November 19, 2007
A Victory of Capitalism
Hugo Chavez has learned well the lessons of 20th century dictators. He has created an enemy, the United States, which many people in the third world also look upon with disdain. His bravado in the face of the world's only superpower probably plays well at home, at least among those who are uneducated or who understand that the best way to control a populace is to give them a common enemy on which to blame their problems and direct their hate.
But the little Venezuelan blowhard we've all grown to despise has met his match in the almighty dollar. While he may have friends in the other OPEC nations, none of them is willing to help him wage his war of words against the United States. An embargo on idealistic terms? Forget it---there are yachts and planes to buy. The black gold will flow.
Chavez reminds me of the troublemaker who sits in the back of the classroom and cracks wise about everything the teacher says. He desires attention, and he's receiving it. If I were running things (laugh now, citizen), the official White House response to Chavez would be "Who?".
Posted by Matthew at November 19, 2007 09:56 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Hey Matt,
I'd give you a vote! I'd like someone running the country who understands enough about history to not repeat it.
I hear of the their plight every day. I work with 3 people from Venezuala, one of whom is the brother of the Commander of the Naval Academy. It is a terrible situation down there and will explode in civil war very soon.......
Posted by: Bryans at November 20, 2007 08:39 AMHugo is a blowhard and I agree the best way to handle people like him and Ahmadinejad is to not give credence to their rants. Engaging nutcases like that in "discussions" just elevates their nonsensical ramblings to the level of civil discourse and makes them feel "important" which only encourages more of this behaviour.
That being said, there is a serious issue with the declining dollar. While no one expects Oil to be traded in anything but dollars for the near future, the very fact that there are rumblings is a cause for concern. The main culprit is of course the $10 trillion federal debt that we have racked up. Which goes to prove that being "Republican" is not the same as being a "Conservative", but that's a whole different rant for another day. China and the Oil rich nations are financing the insatiable borrowing BINGE of the US. China is slowly but surely diversifying their foreign exchange holdings to Euros and other currencies. They need to shore up the dollar to keep us buying cheap toys and shoes. It's like Walmart giving you loans to buy their stuff. But it won't last forever and someone has to end up paying the piper someday. Look at the subprime lending crisis as an example, and scale it up a thousand fold. If the OPEC countries lose enough value due to the declining dollar, they can very easily start trading Oil in Euros - money is as they say fungible. The impact of a loss of confidence in the dollar cannot be measured in words. And we are closer to the brink of this crisis than most people think.
It is hard to imagine that the most powerful country in the world can go broke. But no one ever thought the sun would set on the Roman empire either.
http://www.idespisemicrosoft.com/2007/11/perfect-storm.html
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at November 20, 2007 01:54 PM