The future of Fayetteville if the Free Thinkers Ran The Show

[John Galt]

If the big income earners of the Free Thinkers ran Fayetteville... this would be our future (I suspect without the TV's and new cars....) BTW, Barbara- Sr. Chavez is a thug who is hated by the productive citizens of Venezuela.

From mangalorean.com/

Caracas, Dec 24: The sound of cash registers is the pervading Christmas music in Caracas, even as the promoter of "socialism of the 21st century," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calls for a fight against consumerism and "savage capitalism".

Venezuela today is an odd mixture that combines the socialist ideology of the "revolutionary process" together with unbridled consumerism fed by economic uncertainty and rising inflation, calculated at more than 20 percent in 2007, which makes saving an almost useless undertaking.

Shopping malls in the Venezuelan capital, pride and daily refuge of hundreds of thousands of Caracas residents, are crowded with citizens these days trying to find gifts for the year-end holidays, Spain's EFE news agency reported.

Everything is available: plasma TVs, digital cameras, the latest cell phones, laptop and notebook computers, designer sunglasses, all bought with the extra Christmas pay check that salaried Venezuelans receive.

"Money burns a hole in Venezuelans' pockets," said Nelson Gonzalez, a salesman at the Sambil shopping center on the east side of Caracas and considered the country's biggest.

The waiting list for buying a car in Venezuela can take months, so that even second-hand cars are coveted treasures and one of the best investments, since they scarcely lose any value.

The Automobile Chamber of Venezuela reported that between last January and November, 449,549 new cars were sold, 45.6 percent more than in the same period of the previous year, which the government flaunts as a sign of economic improvement in the country, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Caracas' constant traffic jams are crammed with all those new cars whose gas tanks can be filled for only a dollar. They join the nation's total automobile fleet where dilapidated cars from the 1970s that Venezuelans' mechanical creativity keeps on the road run alongside brand new Hummers and the latest models from Toyota.

On the other hand, when shoppers go to the supermarket looking for the most ordinary products, they find a strange paradox: eggs, milk, chicken and sugar are scarce and many shelves are empty.

According to the government, this is due to a policy of hoarding by national producers who prefer to send their products to a parallel market or abroad rather than sell them in markets where the government has established price controls for some 120 basic foods.

Producers and storekeepers, however, say that the scarcity of basic products is caused by the "unrealistic" price controls in force since March 2003, as well as by the rigid official rate of exchange at 2,159 bolivars in the dollar.

Nonetheless, in some downtown areas of the Venezuelan capital, such as Capitolio, El Silencio and La Hoyada, swarms of street vendors offer all the basic, price-controlled products at much higher prices than the government has established.

Trays of eggs, chicken and powdered milk are stacked up for sale by vendors in the busy historic centre of the Venezuelan capital, while big supermarkets announce product scarcities with posters that request, for example, that shoppers buy only two litres of milk per person due to the lack of stocks.

Analysts say that it is the parallel currency-exchange market, where the dollar has at times tripled the official value that pushes up prices not only for basic products but also for everything sold in the country.

Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas implicitly acknowledged this situation when he announced in mid-December a plan for more flexible price controls.

As a first measure, the Venezuelan government last week decided to free the price of UHT milk with a long shelf life, which can only be found outside official channels of distribution.

Caracas shoppers will no longer have to go all over town looking for it, nor wait in the endless lines of the Mercales, the public markets organized by the government, to get milk at subsidized prices.

Eggs and sugar, however, will continue to lead a double life in the limbo known as the "informal economy," waiting for President Chavez's revolution to solve the paradoxes of "socialism of the 21st century."

[Doug]

If the big income earners of the Free Thinkers ran Fayetteville... this would be our future (I suspect without the TV's and new cars....)

DOUG
Why in the world should anyone think that's true? I don't see any reason to think that if the big income earners of the Freethinkers ran Fayetteville there would be any change to make Fayetteville more like Venezuela.

[Dardedar]

DAR
He knows our group so well. That's why he thinks the word "freethinker" is two words.

D.
--------------------------
free·think·er –noun

a person who forms opinions on the basis of reason, independent of authority or tradition, esp. a person whose religious opinions differ from established belief.

[Doug]

DAR
He knows our group so well. That's why he thinks the word "freethinker" is two words.

DOUG
Presumably, though, he knows we would cause a milk shortage. Darrel has goats. At least we could provide goat milk.

[LaWood]

Venezuela today is an odd mixture that combines the socialist ideology of the "revolutionary process" together with unbridled consumerism fed by economic uncertainty and rising inflation, calculated at more than 20 percent in 2007, which makes saving an almost useless undertaking.
posted by Galt

Inflation of more than 20% eh? Since taking office Chavez has decreased inflation from 80% to just under 20%. That's progress !

Source: Banco Central de Venezuela.
http://www.latin-focus.com/latinfocus/c ... vencpi.htm

Chavez inherited from former president, Perez, the stooge for International Monetary Fund,
billions in debt which had destabilized the nation. He has brought much of the destabilization under control.

[John Galt]

Chavez is a sad joke...the next Castro. Your hate for the US blinds you from the reality that we'll soon have Zimbabwe in South America.

The sorry subjects of this NUT are sad to know that American Liberals support their tormentor. Very Sad....

You are sick. (or woefully uninformed).......

[Dardedar]

DAR
Larry makes a comment and backs it up with references. Galt responds to none of it and makes some emotional noises. Pitiful.

[Doug]

Chavez is a sad joke...the next Castro. Your hate for the US blinds you from the reality that we'll soon have Zimbabwe in South America.)

DOUG
So we should overthrow another democracy in South America? So much for spreading democracy in the world. We got rid of Allende in Chile and replaced him with a dictator. No doubt you just love stuff like that and want to do it again. Because you love democracy! *snicker, snicker*

And even though MOST of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and 50% of the foreign insurgents in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia, Bush kisses and hugs Saudi Arabian royal dicators when they come here. And you support that too. Why? Because you love democracy! *snicker, snicker*