So much for Socialism.
Notice how it began when they outlawed guns.
I had not idea that they had built their homes out of concrete and shielded them with 3 metal doors.
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Life in Venezuela
- Thread starter DallasCowboysFan
- Start date
So much for Socialism.
Notice how it began when they outlawed guns.
I had not idea that they had built their homes out of concrete and shielded them with 3 metal doors.
So much for Socialism.
Notice how it began when they outlawed guns.
I had not idea that they had built their homes out of concrete and shielded them with 3 metal doors.
It keeps getting better........worse...
I just saw this on yahoo....
----
From 2007 to 2014, China lent Venezuela $63 billion — 53 percent of all its lending to Latin America during this time. There was an important catch to this largesse; to guarantee repayment, Beijing insisted on being repaid in oil.
With most lending agreed to when oil hovered at more than $100 a barrel, as it did for most of 2007-2014, it seemed a good deal for both sides. However, when oil dropped to close to $30 a barrel in January 2016, this caused Venezuela’s price tag for serving its debt to explode. To repay Beijing today, Venezuela must now ship two barrels of oil for every one it originally agreed to.
If Venezuela collapses and Maduro departs unceremoniously, China faces a large risk of diplomatic and financial blowback. Opposition politicians are well aware that China propped up the ruinous Maduro rule. A new Venezuelan government could well refuse to honor the Maduro-era obligations entirely and look to Washington for support instead. That would be both economically and politically embarrassing for China, which in the past has been a vigorous supporter of the right to default — as long as the debts were owed to the West.
But a Venezuelan default could have consequences far beyond Caracas and Beijing. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is planning to extend the same kind of deal it made with Venezuela to many more countries around the world. By leveraging its financial strength and expertise in infrastructure, China saw an opportunity to push its influence farther afield, winning friends and securing assets at the same time.
Venezuela collapsed thanks to a malevolent dictatorship pushing disastrous economic policies aided by a benefactor willing to extend near bottomless credit. This same toxic mix is present throughout many of the countries receiving large amounts of Chinese lending under the BRI. Worried about stagnating economies, autocrats around the world see an opportunity to drive growth by borrowing from China to fund white elephant projects regardless of the long-term consequences.
While China may argue that it makes investment decisions on a purely commercial basis, its history with Venezuela argues otherwise. That has been confirmed by the problems that have already cropped up in BRI-related projects. In the short time since 2016, we’ve already seen major debt problems from Chinese infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. China negotiated a swap of its debt for a 99-year leasehold in a Sri Lankan port project along with surrounding business park development interests. China provided emergency funding to Pakistan over the past year to stave off a potential currency crisis but still plans to invest $52 billion over the next few years in infrastructure projects.
Beijing likes to cite the Marshall Plan when talking about the BRI, but its deals are far more shrewd and self-serving. The BRI scheme isn’t offering concessionary lending or international aid but market-based lending rates with high-interest loans. The borrower countries then have to use Chinese firms, inputs, and workers to build out their railways and ports. China is making the loans not out of a long-sighted vision of a better global order, as its boosters like to claim, but from a calculation of the financial incentives it needs to keep its own over-indebted firms afloat and their workers working.
That’s going to come with hard costs for China. Reports indicate that Chinese officials expect to incur significant losses from their loans to South and Central Asian countries that can’t necessarily pay them back. Consider Sri Lanka, which effectively defaulted on a $2 billion loan from China but subsequently received an offer for an additional $32 billion from Beijing to fund infrastructure projects. There are also good reasons to think Pakistan won’t be able to absorb China’s large investment inflows without triggering inflation, thus undermining its ability to repay the loans.
Officially, China plans to invest $5 trillion over the next 10-15 years in the BRI. If this amount actually materializes in practice, it represents a major sum, even for China, whether in absolute terms or relative to GDP. That means that even relatively small defaults could have a serious cost, economically and politically.
There’s no surer way for China to lose goodwill worldwide than to provide large amounts of ruinous lending that pushes developing countries to financial ruin. Sri Lanka has seen widespread protests and riots over Chinese debt. Meanwhile, Beijing has been leaning on the Venezuelan opposition not to default on the existing debts. All this is already having reputational costs for China. Having witnessed the consequences of Beijing’s lending in Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, other potential borrowers seem to have cooled on the possibility of borrowing from Beijing — or at least to be more discerning of the risks.
Large-scale lending projects without a focus on their economic viability and the repayment capacity of the borrowers are hardly the soundest basis for financial diplomacy of the sort China is attempting to practice. At best, it will lead to mutual suspicions and tensions between lender and borrower. At worst, it will prove financially ruinous for countries burdened with debts they cannot repay in foreign currency they do not possess. Unless China’s lending gets smarter, it may find that nobody’s interested in the money it has to offer.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/06/venezuelas-road-to-disaster-is-littered-with-chinese-cash/
Wtf is that supposed to mean? It's sad when you have this absurd caricature of what people you disagree with believe and refuse to actually listen to what any of them have to say. To the contrary of the purposely misconstrued quotes you hear from your "news" sources on the right, no one on the left has been a fan of anything going on in Venezuela for years. Just like no one on the left seriously believes that Somalia is "masturbation material" for conservatives like you despite the fact that they have no gun control, no federal government, and a theocratic government, all things the right obstensibly stands for. You've built this absurd alternate reality in your head that can't be healthy!That's masturbation material for some of ET's ultra liberals
Your right every "socialist" country is like that. Oh, except they're not, most are far safer and healthier than the U.S. Most countries with authoritarian rulers are like that though. Perhaps that's the common denominator you're looking for? Too obvious, or just doesn't fit your political narrative?So much for Socialism.
Notice how it began when they outlawed guns.
I had not idea that they had built their homes out of concrete and shielded them with 3 metal doors.
Fap Fap FapWtf is that supposed to mean? It's sad when you have this absurd caricature of what people you disagree with believe and refuse to actually listen to what any of them have to say. To the contrary of the purposely misconstrued quotes you hear from your "news" sources on the right, no one on the left has been a fan of anything going on in Venezuela for years. Just like no one on the left seriously believes that Somalia is "masturbation material" for conservatives like you despite the fact that they have no gun control, no federal government, and a theocratic government, all things the right obstensibly stands for. You've built this absurd alternate reality in your head that can't be healthy!
What a well thought out, educated response. Do you always interact on a 6th grade level or just when faced with anything that challenges your worldview and you are scared to actually think about?Fap Fap Fap
Actually the United States is an incredibly safe country if you just stay out of certain urban areasYour right every "socialist" country is like that. Oh, except they're not, most are far safer and healthier than the U.S. Most countries with authoritarian rulers are like that though. Perhaps that's the common denominator you're looking for? Too obvious, or just doesn't fit your political narrative?
It's always the same. Control the guns, control the education of women, track everyone and everything. Unfortunately most of these dictators seem to die comfortably in a palace with 1000 pairs of shoes or something instead of swinging from a tree. I could go for more Ceausescus and fewer Stalins.
BTW, 63 billion is chump change to the Chinese. Don't follow your logic, generally. How is lending money to people bad? This is like blaming the bank when I default on my mortgage. Whose responsibility was it to pay it back? I'll take a look at the Foreign Affairs article--thank you for the link. I hope it is not excessively wordy like most of them.
I have not followed the reactions of the surrounding countries closely. I know Columbia has offered some help to refugees. Can someone please flesh out the story of how the neighbors are helping, if any?
I knew some very nice Venezuelans in college in LA back in the 70s. Good people. I am sorry for what is happening to them. I find it amusing that everyone is saying we should get involved in Syria, but no one is talking about Venezuela. What is the difference other than political?
BTW, 63 billion is chump change to the Chinese. Don't follow your logic, generally. How is lending money to people bad? This is like blaming the bank when I default on my mortgage. Whose responsibility was it to pay it back? I'll take a look at the Foreign Affairs article--thank you for the link. I hope it is not excessively wordy like most of them.
I have not followed the reactions of the surrounding countries closely. I know Columbia has offered some help to refugees. Can someone please flesh out the story of how the neighbors are helping, if any?
I knew some very nice Venezuelans in college in LA back in the 70s. Good people. I am sorry for what is happening to them. I find it amusing that everyone is saying we should get involved in Syria, but no one is talking about Venezuela. What is the difference other than political?
Actually Alaska has one of the highest homicide rates in the country and none of the minority infested "certain urban areas" that you probably think are the downfall of the nation. Also happens to be one of the most gun owning and gun toting states in the country, as I know from living there, so another conservative "truth" shot to hell.Actually the United States is an incredibly safe country if you just stay out of certain urban areas
Bottom line is that it's foolish to say "socialist states are violent, just look at Venezuela", when it is a distinct minority among socialist states that are by and large some of the safest places in the world. And anyone who isn't blinded by ideology can clearly see it's violent because it's an oppressive dictatorship, not because it's socialist.
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Still, homicide is one of the top 10 or 12 causes of death in the US. Not the case in most places. But perhaps you are right, it's like the unemployment rate: the average does not mean anything.
1.6 per 100,000 persons per year murdered here in my little privileged world of Bellevue, WA. My risk of dying in a car accident in the next year is several times that.
60.37 per 100,000 persons per year in Detroit-ouch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate
However, I note that US is listed as having fourth highest murder rate in world, right after Venezuela, and we are the only first-world country to make the list
1.6 per 100,000 persons per year murdered here in my little privileged world of Bellevue, WA. My risk of dying in a car accident in the next year is several times that.
60.37 per 100,000 persons per year in Detroit-ouch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate
However, I note that US is listed as having fourth highest murder rate in world, right after Venezuela, and we are the only first-world country to make the list