The Devil's ExcrementObservations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.(Untitled)- June 29, 2008 Random Bits from the revolutionPassionate about money: Remember when the Minister of Justice dismissed the murder of RCTV&146;s anchorman Javier Garcia as a &147;crime of passion&148; that should not affect society Well, as usual the Minister was talking without knowing anything about the case. Yes, the murderer was caught, but the only passion so far in the case was that of the murdered for money as the police said the motive was robbery. Another triumph for the stupidity and incompetence of...http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/29.html#a3980 When all the clowns in Venezuela want to run the circus- June 27, 2008 Somehow the picture above reflects what is happening in Venezuela much better than any words I can put together. It was taken on Tuesday during the parade in Campo de Carabobo, in celebration of the battle that gave the country its independence.First of all, Chavez spent this &147;celebration&148; talking about politics and telling us why it is that &147;no volveran&148; (they will not comeback). The problem is that it is no longer clear if he means &147;no volveran&148; or &147;yo no me..http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/26.html#a3978 Another black list under Hugo Chavez: Disqualifying opponents from running for office- June 24, 2008 I have not written much about the &147;inhabilitaciones&148;, the new black list by the Hugo Chavez administration, which my dictionary translates as disqualifications, but does not seem quite right. In any case, I was waiting for the time to register candidacies to be closer to talk about the issue in the still naïve belief that the whole thing was so absurd, that it would surely go away.But it hasn&146;t&133;it represents another black list and abuse of power by this Government which is..http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/24.html#a3977 Chavez Guisonomics 101, part IV: Why did the Government stop the use of structured notes to buy a bank- June 22, 2008 For a few weeks, there had been rumors that one of the largest banks in Venezuela, Banco de Venezuela, owned by Banco Santander of Spain, would be bought off by one of the largest banks at 5 in the country Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD), creating the country&146;s largest bank. What was not clear was how the deal could be pulled off.Then, at the beginning of this week, someone explained to me that the transaction would simply be a hand off of the structured notes denominated in Bolivars in.http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/22.html#a3976 Chavez Guisonomics 101, part III: How to buy a bank without using your money- June 22, 2008 Growing your market share as a bank is not easy, you have to work hard, do it for many years and convince depositors that they should prefer you over your competitors. On the way you also face many hurdles, economic swings can affect your performance and if you stumble once, depositors and clients will never forget it. While history says that &147;good&148; bankers are the ones that grow their business organically, slowly and carefully, &147;nouveau&148; bankers tend to want to grow faster by..http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/21.html#a3974 Chavista Guisonomics 101 part II: There is indeed no such thing as a free lunch- June 20, 2008 I am going to have to speed up this primer, as events that led me to write part I have accelerated in an unexpected fashion, forcing me to cover the material faster than I expected. There is indeed no free lunch for Venezuela in always &147;making money&148; when it buys Argentinean bonds even if they drop in value. In fact, you and I are simply paying for it as usual, if you are naive enough to think the money is "ours". The apparent free lunch arises from the fact that at the end of the day,.http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/19.html#a3973 Chavista Guisonomics 101, part I: Why the Government never loses money with Argentinean bonds- June 19, 2008 The word &147;guiso&148; in Spanish means &147;stew&148; and is used as slang for those fraudulent transactions or deals that take place whenever two or more parties find a way to fix things in such a way that they can make a lot of money.In the Chavez revolution, Guisonomics has truly become a science thanks to the wonders and arbitrage provided by foreign exchange controls. Simply put, the fact that the Government has access to or decides who has access to foreign currency, allows it to.http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/19.html#a3972 US Treasury Department ties Venezuelan diplomat to Hezbollah- June 19, 2008 Today the US Treasury Department identified two Venezuelan citizens as Hezbollah supporters, identifying their names, businesses and activities, accusing them of providing support for the terrorist organization and making fundraising efforts in behalf of that organization in Venezuela.The charge are not new, exiled reported Patricia Poleo made similar charges with even more details last week in her column in Nuevo Pais. Poleo gave names of people who come to Venezuela to train Venezuelans...http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/18.html#a3971 Venezuela is being run by irresponsible, miserable hoodlums- June 18, 2008 While there has never been any doubt that Minister of Interior and Justice Rodriguez Chacin is the closest thing to a hoodlum and a public gangster that there is in Venezuela, his irresponsible behavior either shows that the man is close to an intellectual retard or he thinks we are. During his various tenures as Minister, Rodriguez Chacin has assumed multiple identities, used them for personal enrichment, allowed FARC leaders to come to Venezuela legally, nationalizing them and even allowing...http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/18.html#a3970 As Chavez rolls over them with his new pragmatism, people feeling optimistic- June 17, 2008 One of the benefits of the controversy and the abrogation of the intelligence Bill is that Chavez seems to have gone on the defensive, concerned about any possible reaction by the opposition andor students that his Government&146;s actions may have.Which actually puts him in a difficult position, as the end of the Enabling Bill is coming soon and Chavez was supposed to take advantage of his special powers to legislate by decree and put a framework to his &147;XXIst. Century Socialism&148;. ...http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2008/06/16.html#a3969 |