[Osx-nutters] CIA in Venezuela

[rogerhoward at rogerroger.org]

On Dec 1, 2007, at 7:18 AM, Jared ''Danger'' Earle wrote:

> On 1 Dec 2007, at 14:30, Chuck Bennett wrote:
>> Would they bother to foment trouble that could cause oil prices to go
>> up even more.
>
>
> Is the government supposed to care about the price of oil?

Well, in a free market, of course not... but, well, the right likes to  
have it both ways - we're a free market until we're not.

Anyway, I don't see why a government *wouldn't* care about the price  
of oil in their country - that's a major influence on economic  
stability and security. Whether the measures they take to ensure good  
prices are appropriate or not is a different question.. is fomenting  
(or not) revolution in a democratically elected state appropriate just  
to maintain stable prices appropriate? I dunno.

I do know that while Chavez is a populist with a lot of support, some  
of the "reforms" he's pushing now have laid bare his worst side for  
the world to see. We can argue the merits of industrial  
nationalization, land redistribution, social welfare, etc, but I don't  
see what removing term limits and other basic power checks does to  
advance anything but his own personal power.

-R