Reports say Hugo Chavez is dead

[Tom Cruise]

This is a very interesting article on Chavez' reign:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/ameri...er-ch%C3%A1vez

A majority of Venezuelans may eventually come to see that Mr Chávez squandered an extraordinary opportunity for his country, to use an unprecedented oil boom to equip it with world-class infrastructure and to provide the best education and health services money can buy. But this lesson will come the hard way, and there is no guarantee that it will be learned.

[Money_May]

Where have you gone, Hugo Chavez?

A lonely oil nation turns its eyes to you...

You been a member for over 2 years and this is your first post? What took you so long

[ИATAS]

This is a very interesting article on Chavez' reign:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/ameri...er-ch%C3%A1vez

That was an extremely biased article.

Prior to Chavez, 75% of Venezuelans were living in poverty. The oil money was going into the private hands of a tiny few. Under Chavez he lowered poverty by 60%. That's an astonishing amount. Further healthcare is now available to anyone as is education.

Now he should have done more imo, he should have completely broken away from Capitalism during the global economic crisis in 2007 but he didn't and some Venezuelans became rich off the backs of the Chavez movement, thus themselves becoming a powerful layer in society meaning the capitalists still have much control.

Fortunately, the idea of supporting the revolutionary process and the idea of socialism is ingrained in Venezuelan society.

[Tom Cruise]

That was an extremely biased article.

Prior to Chavez, 75% of Venezuelans were living in poverty. The oil money was going into the private hands of a tiny few. Under Chavez he lowered poverty by 60%. That's an astonishing amount. Further healthcare is now available to anyone as is education.

Now he should have done more imo, he should have completely broken away from Capitalism during the global economic crisis in 2007 but he didn't and some Venezuelans became rich off the backs of the Chavez movement, thus themselves becoming a powerful layer in society meaning the capitalists still have much control.

Fortunately, the idea of supporting the revolutionary process and the idea of socialism is ingrained in Venezuelan society.

Biased maybe, but not extremely biased.

Hugo Chavez was not an evil man, nor was he an angel. Anyone trying to paint him as one or the other is wrong imo.

I wouldnt expect poverty stats to be any different baring in mind the quan****** of oil in the country, and the constant inflation of oil prices on the world market. Despite this Venuzuelan poverty levels do not look radically different to the rest of Latin America.

[One_Tycoon]

I dont think you quite understand the concept of Capitalism if you think it can "evolve".

The entire idea relies on poverty existing, and large money owed and massive debts as a positive byproduct.

The entire system will not function without that inflation, credit, interest and money owed/owned.

This whole 1%/99% outcry didn't come out nowhere. Don't ignore it because pretentious hipsters are seens as the 99%.

I don't think you understand what Capitalism is. The core of Capitalism is Free Markets. Individual choice to it's to it's maximum. You have the right to buy, sell, trade goods. You have the right to work for someone, keep your money, and/work for yourself by opening up a business and then you have the right to employ someone who will work for you. That's Capitalism. And anything opposite of that is not Capitalism.

^^^now there is no reason why we should grow out of the above described. No good reason. We can change technology, medicine and the affordability of it all but not the concept of free markets. Under this system you have the right to be a Socialist. YOu can have your own company and share the profits with your employees, instead of giving them fixed wages/salaries. You can install a "Workers self-management" program where your workers vote on who is in charge. But the opposite of this Free Market is you imposing your Socialism on everyone else and making them do what you want done.

[One_Tycoon]

jtcs1981....was that UserCP rant you left me really necessary?

[ИATAS]

Biased maybe, but not extremely biased.

Hugo Chavez was not an evil man, nor was he an angel. Anyone trying to paint him as one or the other is wrong imo.

I wouldnt expect poverty stats to be any different baring in mind the quan****** of oil in the country, and the constant inflation of oil prices on the world market. Despite this Venuzuelan poverty levels do not look radically different to the rest of Latin America.

So even going by this source, ECLAC (I've seen poverty levels in Venezuela in pre-Chavez listed as high as 75%), Venezuela achieved either the highest or second highest rate of poverty reduction in all of Latin America. This is still proving my point, which is he did a tremendous amount of good for the poor (add to this healthcare & education).

Another thing to mention is the Agriculture and land reform.

Before Chavez was elected 75% of the agricultural land in Venezuela was owned by 5% of landowners and the smallest 75% landowners controlled only 6% of the land. Much of the land held by large landholders, was held in extremely large "latifundios", and was idle and unproductive. The "Law of the Land" passed by the Chávez administration, declared such landholdings to be illegal, and mandated that it be given to families who needed land to grow food. As of January 2009, the Venezuelan government had redistributed nearly 2.7 million hectares of idle land (6.6 million acres—nearly 1/3 of the latifundio land existing prior to 1998) to 180,000 landless peasant families.[42] Additionally, reforms to Venezuela's Penal Code de-criminalized the occupation of idle private lands by landless peasants, and started an initiative known as Mision Zamora to assist small and medium scale producers gain title to land.[23] Although the Venezuelan government allows small farmers to work the land, it does not always give them title to the land, and they are sometimes required to work as part of a collective.[43] This reallocation of land does not necessarily lead to better food production; farmers are hurt by the state setting low prices for their produce.[44]

Agricultural credit also increased dramatically, from approximately $164 million in 1998 to nearly $7.6 billion in 2008, with many of the credit decisions being made by local communal councils, rather than government bureaucrats. Additionally, in 2008, several laws were passed to provide financial assistance to struggling small farmers, such as debt relief programs and crop-failure insurance.[42]

The Venezuelan government, under the Chávez administration, also began offering free technical assistance and education to farmers, through its National Agriculture Research Institute (INIA), which performs agricultural research and projects with small farmers.[23]source

[BrushMyCage]

Rip..........