Friday, April 21, 2017

Update on Venezuela

Apparently, the socialist/communist government of Venezuela has not only confiscated a General Motors plant, prompting the company to abandon business in the country, but their confiscation of oil company assets has left the nation unable to even repair pipes used to load oil tankers, leading to weeks-long delays in tanker shipments as ships must be cleaned before leaving Venezuelan waters.

The only bright side here is that the upcoming collapse of the Venezuelan economy leaves an opening for the U.S. and other nations to put conditions on help for the beleaguered nation.  This is especially the case given that the main place Venezuelan oil can be refined is Texas.  I'd suggest that a bare minimum of conditions would be (a) no economic assistance for Cuba, (b) return of foreign assets seized by the government, and (c) the ruling socialists step down with the provision that they never, ever, try to seize power again.

4 comments:

Gino said...

"return of foreign assets"? no.
the USA govt should be working in my interests, not those of transnational corporations. if GM et al want their stuff back, get it themselves.
(in the meantime, GM can make more stuff here, where the citizenry provides a less hostile environment)

Bike Bubba said...

Well, good luck to GM getting their factory back without an army. You signing up for corporations to have them?

Really, that's the biggest reason it needs to happen; I can concede that GM may be the scummiest folks out there (sorry Ms. Barra, just rhetorical), but at the same time, the alternative to property rights is "every man for himself." Don't want to go there.

Unknown said...

Would it be OK if I cross-posted this article to WriterBeat.com? I'll be sure to give you complete credi3t as the author. There is no fee, I'm simply trying to add more content diversity for our community and I liked what you wrote. If "OK" please let me know via email.

Autumn
AutumnCote@WriterBeat.com

Bike Bubba said...

Not at this time--thanks!