Author Topic: Hugo Chavez has passed away  (Read 4202 times)


syntaxmachine

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2013, 02:07:48 PM »
I'm so sorry, Ron. Not to launch a power grab overly early, but I think I am a qualified candidate to replace him here as moderator.

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2013, 02:08:01 PM »
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has passed away.  :'(
RIP Hugo!  :'(

 ;D


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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2013, 02:08:21 PM »
Will Obama offer him a state funeral?  


Good riddance

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 02:15:46 PM »
I'm so sorry, Ron. Not to launch a power grab overly early, but I think I am a qualified candidate to replace him here as moderator.

I would have seconded that motion, but given your propensity for trolling, ...I prefer the dead guy.
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2013, 02:54:27 PM »






monicaangelaBecome a fan
 
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Political Pundit·3,461 Fans· “Every human longs for peace and love.

Rest In Peace President Chavez, thank you for your example of what a President of a nation can do if he really wants to help the people of the nation.  Thank you for fighting the oil companies and nationalizing the oil of Venezuela so that those profits could be used to lift the people of your nation up.  Thank you for donating heating oil to this country in our time of need, heating oil for... Read More




From HP   

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2013, 08:52:31 PM »
I wonder if our mod will change his name to the next Venezuelan president that gets elected?
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2013, 08:57:17 PM »
I wonder if our mod will change his name to the next Venezuelan president that gets elected?

Hopefully Castro is next 

syntaxmachine

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2013, 02:13:02 AM »
I would have seconded that motion, but given your propensity for trolling, ...I prefer the dead guy.

You're just mad that I won't be amenable to 999.99% pure bribes once I secure the reigns of power.

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2013, 03:04:57 AM »

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2013, 12:07:15 AM »
You're just mad that I won't be amenable to 999.99% pure bribes once I secure the reigns of power.

Sadly our stuff is not quite that pure. Ours is only four 9's not 5. 999.9

They're not bribes, they are innovations. Mgmt. simply looked at what many of us were doing, acknowledged the brilliance, and altered the compensation structure to turbo-charge our ability to do it.

ps: If I have my way, ...you'll never secure the reigns of power.  ;)
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2013, 06:52:35 AM »
Getting Rich by Fighting for the Poor
 Sultan Knish ^ | March 07, 2013 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on Friday, March 08, 2013 7:47:09 AM by expat1000

Hugo Chavez's death was met with tributes from Iran, Bolivia, China and El Salvador. The Western left did not waste much time adding their withered roses to El Comandante's coffin. George Galloway called him another Spartacus. Jimmy Carter described him as a leader who fought for the "neglected and trampled". Michael Moore praised him for declaring that the oil belongs to the people.

Whether or not the oil belongs to the people is a matter of some debate considering how much of it seemed to end up in Chavez's pocket.

Chavez died with an estimated net worth of 2 billion dollars making him the 4th richest man in Venezuela and the 49th richest man in Latin America. For a while, Chavez weathered attacks from the media empire of Gustavo A. Cisneros, the richest man in Venezuela. Then before the 2004 election, their mutual friend Jimmy Carter brokered an agreement between them. Cisneros' media stopped criticizing Chavez and both men bent to the task of getting even richer.

While the Bolivarian Spartacus lined his pockets with oil money, Venezuela's middle-class was struggling to get by in a country where the private sector had imploded. Income increased on paper, but decreased in reality as inflation increases ate the difference. Around the same time that Comrade Hugo was launching the third phase of his Bolivarian Revolution, inflation had decreased household income 8.8 percent while consumer goods prices increased 27 percent.

On his deathbed, Hugo Chavez devalued his country's currency for the fifth time by 32 percent, after tripling the deficit during his previous term when the national debt had increased by 90 percent. From 2008 to 2011, Chavez's oil-rich government increased the debt by nearly 50 billion in a country of less than 30 million. That same year, The Economist speculated that Venezuela might go bankrupt.

Chavez had swollen the ranks of Venezuela's public employees to 2.5 million in a country where the 15-64 population numbered only 18 million. With 1 public employee to every 7 working adults, the entire mess was subsidized by oil exports and debt. When the price of oil fell, only debt was left.

Those public employees became Chavez's campaign staff with no choice but to vote for him or see their positions wiped out to keep the economy from crashing. And they won him one last election.

The dead tyrant leaves behind the lowest GDP growth rate and highest inflation rate in Latin America. He leaves behind an economy where more than half the population depends on government benefits or government jobs. He leaves behind a giant pile of debt for the people and 2 billion dollars in misappropriated oil money for his heirs.

But we don't need to look to a leftist banana republic south of the border to see how profitable fighting for the poor can be.

7 of the 10 richest counties in America are now in the Washington D.C. area. Arlington County alone added $6,000 to its average income in one year alone. D.C. and its bedroom communities got rich at twice the rate of the rest of the country and in the last election; Obama won 8 of the 10 richest counties in the country.

Washington D.C. is richer than Silicon Valley. Median income in the D.C. area has hit $84,523 despite the city itself having horrendous unemployment and poverty statistics. The top 5 percent in D.C. earns 60% more than the top 5 percent in other cities and 54 times what the bottom fifth earns in that same city.

This wealth of government money isn't a rising tide that lifts all boats. Income inequality in Washington D.C. is one of the worst in the nation. For families with children, the income inequality level in D.C. is double the average for the rest of the country.

But when you concentrate the wealth of the land in a single imperial city, then you end up with a sharp gap between the poor and the fighters for the poor. Mid-level jobs are disappearing, but high-level jobs continue to grow. Small businesses are going out of business, but lawyers and consultants are being hired at a breathtaking rate.

Washington D.C. has the highest concentration of lawyers in the country. 1 out of every 12 city residents is a lawyer. 1 in 25 of the country's lawyers lives in Washington D.C. In 2009, the Office of Personnel Management reported that there were 31,797 practicing lawyers in the Federal government earning an average salary of $127,500 a year. Or to put it another way, the taxpayers were spending double Hugo Chavez's 2 billion dollar net worth each year just to pay the lawyers.

That was in 2009. The numbers have undoubtedly gotten much worse since.

That same year there were 383,000 federal civilian workers with six figure salaries. Multiply that and you get all the debt that Hugo Chavez dumped on Venezuela being dumped out in a single year on American taxpayers.

The number of Federal civilian employees is only slightly higher than in Chavez's utopian Socialist paradise, but average Federal employee salary clocks in at a mean $75,000. The closest private sector match to working for Uncle Sam, in a non-military position, is working for Microsoft.

Federal civilian employee wages and benefits run around $200 billion. The end of the pay freeze that wasn't really a pay freeze alone added $763,125,000 to the Federal budget. Or to put it another way, the cost of the Federal workforce in a single year is more than double Venezuela's entire national debt.

During Nixon's first year in office, $200 billion would have covered the entire Federal budget. Now it's just the paychecks. In the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees welfare and food stamps, among other things, 1,461 of HHS' 64,750 employees earn over $155,000.

While the Obama Administration fires marines, it hires more civilian employees. 101 new Federal employees have been hired every day of Obama's first term in office. In 1962, there were more American military personnel than Federal civilian employees. The number of military personnel has dropped sharply, but the number of civilian employees is higher now than it was then. And their salaries have become much higher.

But the civilian employees are only part of the picture. The massive deficit spending has turned Washington D.C. into a treasure trove of government grants and stimulus plans on the favor train. The national debt grew by 6 trillion dollars in one term of Obama adding $50,521 in debt per household. That money was used to buy favors and support across the country.

While Obama ran on a platform of taking care of the poor, he was raiding the social safety net to buy support from a coalition of billionaires that paid him back with bundled contributions and SuperPACs. Green Energy tycoons got rich on loans and grants, while the middle class imploded. Billions in taxpayer money was traded for millions and hundreds of thousands in contributions in one of the dirtiest deals to take place outside an actual banana republic.

Like Chavez, Obama presides over a poorer country whose poor are convinced that he is the only thing standing between them and absolute poverty. Deficit spending and high debt has destroyed any potential for GDP growth leaving America looking like an oversized version of Venezuela.

The new America is not a booming economy, but a political power structure built on unsustainable spending. Like Chavez, Obama has created an impossible trap that leaves half the country dependent on him and leaves his opponents with no alternative but to propose some form of austerity. It is an economic kamikaze maneuver that invariably ends with economic or political destruction.

Obama, like Chavez, has made economic recovery structurally impossible, perpetuating poverty in order to profit politically from the national state of misery. Chavez died before the consequences of his economic policies caught up with Venezuela. Like Chavez, Obama won a contentious election, but he has no easy escape from the economic destruction coming up on the road ahead. Daniel Greenfield is a New York City based writer and blogger and a Shillman Journalism Fellow of the David Horowitz Freedom Cente

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2013, 10:06:59 AM »
Lawmaker With Past Ties to Chávez tops U.S. Funeral Delegation
 Newsmax ^ | Friday, 08 Mar 2013 09:01 AM | Sandy Fitzgerald

Posted on Friday, March 08, 2013 12:51:31 PM by Olog-hai

Rep. Greg Meeks will head up a U.S. delegation attending the funeral Friday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a decision by President Barack Obama that is drawing attention because of the congressman’s previous ties to Chávez. …

Former Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt is also part of the U.S. funeral delegation. Like Meeks, Delahunt drew criticism in 2005 for meeting the Venezuelan dictator to discuss a deal for discounted heating oil to help low-income residents of Massachusetts. …


(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...




I thought we were so broke O-Twink had to cancel WH tours? 

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2013, 11:47:21 AM »
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has passed away.  :'(
RIP Hugo!  :'(


"At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy," Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/06/world/americas/venezuela-chavez-what-next/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

whork

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2013, 12:17:33 PM »
Chavez was dictator fuck who put people who were against him in prison. A piece of shit.

That said he actually did a lot for the poor so as dictators go he was one of the better ones.

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2013, 02:13:01 PM »
"At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy," Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/06/world/americas/venezuela-chavez-what-next/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

I have to agree with the quote you just posted from Harper. Any country that loses their head of state while he is in office does face a bit of a crisis. I do wish a better, brighter future for ALL Venezuelans.

What I liked about Chavez was the way he stood up to imperial powers that tried to remove him from office. Is that so wrong to like it when a person stands up for themselves when they are being bullied? And is it so wrong to like the fact that he offered affordable home heating fuel to New Englanders who couldn't afford the price gouging they were experiencing at home? ...despite the fact that they were citizens of a country whose head of state attempted a coup against him.

What I don't understand is why you would choose to quote my post in order to post a link or quote the Cdn Prime Minister? Why is that? Can you explain this seeming fixation you have with my posts?
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #16 on: March 10, 2013, 03:55:57 PM »
And now that he has passed, we are seeing both his canonization by his constituents, as well as his demonization by his detractors, ...but what is the truth? Here is an interesting perspective I doubt few have considered.

Hugo Chavez: What the mainstream media is hiding


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whork

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #17 on: March 10, 2013, 04:13:20 PM »
Chavez was one of the greatest leaders ever.

Sure he was an sob but he did more for the poor than just about anyone.

I wish there was more like him.


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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #18 on: March 12, 2013, 07:56:07 PM »
Chavez was one of the greatest leaders ever.

Sure he was an sob but he did more for the poor than just about anyone.

I wish there was more like him.


I heard 14 countries around the world honoured him by flying flags at half mast.
Only in Israel & the USA is he condemned. Go figure.
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #19 on: March 12, 2013, 07:58:22 PM »
I would take a shit on his corpse if allowed

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #20 on: March 12, 2013, 08:01:19 PM »
Hugo Chavez' Last Laugh: OIL

By Marin Katusa

On March 5, 2013, Hugo Chavez, one of the most iconic presidents in the world, died at the age of 58. While he was alive, Chavez was a highly controversial figure, calling George W. Bush a drunkard and a "psychologically sick man" and Tony Blair an "imperialist pawn who attempts to curry favor with Danger Bush-Hitler."

Like him or hate him, Chavez definitely had a huge following in Venezuela as well as the entirety of Latin America. His anti-American and socialistic rhetoric made him an ally of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Ahmadinejad in Iran. Combined with Correa in Ecuador, Fernandez in Argentina, and Morales in Bolivia, Chavez was able to make a front in South America against the "evil imperialist gringos."

But with him no longer in the picture, things will change, and cheap Venezuelan oil will be able to flow into the markets, right?

Wrong.

Whoever succeeds Hugo Chavez will be trapped between a rock and a hard place. Venezuela currently has some of the cheapest gasoline in the world; it's costing an average of $1 to fill up one's tank. These low prices are made possible by the enormous amount of fuel subsidies - estimated to be 4.5% of their GDP (for reference, the US Department of Defense spends 4.5% of the US GDP). Any attempts to remove these subsidies will be met with enormous resistance from the population, which has long viewed cheap gas as a birthright.

To make things worse, the production of oil from Venezuela has been steadily decreasing due to the lack of reinvesting back into the oil patch and lack of upgrading the energy infrastructure. Instead of investing in the oil sector, Chavez has been spending most of the money on social programs. This decrease in supply combined with increased demand for oil from a growing population means there is much less oil available for exports.

In fact, since Chavez took power in 1999, Venezuela's oil exports have been cut by half.

Oil provides 45% of Venezuela's revenue, so in order to keep running the country, the government must find a way to get more money out of every barrel that they export.

And what better way is there than to pass it on to the evil imperialist consumers of the West?

This situation is not happening just in Venezuela, but in many other oil-producing countries: Iran,  Kuwait, and Indonesia are just a few examples. It is only a matter of time before these countries conspire together in order to raise the worldwide price of crude oil. What will they raise it to?


US$100 per barrel of oil? US$150? US$200?

Whatever it takes to keep the country running and the ruling classes in power.

Will America be spared? According to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) report, the United States will become self-sufficient in energy by 2035, which means that it will be free from the geopolitical manipulations of oil-producing countries.

Unfortunately for America, this report is flawed and filled with inconsistencies.
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #21 on: March 12, 2013, 08:02:00 PM »
I would take a shit on his corpse if allowed

That kind of behaviour coming from you would not surprise me one bit.
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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #22 on: March 12, 2013, 08:02:49 PM »
Chavez was one of the greatest leaders ever.

Sure he was an sob but he did more for the poor than just about anyone.

I wish there was more like him.



If he's so great why are you living in America? Could it have to do with the fact that Venezuela is a dump and was left worse off than when he got there?

It's not surprising that a jobless, benefit-leeching parasite like yourself worships someone like that.

Hugo Chavez' Last Laugh: OIL

By Marin Katusa

On March 5, 2013, Hugo Chavez, one of the most iconic presidents in the world, died at the age of 58. While he was alive, Chavez was a highly controversial figure, calling George W. Bush a drunkard and a "psychologically sick man" and Tony Blair an "imperialist pawn who attempts to curry favor with Danger Bush-Hitler."

Like him or hate him, Chavez definitely had a huge following in Venezuela as well as the entirety of Latin America. His anti-American and socialistic rhetoric made him an ally of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Ahmadinejad in Iran. Combined with Correa in Ecuador, Fernandez in Argentina, and Morales in Bolivia, Chavez was able to make a front in South America against the "evil imperialist gringos."

But with him no longer in the picture, things will change, and cheap Venezuelan oil will be able to flow into the markets, right?

Wrong.

Whoever succeeds Hugo Chavez will be trapped between a rock and a hard place. Venezuela currently has some of the cheapest gasoline in the world; it's costing an average of $1 to fill up one's tank. These low prices are made possible by the enormous amount of fuel subsidies - estimated to be 4.5% of their GDP (for reference, the US Department of Defense spends 4.5% of the US GDP). Any attempts to remove these subsidies will be met with enormous resistance from the population, which has long viewed cheap gas as a birthright.

To make things worse, the production of oil from Venezuela has been steadily decreasing due to the lack of reinvesting back into the oil patch and lack of upgrading the energy infrastructure. Instead of investing in the oil sector, Chavez has been spending most of the money on social programs. This decrease in supply combined with increased demand for oil from a growing population means there is much less oil available for exports.

In fact, since Chavez took power in 1999, Venezuela's oil exports have been cut by half.

Oil provides 45% of Venezuela's revenue, so in order to keep running the country, the government must find a way to get more money out of every barrel that they export.

And what better way is there than to pass it on to the evil imperialist consumers of the West?

This situation is not happening just in Venezuela, but in many other oil-producing countries: Iran,  Kuwait, and Indonesia are just a few examples. It is only a matter of time before these countries conspire together in order to raise the worldwide price of crude oil. What will they raise it to?


US$100 per barrel of oil? US$150? US$200?

Whatever it takes to keep the country running and the ruling classes in power.

Will America be spared? According to the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) report, the United States will become self-sufficient in energy by 2035, which means that it will be free from the geopolitical manipulations of oil-producing countries.

Unfortunately for America, this report is flawed and filled with inconsistencies.

Given oil prices over the last 5-10 years, Venezuela should be swimming in prosperity. Instead, billions were siphoned off by Chavez and his cronies, leaving little to nothing for the rest of the country. Hence why their country crumbles.

I would take a shit on his corpse if allowed

That would be an insult to toilets.

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #23 on: March 12, 2013, 08:10:25 PM »
If he's so great why are you living in America? Could it have to do with the fact that Venezuela is a dump and was left worse off than when he got there?

It's not surprising that a jobless, benefit-leeching parasite like yourself worships someone like that.

Given oil prices over the last 5-10 years, Venezuela should be swimming in prosperity. Instead, billions were siphoned off by Chavez and his cronies, leaving little to nothing for the rest of the country. Hence why their country crumbles.

That would be an insult to toilets.

Good point.

Chavez did nothing for the poor otherwise we would all be living in Venezuela.

Damn you are sad.

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Re: Hugo Chavez has passed away
« Reply #24 on: March 12, 2013, 08:14:45 PM »
That kind of behaviour coming from you would not surprise me one bit.

True - my messy nasty protein shits would be perfect for his corpse