Eat this Venezuela!

[KrazyHorse]

Old people are dying because they can't afford the 2A draw of their respirators.

[Kidlicious]

If the economy would have been planned there would never be any shortage.

There were no shortages in planned economies???

You're back to being a ****ing ****.

Of course there were shortages. Resources are always scarce. There were no shortages of electricity, at least not as long as there was plenty of oil.

The fact is that deregulation caused the crisis.

No, what caused the crisis was leaving price caps in place at a certain point in the chain, but removing them at another point. It's called arbitrage. Fun and profitable.

Why was there a crisis? Because of a legislative distortion of the energy market. Pure and simple.

****.

Having no regulation of the energy market is soooo stupid that it can't even be considered. So of course there was some regulation. The issue is how the **** hit the fan. And the answer is deregulation. But regardless, there were indeed rationing. There had to be, otherwise electricity would not go to the right place. That's what rationing does. With a product as important as electricity you must ration. There is no other choice. Try living in the real world for a moment.

Also, I thought you weren't any sort of commie any more? What's with the praise for planned economies then?

When I stopped being a communist I didn't just become stupid and ignorant.

[Kidlicious]

So there WEREN'T price caps on residential consumption during the crisis?

Also, not having price caps on residential consumption during the crisis would have been the most incredibly stupid move in the history of idiot market conservatives.

[DaShi]

While the concept is funny, the US would be in similar situations were it not for its proximity to Canada. Canada exports a massive amount of electricity and natural gas to the US to make up for shortfalls, an option Venezuela does not have.

We'd just build more power plants, which would creat more jobs for hard-working Americans and Mexicans. Damn Canadians! Taking our jobs!

[David Floyd]

Hey, less serious debate, more mocking Venezuela. Dammit, people, you're ruining my thread!

[Crying Communist]

[HalfLotus]

Why do you revel in the difficulties of other people? Because they're "socialists"?

No wonder the Venezualans have problems when the US has supported a military coup against their leadership, tried to assassinate Chavez at least twice, and maintained a posture of military and economic "full spectrum dominance" - trying to isolate them economically and diplomatically. Not to mention the IMF's continued rape of Latin America.

And just for kicks we bought another 7 military bases in Colombia for "Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance” operations and “expeditionary warfare” in Latin America. Sounds grand. All while 1 in 5 Americans is unemployed or underemplayed. Good ****.

Americans and their representatives need to learn to leave people the **** alone before they get another 9/11 courtesy of Latin America.

[David Floyd]

Such ignorance.

If Chavez wants to be left alone, he should stop courting military alliances/cooperation with Russia and especially Iran. Sorry, but the US isn't going to be bullied in our own hemisphere. If that isn't fair, so what? Suck on it. The US is the dominant power right now, and for the forseeable future, so if you **** with us, don't be shocked if we **** with you back.

[HalfLotus]

Iran and Venezuela are the bullies. Good one.

You apparently didn't get the memo that the US empire is collapsing. You'll understand it in due time, my friend.

[David Floyd]

Yes, Iran is a bully, given that they are demonstrably funding international terrorism, to wit, Hezbollah at a minimum. Sorry, but I don't want a power that is funding Islamic terrorists to either gain nuclear weapons or influence in my hemisphere. The fact that Venezuela thinks it's wise to court Iran is ****ing stupid of them.

[HalfLotus]

And why does Hezbollah exist? Perhaps to defend against the preeminent terrorist state in the Mideast, Israel? A country for which the US gets on it's knees and sucks dick at every turn. Not to mention umpteen billions in funding and nuclear technology.

I'm not condoning Hezbollah's activities, but get a little perspective bro.

And why and how is Iran a threat to the US? They mind their own business, but the US continues to **** with their government, as they have for the past 40 ****ing years. We threaten them militarily and economically, and carry out "regime change" activities (aka terrorism) in their country for god knows how long. And yet you paint the US as the potential victim. It's ludicrous.

[David Floyd]

Uhhh...yes you are condoning Hezbollah's actions.

And since the inception of Iran's current government they have been unquestionably hostile towards the United States, and the West in general, starting with the seizure of the US Embassy in 1979, for which we SHOULD HAVE bombed them flat. We should have bombed Iran until the rubble was rubble, but unfortunately, Carter had no balls.

And in addition, the fact that a state that supports terrorism and is actively seeking nuclear weapons should be a pretty good sign that we need to do something about them, and should also be a sign to Venezuela that cultivating closer relations is not a good idea. If it came to war, the US could easily defeat Venezuela + Iran, and for that matter, Venezuela + Iran + Russia. It wouldn't even be a tough war. It would over, like, immediately.

[David Floyd]

As for Israel being the pre-eminent terrorist state in the Middle East, that's ****ing rich. Even if you don't think the Jews should have been granted a homeland in 1947, that's over and done with, and between Israeli and the Arabs, only ONE group is blowing up civilians in marketplaces with suicide bombs, and only ONE group has launched aggressive wars of conquest against the other in the past 60 years.

Not to mention that the Arabs claiming Israel as "Arab land" is pretty spurious, given the fact that the people in that region have been fighting over the same land for thousands of years. The fact of the matter is, in the real world of realpolitik, you have to look at the here and now, otherwise, nobody owns anything. Palestine was a British mandate, and it was perfectly within Britain's rights to grant independence to a Jewish state, and it was perfectly within the rights of said Jewish state to defend itself.

[HalfLotus]

US hostages were taken at the Iranian embassy because the CIA, from the embassy, had overthrown a democratically elected government in Iran, and installed the Shah.

Making the world safe for...something, something.


The US continues on the same course of diplomatic interference, and with the organization of illegal coups, in Iran and Venezuela. And when said countries respond to US aggression and interference, they're labeled "hostile" or "terrorists". It's absurd.


Israel is routinely condemned for aggressive actions against Palestine. To paint their behavior as purely defensive is ridiculous. No rational person views it that way - only the ignorant consumers of Israeli propaganda, of which there is no shortage in the US media.

[Whoha]

Best CIA puppet ever.