Venezuela Shows Us How Great Socialism Is
by Big Dog on Jan 3, 2010 at 23:50 Political
Hugo Chavez rang in the New Year in Venezuela by rationing electricity. The government there owns damn near everything and the people are dirt poor. The country is a huge oil producer but is unable to generate much electricity because it depends on hydroelectric generators and there has been an ongoing drought.
So, Chavez celebrated the new Year by limiting the amount of electricity that businesses can use, what hours they can be open and what other items can use electricity and when (billboards, casinos, etc). There are penalties for businesses that do not comply with the order.
This is the Socialist nation that the liberals love so much. Penn, Obama, and a handful of others have all been down to kiss Chavez’s ring (or a lower and posterior part of his anatomy). He is held up as a great leader by the liberals who want our country to follow the path of Venezuela.
It is not hard to imagine being like Venezuela with Obama and his government taking over one private business after another. Obama took the lead of Bush and got government involved in the banking system (should have let them fail) and then moved on so that now we all own car companies. How long will it be before Obama is snapping up other private businesses? The government is already working on telling business how much executives may be paid. It is not a far stretch to get to the point where government is running everything (health care included). It happened in Venezuela and liberals love that place and its dictator.
If we have to ration anything then it should be food and water. Liberals get none until the crisis is over.
Never let a good crisis go to waste…
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: chavez, communism, dictator, rationing, socialism, venezuela
I don’t recall Obama ever visiting Venezuela.
As far as electricity rationing goes I’m sure Californians love our free markets and government deregulation that gave them rolling black outs in the previous decade.
I don’t recall saying he did. He visited with Chavez but that was not in Venezuela.
It was not the free market that caused the problem in California. This is what happens when you don’t pay attention. It was cost controls that caused the problem. The prices for electricity were fixed at artificially low rates and people used more electricity. If they could have allowed the law of supply and demand to be used it would have solved the problem but someone was able to fix prices and keep them locked there.
That happened in Maryland. Democrats did it in hopes that it would stimulate competititon. Companies would not compete because cost was low. Once the cost control expired people were socked with a 75% increase. It would have been gradual and market based without government interference.
Same in California. Some companies took advantage of the situation but the whole issue was because of fixing the prices at a low rate.
The free market would have prevented it. I know it is hard for you to believe but that is the case.
Bigd: It was not the free market that caused the problem in California… It was cost controls that caused the problem.>>
DAR
Sure.
***
Tapes Show Enron Caused Rolling Blackouts in California
Tapes Show Enron Arranged Plant Shutdown
By Timothy Egan
The New York Times
Friday 04 February 2005
EVERETT, Wash – In the midst of the California energy troubles in early 2001, when power plants were under a federal order to deliver a full output of electricity, the Enron Corporation arranged to take a plant off-line on the same day that California was hit by rolling blackouts, according to audiotapes of company traders released here on Thursday.
…They also showed that Enron, as early as 1998, was creating artificial energy shortages and running up prices in Canada in advance of California’s larger experiment with deregulation.”
Link.
Also: “California’s energy reserves were low enough that during peak hours the private industry which owned power-generating plants could effectively hold the State hostage by shutting down their plants for “maintenance” in order to manipulate supply and demand. These critical shutdowns often occurred for no other reason than to force California’s electricity grid managers into a position where they would be forced to purchase electricity on the “spot market”, where private generators could charge astronomical rates…(which included Enron and Reliant Energy). —wiki.
D.
———–
“…opponents of deregulation assert that the fully regulated system had worked for 40 years without blackouts.”
It was the fixed price that was below market that forced companies to take advantage (something I admitted happened) in order to get paid. Enron manipulated the system to get market prices because it was forced to sell under market.
In Maryland they have messed with it and the users get screwed. Let the market handle it. If Enron and others were getting market (and not below) prices there would have been no need to manipulate.
The reluctance to build new power generating plants is also a problem. Plants need maintenance and when they actually do there will be problems. We see that with refineries because of the government’s refusal to let us build more.
As with the housing situation, government rules forced bad business decisions that were exploited by some companies. I do not blame any company for manipulating to get market price. Like Medicare, you can only pay less than cvalue for so long before you end up hurt. If they had shut down all the plants until they were paid market (and not below that is key) rates then they would have fixed it faster.
But as usual, government got involved and fixed prices thinking that they would be low forever. Once they were not there were problems. Same story in MD.
When you said “Penn, Obama, and a handful of others have all been down to kiss Chavez’s ring” I assumed by down you meant down to visit. It may be a southern thing for me to think about up and down as ambiguous labels for travel.
The CA energy crisis is a good example of the free market fantasy many conservatives have. It never works that way. Somebody always grabs that invisible hand to make it do what they want it to do instead. The cost controls played a role but so did the deregulation that let people game the market.
Both of you libs, Adam- you and Darrel, like to point to the roads as a good example of socialism- REALLY? You really want to go with that as your shining example?
Unions have had a stranglehold on the construction of roads and bridges for forever, it seems, and they screw the pooch EVERY time.
The egyptians had no unions, and they built pyramids that lasted at least 5,000 years- we can’t even get our roads to last 20 years. Why? The unions idea of job security- they design the roads to degrade, so they have more work, instead of building them to last- in Houston, when I was born, roadbuilders were beginning the I-45 Freeway from Galveston to Houston. They haven’t finished yet, and I am 57- now there’s some SHODDY union labor, if you ask me.
The Mayans built to last, even after the jungle overtook the city of Chitchen Itza, and covered the entire city.
Healthcare would be the same way, especially if the idiots in SEIU are allowed anywhere near a position of responsibility.
“Well, we aren’t going to cure your affliction, but we will give you a pill that makes it LESS of a problem- you will just have to keep coming back to me for more pills, because I do not care about curing you, but I need your continuing business.”
Its the same way in the car business- they design in “planned obsolescence”- in other words, they want your car to die about in ten years, so you will need to buy another car. There are no classic cars anymore, because the cars nowadays do not last long enough to become classics.
Socialism at its worst.
So Blake’s 57. Just a few years to Medicare!
BLK: “Socialism at its worst.”>>
DAR
Actually, with your “pill” example and your “planned obsolescence” example you just described, to a tee, attributes of “capitalism.”
No- planned obsolescence is a tool of the Unions- otherwise, they would work themselves out of a job, and gee, we can’t have that, can we? That would mean the union leadership would actually have to work, something they haven’t had to do in quite awhile.
California and Venezuela have similar electricity policies. Price Controls, Nimby’s stopping plant construction, No nukes allowed by state law, leading CA into rolling blackouts and brownouts. The Banana Republic policies attract Pirates like Enron. Why didn’t other free market states have those problems?