To Survive, Maduro Gives up Control of Oil

[ronwagn + 6,290]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/08/world/americas/venezuela-oil-maduro.html

 

To Survive, Venezuela’s Leader Gives Up Decades of Control Over Oil

Faced with a severe economic crisis, the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, is letting foreign firms take over daily operations of its oil fields. It’s a break with core tenets of his socialist revolution.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

So I guess that ‘socialist revolution’ thing didn’t work out so well...better let Bernie and AOC in on this little nugget of wisdom....

[ronwagn + 6,290]

Communism has never worked as an economic system. It inevitably must become fascist (not racist) some variety of fascism or crony capitalism is what governs the economy of nations. Pure Free Enterprise (Laissez-faire  )capitalism has never really worked either because people are just not honorable and good enough to treat each other fairly or justly. Some degree of government control of companies and corporations must balance the rights of workers. 

The best system ever found is what we have in America. It is that of a Constitutional Republic. It does depend on a moral and ethical populous though. If the people are not moral and ethical it will be degraded and even the best constitution will be ignored and the principles of good government will be eroded until the country is corrupted and ruined from within.

If the people turn too far toward socialism our economy will fail. We cannot continue to debase our currency by increasing spending or lowering taxes.  

[ronwagn + 6,290]

14 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

So I guess that ‘socialist revolution’ thing didn’t work out so well...better let Bernie and AOC in on this little nugget of wisdom....

Very true, they are headed for a more fascist oriented system that allows some capitalism. The sooner the better. Meanwhile, millions of their best citizens have emigrated. The communist sympathizers are rewarded and the rest are left to suffer. Whatever freedoms the people had are now virtually nonexistent or subject to the whims of Maduro. 

Edited February 10, 2020 by ronwagn
addition

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

3 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

So I guess that ‘socialist revolution’ thing didn’t work out so well...better let Bernie and AOC in on this little nugget of wisdom....

Socialism is just another term for Communism.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

4 hours ago, ronwagn said:

If the people turn too far toward socialism our economy will fail.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

Fantastic!  

[Zhong Lu + 845]

Maduro adopting the Chinese capitalist model. Selling oil land to private companies from China/Russia to develop.  Part of Chinese salami strategy to expand everywhere the US is not.  Very good news for China.  Iffy for America.

On one hand, it proves the power of capitalism.  Even Maduro has admitted it.   On the other hand...

Edited February 10, 2020 by Zhong Lu

[Ward Smith + 6,615]

52 minutes ago, Zhong Lu said:

Maduro adopting the Chinese capitalist model. Selling oil land to private companies from China/Russia to develop.  Part of Chinese salami strategy to expand everywhere the US is not.  Very good news for China.  Iffy for America.

On one hand, it proves the power of capitalism.  Even Maduro has admitted it.   On the other hand...

You're acting like this outcome wasn't anticipated from the start. 

Just because they played the long game doesn't mean Venezuela didn't get played. 

Tier one country reduced to 3rd world status in less than a generation. Great job! 

[Zhong Lu + 845]

Does it matter if the Venezuelan government was played? 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Zhong Lu

[ronwagn + 6,290]

4 hours ago, Zhong Lu said:

Does it matter if the Venezuelan government was played? 

It matters to the Venezuelan people. They are the ones who are suffering under a dictator now.

[Zhong Lu + 845]

1.  It's probably a good thing for the Venezuelans that there will be competent people in charge of the oil fields, even if they are Chinese or Russian.  Even if the Chinese or Russians take most of the oil profit, the Venezuelans will at least get some of it.  [The irony is that entire point of Chavismo is to "not sell out our country to foreigners," and here we are Maduro selling the country out to foreigners- but that's a separate topic].

2.  For the people who are concerned about expanding Chinese or Russian influence, this is not good news.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Zhong Lu

[Otis11 + 551]

On 2/10/2020 at 9:15 PM, Zhong Lu said:

1.  It's probably a good thing for the Venezuelans that there will be competent people in charge of the oil fields, even if they are Chinese or Russian.  Even if the Chinese or Russians take most of the oil profit, the Venezuelans will at least get some of it.  [The irony is that entire point of Chavismo is to "not sell out our country to foreigners," and here we are Maduro selling the country out to foreigners- but that's a separate topic].

2.  For the people who are concerned about expanding Chinese or Russian influence, this is not good news.

I'd argue Venezuela (both the people and the government) would have been better off with independent companies (IOCs) coming in to operate it. Much easier to negotiate with a company that you can - ah, strong arm (with threats of higher taxes, bad PR, etc) - than with a NOC that is only answerable to a foreign government, backed by one of the strongest armies in the world...

Just my 2c. 

[Zhong Lu + 845]

I agree.  But that's not an option because of Chavismo, now, is it? The irony is that in the end Maduro ended up selling out the biggest assets of the country to foreigners, anyways, all the while adopting the dollar as the national currency. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Zhong Lu