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Forget Cuba Opening Up To The US, Watch Out For Venezuela
Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,
When the Soviet Union was dying out and privatization schemes and free market measures were being implemented, it was like the Wild West out there.
With a bit of street smarts, insights, the right contacts, information, and access to capital, you could grab or build a fortune.
That’s how most Russian billionaire tycoons amassed their wealth. By being in the right place at the right time and taking action.
This recent bit of history came to mind when news broke out that the Obama administration plans to normalize relations with Cuba and start loosening its long-standing economic embargo on the country.
As I predicted 4 years ago Obama has been saving this move as his ace in the hole.
His approval ratings are at an all time low and we can see this as political maneuvering to win over voters for his party in the upcoming presidential election.
But while this move is a step in the right direction, things in Cuba itself won’t fundamentally change much. Lifting the 54-year old embargo will do little to improve the situation and prospects for regular Cubans.
Those in charge and the politically well connected will be the major benefactors.
But until the government takes more serious steps to reduce its control over the economy I don’t see much changing for regular people in Cuba.
I visited the island a few years back. While the place is nice, with rich culture and history, it’s certainly a bit depressing. People don’t really have many chances to progress and improve their lives. The government controls practically everything.
Without private employment, private business and private ownership it’s just too risky for investors to put their money in the country as well.
So while this development will now mean that more Americans will have the opportunity to smoke cigars, drink rum and dance salsa, most Cubans won’t experience much benefit from it.
A more interesting country that I’m keeping my eye on in the meantime is Venezuela.
Think about it—it has a massive population and tremendous natural resources.
And yet, the place is a real mess… Years of mismanagement and utopian socialist policies mean that the country is facing shortages of basic necessities such as food and toilet paper.
Heck, even with some of the largest reserves of oil in the world they have to import the stuff themselves!
You have to imagine that when a place is in such turmoil, significant regime change isn’t far off. In fact, this year’s parliamentary elections will be an important indicator of what will happen in Venezuela.
Peacefully or not, things in Venezuela simply have to change. The country is reaching its day of reckoning.
And when the pendulum finally swings the other way, there will be massive opportunity up for grabs for those prepared.
* * *
Meanwhile, things are getting worse in Venezuela... (as Bloomberg reports)...
Shoppers thronged grocery stores across Caracas today as deepening shortages led the government to put Venezuela’s food distribution under military protection.
Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American country’s capital as citizens search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken.
“I’ve visited six stores already today looking for detergent -- I can’t find it anywhere,” said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. “We’re wearing our dirty clothes again because we can’t find it. At this point I’ll buy whatever I can find.”
A dearth of foreign currency exacerbated by collapsing oil prices has led to shortages of imports from toilet paper to car batteries, and helped push annual inflation to 64 percent in November.
...
Interior Minister Carmen Melendez said yesterday that security forces would be sent to food stores and distribution centers to protect shoppers.
“Don’t fall into desperation -- we have the capacity and products for everyone, with calmness and patience. The stores are full,” she said on state television.
...
“This is the worst its ever been -- I’ve seen lines thousands of people long,” Greisly Jarpe, a 42-year-old data analyst, said as she waited for dish soap in eastern Caracas. “People are so desperate they’re sleeping in the lines.”
* * *
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Been saying the same thing about Argentina for 100 years.
Politics don't change. Too many people believe theft is free.
Instead everything just moves underground.
Meh, Venezuela's day of reckoning has been coming for over 10 years now. Never underestimate the ability of thugs and criminals to stay in power.
China will save Venezuela
... long enough to get some good corn holing in...
Specially when the opposition is composed of parasitic oligarchs that kept Venezuela worst that what is today. They are presently fighting each other for the prize.
Yeah, it's not like Hugo Chavez and his Marxist cronies didn't bankrupt the country while enriching themselves.
Pure BS.
Venezualan girls have hot pussy
Thank God!! Cold is really uncomfortable.
Penile frostbite is an unfortunate side effect of sex with an Eskimo woman.
ZH has gone totally off the rails. Necrophilia talk now?
I don't know but I've been told the Eskimo cadence song is mighty bold.
Bestiality ?
I agree with SethDealer Caliente
It seems failed socialist states make women horny. Or maybe they're just hungry.
I think they sell a cream that can help with that!
I'm sure corporate America will happily buy up those natural resources for pennies on the dollar. I'm equally sure the US gov will gladly supply some 'peacekeepers' to make that area safe for these corporate interests. You know, it's all about democracy...
Yup, perfect time for a CIA coup. The American corporate mafia will grab the gold and the oil, and install its "democracy" brand of money-grubbing dictatorship. But the shelves will be full, so it will be a slight improvement, and people will love it- for a while.
The US tried a coup d'etat in Venezuela in 2002. It lasted 47 hours!
Agree. The only problem is that venezuelans have memory. Anyone interested read their newspapers from the 60s and 70s, an horror story.
Yes, yes...it's for the children.
i knew something was wrong as soon as i started reading. lol
"While the place is nice, with rich culture and history, it’s certainly a bit depressing. People don’t really have many chances to progress and improve their lives. The government controls practically everything."
We're doing everything possible to bring that to the US, minus the rich culture part. Unless you count twerking as culture.
'twerking'
Don't knock it 'til ya try it.
Pat McManus said the Pantanel is a very birdy and alligatory place...
Another brilliant piece from Simon.
Do I need the sarc tag?
“People are so desperate they’re sleeping in the lines.”
Oh, did a new iphone get released???
Progressive utopia.
And how many years was this said about Cuba? Guess again.
Venezuela is so cash-strapped it can't pay its oil drilling partners. In turn, they are asking the government to repay them in crude. It's a mess down there.
http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/just-give-us-the-crude-say-venezuelas...
‘Long lines, some stretching for blocks’
“I’ve visited six stores already today looking for detergent -- I can’t find it anywhere,”
At least the lines move rapidly.
When the stores are empty that helps
I don't get it, people with money can't find products. Where I live is the other way around. Seems like importers hace some plan of their own.
"Venezuela has a massive population and tremendous natural resources... and yet, the place is a real mess."
Sounds like Russia.
Sounds like dozens of nations.
'Zactly.
Sounds like California.
and British Columbia, Canada.
That is why oil is called the Devil's Excrement!
Yes, however Venezuela is one of the countries that just nationalized FCX and other mines/resources. So they entice US companies to come down and then seize them... hahahahaha... I wouldn't invest in these shit holes if you paid me... right now FCX is shitting bricks because of these new sovereign "flexing" and price caps on Cu, etc...
COME JOIN FOR FREE!!! EVERYONE WELCOME...
www.gunsgrubandgold.com
CHN to the rescue.
What a racket!!! Go into cahoots and collapse economies (while dumping 10k gallons of lipstick on yours every .5 seconds---our shale sector was a 'sacrifice') and then SAVE THEM by trading out TANGIBLE resources for DIGITAL ZERO's!! The US is like one big mob.
Maybe these spam ads on here "make $8477.00 an hour sitting on your ass pushing keyboard buttons" have some validity afterall?
Also maybe the US gov't and the Fed aren't as stupid as we think. They just aren't on our side and they'll throw our asses under the bus everytime.
All nations are lead to ruin once the encounter a central bank.
It's still fun to talk about. Well until your starving anyhow.
"Heck, even with some of the largest reserves of oil in the world they have to import the stuff themselves! "
Is Simon still talking about Venezueala or is he talking about the United States?
I don't know somebody was talking about a failed state? Let's compare debt to GDP..
US: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-to-gdp
Venezuela: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/government-debt-to-gdp
I have been going to Havana for three years now, in fact just got back. Opening up the the USA will be a nightmare for the country, I see no upside for the Cubans who are well educated and very proud. Not sure how they will respond to finger snapping
Hmmm. I see another "humanitarian" intervention under the neocon doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect, with an outcome no different than that in Libya.
Congras!
You just won the first price of --- A mail-order wife.
wait a secs, there's more, we will thu in a baby,
yes! Ha-li-lo-ye! we will thu-in a Baby.
Hahahaha,,,, we thu-ya-babi. /sarc
Venezuela for investments? ROFLMFAO!!!
THere is a reason why Venezuela is a shit hole.... wait for it..... Venezuelans!
I have a suspicion that Venezuela is going to change alright. Change the way the DC US' Zionist minders changed Panama in 1989, Iraq in 2003, and gold and oil rich Libya in 2011.
As I see it, Venezuela's biggest problems are: Oil, gold, and China. As in, they have all three, and the Zionist west wants them, or at least to take two and block the other.
That is probably THE reason they finally ended the economic war, sanctions, against Cuba--to deny Venezuela access to their closest, economically, and geographically, friend.
The Zionists west needs the gold (See Libya and Ukraine heists for background), and control of their oil and other resources.
Also, the Zionists are running scared trying to stay a step or two ahead of the Chinese who are running around with the Zionist banksters' "printed" lucre buying friends and commodities.
http://rt.com/business/220791-china-latin-america-investment/
Yeah, change is a coming to Venezuela and it sounds like a train; a Zionist train.
The banksters need to repay us.
Follow the money. Trace the Zionists.
Follow the money. Trace the Marxists.
Hugo Chavez's daughters refuse to move out of presidential palace and hold 'deafening' parties as violent protests occured on the streets of Venezuela:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2564825/Hugo-Chavezs-daughters-refuse-presidential-palace-hold-deafening-parties-five-die-violent-protests-streets-Venezuela.html#ixzz3ONDbUbPq
Maduro's opening to Russia
He'd better do it faaast!i Cause the Wall St vermin aren't far off.
And while he's at it, he'd better get China to open its Walmarts in Venezuela, to provide life's basics, like TP, soap, etc.
Just so we don't have to listen to Simon Black/Schwartz bitching & moaning about the place. Every place he likes or dislikes has the CIA not far behind, turning the place into hell. (Ukraine, Baltic States...).
Maybe faster than we think:
Maduro's opening to China
I always have the same reaction to propaganda
(censored!)
Venezuela should not have tried implement Socialism without first developing deliverable nuclear weapons (in secret) and then anouncing the transition. The transition to Socialism would have gone much smoother.
Socialism doesn't need CIA help to collapse, it will get there just fine on its own. They're just a catalyst to speed things along. Look at Moldova, the only communist country in Europe is the poorest, big surprise there. Hasn't collapsed yet, because it has been a slow process. Speed it up a bit, and things will collapse in a real hurry.
".......Socialism doesn't need CIA help to collapse, it will get there just fine on its own. They're just a catalyst to speed things along...."
"Nuff Said".
Agree - - Any country with Nuclear Capability will less interfered with & certainly will NOT be invaded by the great Satin -- Why ? because they're cowards ! They need a fairly defenseless 3rd World country that they can attack with missiles from up to 200 miles away. Like they've doen all over the Middle East.
Venezuela has long been in the sights of the great Satin - the CIA have been all over it for years & YES I do believe Hugo Chavez to have been a real Hero. He at least tried to make things better for the 85% of ordinary citizens -- that's why they loved him. Any shit to the contrary is an American inspired lie. Of course as soon as he was dead the undermining started in earnest. Fuck the bullies!
All they have to do is bring real power to the people, direct democracy and some ammo. Weak left govs cannot survive. Remember Allende.
Don't worry everybody. The CIA has this all figured out and has some great plans. They love this kind of stuff in Latin America, and they are really good at it.
Tell that to Eugene Hasenfus... <sarcoff>
Tell that to Eugene Hasenfus... <sarcoff>
I'm expecting to read about snipers taking potshots at protesters and the police fairly soon, then a "popular" coup followed by the quick disappearance of all their gold. That's the State Dept formula isn't it? For a financial forum, people seem to be remarkably ignorant about the curse of natural resources, the role of the IMF in long term investments and (de)stabilising national currencies.
It's all socialism doncha know? Nothing at all to do with oil price manipulations, fx market fixes against reserve, and about 20 years worth of trying to destabilise Venezuela from the usual suspects. I like Simon, I really do. I usually find his stories highly entertaining but his antics outside my price range. This one I find a little distasteful, perhaps too eager to profit from human suffering like those carpetbaggers of old. I know, it's "just bidness".
Interesting factoid: Venezuela imports most of its supplies from the USA and China.
VEF against USD a 300% change since 2008. VEF against CNY a 348% change since 2008. Not sure China is going to solve any problems for them, even with that $20 billion bailout.
Sure, it's all about the IMF and the State Department trying to destabilise Venezuela, doncha know?
Never mind that Venezuela's Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez ushered in the era of high oil prices in 1998 by slashing output and earning the country a cool $1.125 trillion windfall as oil prices shot from $9 a barrel to more than $100. Despite claims to have spent $300 billion on social programs, Venezuela remained a crime-ridden hellhole, whose vast slums and impoverished people offer not a scintilla of evidence of any spreading prosperity. Where did the money go? The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, ranked Venezuela at 165 out of 176 countries. Corruption permeates all levels of Venezuelan society--bribery, embezzlement, patronage, nepotism, conflict of interest and procurement padding in the public sector are common place.
Never mind that under under the Chavez regime there were government confiscations of private enterprises across every segment of the economy with more than 75 of them in the flailing petroleum sector. Investment is virtually non-existent, but disinvestment is rampant. In the last decade, more than 4,000 businesses have shut their doors, with several factories relocating to the Colombian coastal city of Barranquilla and other business friendly locations. The government’s National Development Fund received more than $57 billion in its first four and a half years but none of the projects were ever specified and the fund has never issued any financial reports. A confiscated once-private warehouse now controlled by the state-owned PDVAL petroleum monopoly was found to have 32,000 tons of outdated food and its director arrested on charges of corruption.
http://www.cato.org/publications/development-policy-analysis/corruption-...
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/120612-636089-venezuela-ranks-t...
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/will-low-oil-prices-end-venez...
Didn't say it was ALL the fault of outside influences, but your post was a good one. Either way, internally and externally, Venezuela is in deep shit.
A dispatch from the "future."
Gov-Co's nature is to grow and grow and grow until finally the economuy collpases. The people have been trained not to think and grow food for themselves but to get in line and complain endlessly to the federation of counsels at the department of departments.
Caballo viejo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEKHY3M2e7Q
"We’re wearing our dirty clothes again because we can’t find it (clothes detergent). At this point I’ll buy whatever I can find.”
A little known fact: you don't need detergent to wash clothes. Simply put them in the clothes washer (if you have one) and let it run through the clothes washing machine cycles.
Or go to your favorite spot on the river and wash your clothes without detergent.
Our politicians are praying for Peace, Wisdom and Guidance -- as exemplified by Sen. Rand Paul, shown here in J'lem:
http://wtfrly.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/randzio...
As an alleged 'Christian' however, you'd think that he'd be praying at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, though.
I thought Venezuela leased it's gold to Goldman? Maybe this is a margin call from Lloyd?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-21/venezuela-selling-gold-goldman-...
Where is Venezueala's repatriated gold located? Seems like they could buy a lot of toilet paper and soap for what 14 tons?