to huge agribusiness landholdings. Why? Because farming is a business and there are good businesspeople and bad business people, there are hard working or more able people, and lazy or less able people, there are people who have nine sons and people who have two sons. It's a reality thing. There is a difference between a farmer and a field hand. Knowing how to read makes a huge difference, as well as knowing what to read, how to predict natural and market conditions, communication with other farmers, alliances, and all sorts of factors.

If Chavez or Mugabe wanted to empower the people, they need to build farming cooperatives, with leaders and followers, with expectations and conditions of membership and ownership. Just ripping off one person and handing it off to another isn't a solution, it's a political ploy.

Farming cooperatives can work, we know that because Israel has them. Forty acres and a mule went out with the horse and buggy.

[MADem]

8. +1. nt

[Hoopla Phil]

11. Very good points.

[zeemike]

13. I am sorry but I see that as an elitist view.

Family farms is what made this country.
And family farms were active and productive until the corporations like ADM and others forced the family farm into foreclosure so they could dominate the market...it hit it's peak in the 70s and 80s in this country.

But I would ask this question...the farm in the article had 13,000 head of catle...how much of that beef went to feed people in that country and how much was sold to McDonald's for hamburger? And the profit from it went where? To a british corporation?
Yes that is the same thing as Zimbabwe...the british took over all the good farm land and raised a product that sold on the world market and put cash in the pocket of the british while the people of that land starved....Colonialism at it's best.

[MADem]

41. Buggy whip manufacturing used to be a vital industry, too.

Economies of scale cannot be overcome at the family farm level. Family farms now provide unique items that don't lend themselves to large agrobusinesses. But for the basics, you can't beat corporate farming. Could the corporations do it "better?" Yes, sure. Less GM, more organic. Better, tastier "product," absolutely.

Your question is valid, but I'd respond to it with another question--why didn't Chavez simply "take his cut" on behalf of the people, then? It's way easier to make a grand "I'm fighting for YOU" gesture and beat a single individual in charge of a corporation down, strip them of their property and run them out on a rail, because it incites the mobs and makes them feel falsely empowered. He might have been better off working out a deal with the guy who owned the farm to increase his tax burden and ensure that more of his product entered the VZ food supply.

Of course, that's less dramatic, it takes a reasoned mind capable of long-term thinking. Instead, now everyone is screwed, all for a brief moment of "authority."

[EFerrari]

14. It's too bad Chavez didn't go with cooperatives. Oh, wait, he did.

Venezuela’s Cooperatives Revitalize Idle Farms
June 20, 2008 by VenWorld

Now here is something that is good for the economy and the environment.

Idle estates in rural Venezuela are being used for small-scale agricultural production by local farming cooperatives. This is a result of a program of land reform that has benefited over 100,000 families. The cooperatives have helped poor and previously landless communities become powerful producers of items such as beef, dairy products, grains, and vegetables.

Many cooperative members are aware that their work is helping offset a food crisis that threatens poor communities all around the world. They know how much Venezuela relies on imported goods, and have taken an active role in ensuring that local supples are available. Read a great IPS article here.

http://venworld.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/venezuelan-cooperatives-revitalize-idle-farms/

And this is the linked article:

http://www.tierramerica.info/nota.php?lang=eng&idnews=2755

[imdjh]

26. Well then, everything is peachy. Nothing to talk about. nt

[EFerrari]

27. I really don't mean that.

But obviously what is going on with agriculture in Venezuela isn't that easy.

I'll be happy to criticize Chavez on the high crime rate, on the level of corruption even if none has ever been tied to him, even on inflation. But tarring the man for this doesn't make sense to me because his government has worked hard to drag the country's ag business out of the sewer where it was when he came into power.

I'd lay off 75% of my Chavez posting if any one of these critical articles in the WaHo or the NYT or the AP were ever just talking about a problem in Venezuela and were not just another cheap shot. The PTB hate him and they want him dead or gone and that's just the deal. I'm surprised he's still with us, honestly.

[imdjh]

29. I just get frustrated. Actually I stay frustrated.

Everything seems to take so long, and people keep repeating mistakes. Obviously, I think that if I were ruler of the world, everything would be better, who doesn't?

[MADem]

40. Well, they aren't working well, now, are they? Unless the figures lie.

You really should try to use sources that aren't blatant propaganda, too.

If this Juan fellow who wrote this WAPO article doesn't know his topic and has made factual errors, correct them. Don't respond with blatant propaganda of people smiling while they hand-till the soil. That's just not believable.

[zeemike]

10. how dare he take land away from the corporation!

And then turn around and give it to peasants.
Don't he know that only the corporation can run it productively. The Vestey Group knows what is best for the people of that country even if they are British.
So he troughs out a bunch of statistics and quotes people...so what? Most of the right wingers do that all the time...and there is a 1001 ways to lie with statistics.

[MADem]

42. Well, the point you made rather sarcastically is the truth.

Only the corporation can run it productively.

Look, if you don't like the "statistics," refute them. Complaining about them doesn't cut it. Show us where the guy's figures are wrong.

And the WAPO is hardly a right wing paper. They may not be "sufficiently left" to suit some, but as I said they are not the Washington Times.

Are you telling me this Juan guy doing the reporting is part of the rightwing cabal? I mean, come on.

Chavez ain't doing so well--he's doing what Ahmadi is doing in Iran--handing out oil profit to the people in order to retain power, without any long term vision or planning.

[Hoopla Phil]

12. You are correct. Sticking your fingers in you ears just because you don't

like the news does not make the facts or reality go away. Or more simply put: Don't shoot the messenger.

[EFerrari]

15. In order for that to be true, the "news" would have to be accurate

and not simply a politically motivated exercise, which this is.

[Hoopla Phil]

17. I disagree and the facts of the article do also.

[EFerrari]

20. If you drill down to facts and sources, you can't, really.

This is another one of those WaHo pieces like the one not too long ago citing three right wing sources on how Obama was betraying the left.

[Hoopla Phil]

22. If you are disputing the facts of the article I'm listening. If you want to divert

this into an equivocation of a right-wing hatchet job on Obama I'm not.

[EFerrari]

23. I've already posted a counter example to this thread.

Have a good night. :)

[Hoopla Phil]

25. But are you disputing the FACTS of the article? If so I'm listening. If not

have a good night. :)

[EFerrari]

28. You're not listening, either way.

And, that's fine. :)

[Hoopla Phil]

31. So what facts of the article are you disputing? I'll wait.

And, that's fine. :)

[EFerrari]

34. You can wait or you can read the thread.

[Hoopla Phil]

44. LOL. So you do not dispute the facts of the article. Only the source? LOL

[EFerrari]

45. No, I will not repost my posts for you, although the WaHo obviously

has an axe to grind. If you actually wanted the information, you could have not only read it below but memorized it by now.

[Hoopla Phil]

47. Odd how you refuse to dispute the facts of the article. LOL

[MADem]

43. Come on--you posted a fact-free VZ propaganda piece.

You could post a video of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" by Ethel Merman for all the validity that has.

Who smiles while they're wielding a pickaxe to till hard soil? Really!

[cali]

36. If you're claiming that the information published that claims

that Venezuela is having to import more food than a decade ago, is incorrect, please point to evidence for your claim. In fact, what information are you disputing and where is your evidence that it's not accurate. Simply claiming something isn't accurate, doesn't cut it.

[EFerrari]

5. What I love about these hit pieces is that I always learn something

about topics I don't know.

Agriculture in Venezuela has been in the toilet since the 80s. In Feb, the UN's FOA recognized the government's efforts:

1. Agriculture played a smaller role in the Venezuelan economy than in virtually any other Latin American country in the 1980s. In 1988 the sector contributed only 5.9 percent of GDP, employed 13 percent of the labor force, and furnished barely 1 percent of total exports. Agricultural output was focused almost entirely on the domestic market.

The backbone of the national economy for centuries, agriculture entered a period of steady decline in the early twentieth century as the oil industry eclipsed all other sectors of the economy. As late as the 1930s, agriculture still provided 22 percent of GDP and occupied 60 percent of the labor force. The industrial development of the nation by the 1940s, however, seemed to have relegated agriculture to permanent secondary status.

Agriculture recorded its worst growth in years in the early 1980s, and the decade saw successive programs designed to revive agriculture in the face of a weakened economy. Government policies toward the sector often alternated between deregulation and extensive government intervention, with the latter being the more typical response. In 1984 the Lusinchi administration confronted rural stagnation with a multifaceted program of producer and consumer subsidies, import protection, and exchange rate preferences. The plan also reduced interests rates on agricultural loans through scores of government development finance institutions serving the sector. Government decrees also required commercial banks to hold at least 22.5 percent of their loan portfolios in agriculture. Farmers were exempt from income taxes. These measures paid off handsomely in the short run. During one five-year period of expansion, for example, annual growth rates in the agricultural sector reached 8 percent in 1984 and 1985. The government's program to resuscitate the rural economy, however, was extremely costly because it entailed high levels of subsidization.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministerio de Agricultura y Cría--MAC) designed and implemented the nation's agriculture policy. The most drastic changes in farm policy in 1990 occurred through the devaluation of the bolívar, which automatically eliminated previous preferential rates for certain agricultural inputs. Likewise, the Pérez government's policy of price deregulation affected many basic agricultural commodities, and ensuing price rises were a factor in the February 1989 riots. As a result of government cutbacks in subsidies and price supports, agriculture registered a 5 percent decline in 1989.

http://countrystudies.us/venezuela/25.htm

2. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Says Venezuela Prepared for World Food Crisis

February 27th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, February 27th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Venezuela, Francisco Arias Milla, said the Venezuelan government’s investment in domestic food production and regional food security will strengthen its ability and that of its neighbors to withstand the worsening global food crisis.

“The FAO recognizes the efforts of the national government to introduce policies, strategies, and programs to confront the global economic crisis and the volatility of food prices, and at the same time to protect the food and nutritional security of the Venezuelan people,” Arias told the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) on Thursday.

Arias specified Venezuela’s national subsidized food market, Mercal, its growing system of public cafeterias, and the state-run Venezuelan Food Production and Distribution company (PDVAL), which sells food at regulated prices, as examples of policies which “permit greater access to food for the most vulnerable strata of society.”

Venezuela has implemented several policies that the FAO recommends, including the fomenting of local food production through the strengthening of social networks, Arias pointed out.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4254

And I guess the situation is so dire, that the new contracts keep being signed on that tech help that the WaHo can't seem to find.

SOURCE: MP2 Technologies
Jun 17, 2009 09:00 ET
MP2 Technologies' Subsidiary, Weatherly Aircraft, Selects Agro Importer, CA Exclusive Distributor for Venezuela

IRVING, TX--(Marketwire - June 17, 2009) - MP2 Technologies (MP2) (PINKSHEETS: MPTO) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Weatherly Aircraft Nevada, has reached an agreement with Agro Importer, CA to be its exclusive distributor for Venezuela. Agro, based in Caracas, is currently working with the Department of Agriculture of Venezuela for the supply of 15 new crop duster planes and Weatherly is a strong contender for this contract. Agro also has other private Agricultural Operators who have expressed a strong interest in the new Weatherly fuel injected radial engine model 620B.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Mp2-Technologies-1005251.html

Pobre Venezuela.

[scarletwoman]

9. Thank you for being such a tireless researcher and truth teller!

I love learning new stuff, too! :D

[EFerrari]

16. My working premise is that if I can find it, anybody can.

Or, maybe everybody but the Waho. :P

[Judi Lynn]

35. Great information, for which you are well known, EFerrari. Looks as if the U.N. rep.

in the Food and Agriculture Organization probably has a more accurate sense of the overview in Venezuela, than does a cretin many Latin America news watchers have learned to disregard almost always, one of the pathetic trio of "creative" Latin America "news"writers who worked at the New York Times: Francisco Toro, Simon Romero, and Juan Forero. The first was almost forced to leave when it was discovered he was deeply connected to the Caracas oligarchy, even belonging to an anti-Chavez NGO which receives funding earmarked for them by the _Bush administration. Forero, of course, joined a rabidly anti-Latin American-leftist "news"paper, the Washington Post.

Here's a link which popped out instantly when I started a brief search for Forero:

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Going Nowhere with Juan Forero

This morning Juan Forero was on the anti-Chavez beat for the second day in a row. On Saturday he runs a fine CIA-inspired piece about how anti-democratic the Chavez government and its supporters are. This morning he was beating the drum again, but with a twist. In the piece, we hear Chavez supporters chanting "Oooh, aaah, Chavez no se va!" and Forero claims that it translates to "Oooh, aaah, Chavez is going nowhere!"

My Spanish is not fluent, but it is adequate - and I'm confident that "no se va" never means "going nowhere." An accurate translation would be "Chavez is not going away" or "Chavez is not abandoning (the struggle)."

It's no secret that Juan Forero works very hard to discredit and misinform listeners about the situation in South America, but I was surprised that he would employ such an easily discredited mistranslation to forward his agenda. I mean it's not like the mistranslation of Ahmadinejad's Farsi statement about Israel's Zionist government "vanishing from the pages of time" being stated as "wiping Israel off the map" - where hardly anyone in the US speaks Farsi. There are millions of people in the US who speak Spanish fluently and millions of others who know enough Spanish to catch such a crude mistranslation as Forero employs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to matter how inaccurate and misleading Juan Forero's "reporting" for NPR is, he definitely "no se va" - Que lastima (What a pity.)

http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2009/02/going-nowhere-with-juan-forero.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colombia: Atrocity's Apologist NYT's Juan Forero Covered for Embassy
by Narco News Bulletin 6:47pm Mon Oct 8 '01

Forero Failed to Disclose the Presence of U.S. Embassy Official During
Interviews With Plan Colombia Mercenary Pilots
Narco News 2001

Atrocity's Apologist
NYT's Juan Forero Covered for Embassy
A Narco News Global Alert
By Al Giordano

Here at The Narco News Bulletin, we set out to cover the drug war sixteen
months ago with the idea of breaking the manufactured consensus behind
U.S.-imposed drug policy on the rest of our América. We'd rather end a
senseless war before it escalates than seek an illusory glory through
covering it. We quickly found that we had to monitor and report about the
abhorrent conduct of the United States news media in Latin America. It's
clear to us, in the summer of 2001, that although the majority of
correspondents are beating war drums, no single major news media has fallen
to the depths of inauthentic coverage as dishonestly as the New York Times.

The Times wants war, and last week showed its willingness to manipulate news
coverage and hide key facts from readers in order to justify atrocity.

The Times has now moved its South American base from Buenos Aires,
Argentina, to Bogotá, Colombia, and has installed as its resident
agent-in-charge a relatively untested correspondent by the name of Juan
Forero.........

Full text at: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=71601&group=webcast

http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/rad-green/2001-October/000971.html

~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, December 10, 2006
Just What is it?

Which Juan Forero do we believe? The one on November 27, 2006 who broadcast an economist in Venezuela complaining that the Chavez government would be "better off spending its gasoline subsidies to promote mass transit" or yesterday's Forero who noted "all the money the (Chavez) government is spending at home. Venezuela’s government is building subway lines..." Hmm...sounds like mass transit to me!

In yesterday's piece, we hear how "the economic growth has been astounding here since 2003," BUT "many economists and businessmen here say the economy is far from healthy and in fact what it is is schizophrenic – it is one of the world’s fastest growing but it produces few jobs, consumerism is rampant, but few want to invest."

The main thrust of yesterday's piece is to claim that Venezuela's economy is only doing all right because of the "oil boom" -- even though economist Mark Weisbrot has noted "the government has budgeted conservatively to create a cushion against any decline in oil prices. It has based its 2007 budget on an average oil price of $29 a barrel — far below this year's average of $58 a barrel." Forero uses telling phrases that reveal his anti-Chavez bias:

• schizophrenic: describing the economy as such is both offensive to people with schizophrenia and a way of writing off the economic achievements of Venezuela under the Chavez government.
  
  
• The Bolivarian bourgeoisie: How Forero describes those profiting from "lucrative" government contracts. The implication is that there is at best hypocrisy in the claims of socialism of the government and perhaps even corruption.
  
  
• A fine veneer: how Forero describes the effects of Venezuelan government spending on infrastructure projects. Frankly, I'd be happy for a little veneer of social spending on schools, transportation, and health care here in the USA!

As I've noted before, Forero has a less than shining history as a journalist. His low point came when he parroted the US Government line about the coup against Chavez back in 2002. Forero's track record really has to make you wonder who he works for besides NPR and the NY Times.

http://lanr.blogspot.com/2006/12/which-juan-forero-do-we-believe.html

How To Read A Juan Forero Story In Three Easy Steps


http://www.borev.net/2009/05/how_to_read_a_juan_forero_stor.html

~~~~~~~~~
Forero's contribution to the Venezuelan oligarchy's attempted coup:

~snip~
The Pre-Coup Show

In recent weeks, though, the simulators of the mass media controlled the microphone.

Narco News, Vheadline.com and other reputable online news agencies warned of a coup in progress. Those reports were ignored by the commercial press, and even by the "alternative" press.

But a whisper did begin among commercial journalists that eventually grew into a crescendo of shrieks, planting the seeds to harvest later: If there was to be a coup d'etat, it would not be called a coup, but, rather, a "popular" revolt.

It was on March 19 that there came a decided shift in the message portrayed by propagandists who call themselves journalists, led by Juan Forero of the New York Times, who was, by now, installed in Caracas. (Narco News, last year, reported that Forero allowed U.S. officials in Colombia to monitor his interviews with private-sector U.S. mercenaries there, without having disclosed that fact in his reports.)

It was no longer sufficient to call Venezuela's president "left-wing" or point out his disagreements with Washington over Plan Colombia, OPEC or other policy matters.

The big lie, orchestrated and sung in harmony by the mainstream media, was floated by Forero of the NY Times on March 19th: That Chávez's "autocratic style and left-wing policies have alienated a growing number of people."

"Although he promised a 'revolution' to improve the lives of the poor, Mr. Chávez has instead managed to rankle nearly every sector -- from the church to the press to the middle class -- with his combative style, populist speeches and dalliances with Fidel Castro of Cuba and the Marxist rebels of Colombia," claimed Forero.

Forero, along with other official "journalists" also began pushing heavily the spin that the "military forces" of Venezuela had turned against the Chávez government. It was then, in mid-March, that a slow drip of military brass was trotted out before the media. Forero quoted one colonel as saying that Chávez "has said the military forces were with him. I wanted to tell people they were not.''

"Mario Ivan Carratu, a retired vice admiral with close contacts in the military," wrote Forero, "said some active-duty officers had spoken of playing a more aggressive role. He said a few had even privately spoken of a need to stage a coup to oust Mr. Chávez."

''I have been in contact with many active officers, and they are of the belief that if society does not organize to take steps, then they are going to have to take control,'' said Mr. Carratu.

Forero, true to form, added the now-obviously fictional chestnut that the dissident military brass "are well aware that the United States has said it will not support a coup."

(As the Washington Post reported on Saturday, there had been a constant march of businessmen, media moguls and military officials in and out of the US Embassy in Caracas in the days before the coup.)

But this was Forero's story, and he reported:

''The armed forces do not want to gain a place in history with a coup,'' said one high-ranking military officer, who asked to remain unidentified. ''If they want to pass into history, then what they want to do is support civil society in its protests.''

From that moment on it was clear to the close observer: A simulation of "Civil Society" and "popular revolt" would be staged to "justify" a military coup d'etat.

More:
http://www.narconews.com/threedays.html

~~~~~~~~~~

Will You Please Kill This Man, For Juan Forero?

Hi everybody, will you do Washington Post reporter Juan Forero a small favor, please? The guy in this picture is a possible FARC agent named Oliver "Fatty" Solarte, and Forero wants him dead. DEAD. The Post wrote a whole long story about him today which concludes, ahem:
"The truth is that catching Oliver or killing Oliver would kill the Southern Bloc," the man said, referring to Solarte by his first name, "because he is the owner of the contacts."
Yikes. What's this all about? According to Forero's crack investigation, the "Southern Bloc" of the FARC is all Ecuador's fault, for sharing a border with Colombia, and Colombia would totally be able to destroy the FARC if only they could invade Ecuador and pry those "contacts" from Solarte's cold dead hands.

The information is incontrovertible, because it comes from Forero's knowledgeable and 100% disinterested source-base including, let's see: unnamed Colombian intelligence officials, unnamed paid government informers, unnamed "Senior Colombian officials," and Sergio Jaramillo, Colombia's vice minister for defense. Indisputable!

So just like with the cocaine trade, Colombia's civil war is not the fault of the Colombian government, but rather, its neighbors, who must be destroyed. KILL!

http://www.borev.net/2009/05/will_you_please_kill_this_man_for_juan_forero.html

[imdjh]

2. Some things are carved in stone.

But as I read about some of the goings on, one of the claims of a "reduction in poverty" appears to be simple welfare dependency. If the government is giving money to people, then they are spending money, which will drive up consumption and demand without actually increasing productivity. Any way you look at it- that is not economically sound, and as such is not "social justice".

[Joe Chi Minh]

32. Beats the alternative: welfare for the rich, consequent polarisation of the country's wealth,.

and now this global mega-depression.

[Zorro]

3. A sixfold increase in food imports is not a sign of Bolivaran success

What's the inflation rate in Venezuela these days?

[timeforpeace]

6. 30% or so

[dipsydoodle]

37. No its not

http://www.indexmundi.com/venezuela/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices).html Too early for 2009 figures.

[Judi Lynn]

38. Link didn't work, looked it up. It doesn't work when I try to post it, either.

It's 18% for 2008, can be located easily in a search under "Venezuela inflation rate."

Did find an interesting Wikipedia:

The economy of Venezuela is based in large part on petroleum. The petroleum sector dominates the economy, accounting for roughly a third of GDP, around 80% of export earnings, and more than half of government operating revenues. Venezuela is the fifth biggest member of OPEC by production. From the 1950s to the early 1980s the Venezuelan economy was the strongest in South America. The continuous growth during that period attracted many immigrants. During the collapse of oil prices during the 1980s the economy contracted. With the recent rise in oil prices and rising government expenditures, Venezuela's economy grew by 9% in 2007. However, there is still considerable income inequality. Although often portrayed as a command economy, government spending as a percentage of GDP in Venezuela in 2007 was 30%, smaller than other capitalist countries such as France (49%) and Sweden (52%) <3>. According to official sources, the percentage of people below the national poverty line has decreased significantly during the presidency of Hugo Chavez, from 48.1% in 2002 to 30.2% in 2006.<2>

~snip~
Inflation
According to the Banco Central de Venezuela, inflation dropped from 29.9% in 1998 to 14.4% in 2005.<16><42> During 2005, imported goods were cheaper than commodities made in Venezuela; variability in the price of goods was linked to import performance and exchange stability.<16> In the second quarter of 2006, gross fixed investment was the highest ever recorded by the Banco Central de Venezuela since it started tracking the statistic in 1997.<17> However, the BBC reported on February 15, 2007 that Venezuela's inflation rate rose to a two-year high in January, with consumer prices rising 18.4% in 12 months.<43>

Public spending in Venezuela has reached unprecedented highs, as measured by local currency Central Bank debt, which could increase inflation.<44>

In 2007, while Venezuela earned record proceeds from oil exports, consumers faced at times shortages of foodstuffs, since the companies refuse to sell at a loss, a consequence of the consumer prices set by the government which are lower than the production costs. The price for a liter of gasoline in Venezuela is 3 cents, the cheapest in the world. The government has responded by giving importers more dollars at the official exchange rate. Imports soared 43% in 2007 after tripling from 2004 to 2007. The account surplus fell almost in half to $8.8 billion even as near record high oil prices buoyed exports. Around 2007, annual inflation was 16%, the highest in the Americas, as President Chavez tripled government spending from 2003 to 2007.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Venezuela#Inflation

[dipsydoodle]

39. I agree that if you click on the link it don't work

Odd that. If I cut and paste it into the address bar it works fine. :shrug: Anyway - mine said 18.7%.

Thanks for your link.

:hi:

ps - the link has corrupt / broken as dislayed maybe due to the brackets. Cut and paste the whole line including
(consumer_prices).html

[dipsydoodle]

48. A lot of what they import is dried milk

Venezuela is the worlds second largest importer of milk. The milk is then subsidized for their population using a utility price structure. That is for the overall benefit of Venezuela's poor who constitute the bulk of the population. Would you rather see them starve ?

[creeksneakers2]

18. whatever happened in the 90s

is getting worse now.

[Odin2005]

19. There are good ways to redistribute land and bad ways.

What Mugabe did in Zimbabwe is a perfect example of what NOT to do. You can't just hand over a plot of land with a couple horses and a plow and expect the person to run a modern farm successfully. For land redistribution to work the people being given the land need to be educated on the technology, bioscience, and business aspects of farming. We did this here in the US after the Civil War, with agricultural schools that created several generations of farmers well-educated on agricultural science and farming as a business. Before you have a country of "yeoman farmers" (to use a Jefersonism) you have to train people to be good yeoman farmers.

[excess_3]

21. country with oil --> people get lazy

everybody wants to work for the oil company
nobody wants to be a goucho

[Joe Chi Minh]

33. That sounds plausible, too.

[dipsydoodle]

46. USA for example ?

:sarcasm:

[roody]

24. I'd like some FOOD SOVEREIGNTY here.

[ohio2007]

49. I'd like "Rule By Decree" for 500 Alex

Your in Jeopardy if you question the great one$

[Oerdin]

30. No surprise.

Everyone with half a wit knew this was going to happen even though some people here tried to defend it. You can't take urban poor and expect them to know how to far as farming is actually hard work which requires more then a bit of know how to be successful. You have to know how to condition the soil, what to plant, when to plant, what grows best in certain soil conditions, how to plant arrange the farm to minimize pest problems, when to harvest, how to sell/distribute the goods before the spoil, etc... Most people would fail as farmers unless they've been taught how to farm and that's even if they had access to seeds, irrigation water, fertilizer, and capital to float the whole thing upfront until harvest time; none of which these people have.