IntenseDebate - BornGrumbler

4 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment - ... · 0 replies · +2 points

I thought bankers were supposed to be clever, but when you read about the way that they eagerly and naively invest in schemes that turn out to be real boondoggles just impresses me. Like lemmings, they all follow the same course. And the cliff is waiting.

The obvious question is, have none of these oh so clever bankers done their sums? Fracking, shale oil and tar sands are all things that you might do in wartime because you have no other source of supply. The costs are however such that all three are only viable when oil prices are high, and just how high is a matter of debate, as I suspect that the bankers did not get the real figures or did not want to believe them.

4 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment - ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I have seen it said that nuclear fusion will only ever be a fringe technology and not a viable source of power generation. It too produces radiated waste, although not in the form of plutonium or fuel rods.

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Roger Stone o... · 0 replies · +1 points

Is Roger Stone really the icon of freedom that some make him out to be? An aide of Nixon, an aide of Trump ... my bullshit antenna start twitching. Are his statements just lawyer talk?

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 0 replies · 0 points

Oh yes, murder. Why does Venezuela have one of the highest murder rates in the world? And one of the highest kidnapping rates?

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 0 replies · +1 points

Pre-Castro Cuba was not regarded as a rich country, it was a typical Latin America with a small and wealthy ruling elite,
Your reply is more nuanced than most of the others here, and you make some good points. But, at the end of the day, how much of the problem is due to the USA, and how much to Chavez? Ideologically-driven regimes have a habit of creating economic problems, and Cubas is actually an example of that. It is an egalitarian society, but would have been richer overall if it had been more savvy about how to create wealth.Revolutionaries tend not to be economists.
As I see it, Venezuela is split down the middle (shades of the Brexit) and the question is, which is the government that the people really want? Revolutionary governments have a habit of hanging onto power and refusing to go. Is this the case here? In which case, what is the best approach for a peaceful and democratic solution?

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 0 replies · +1 points

> First, "relying on oil income" is just a less specific way of saying "not investing enough on diversifying the economy to prepare for the inevitable day that world oil prices would tumble for an extended period of time." <

That is exactly what i meant. And what is the answer? Why did not Chavez not put the economy on a broader basis?

> Moreover, are you contending that the massive improvements in literacy, education, housing, and healthcare for Venezuela's poorest that occurred under Chávez's rule were funded by whatever scraps were left over after Chávez's cronies had eaten their fill? <

If the improvements were massive, why are there problems now? It goes far beyond a shortfall in income due to falling oil prices.

> From what I saw, the sudden drop in world oil prices correlated much more closely to Saudi Arabia's "decision" to suddenly boost output than to any dramatic increase in fracking production. <

Oil prices are highly volatile, but can only go up in the long term. Any OPEC member that steps out of line upsets the apple cart. Saudi did that, and has done it before. I put it down to the endless greed of the (huge) Saudi royal family.

Fracking has kept oil prices down, but at an ecological cost.

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 0 replies · +1 points

I am not delighted, nor small-minded. Nor impressed by a one-sided ideologically-driven viewpoint. I'm still looking for a relatively impartial summary of the situation. But let us start with one thing: why did Venezuela become so poor while Chavez was in charge? Why are the common people so poor now? I agree that it is a matter for the Venezuelan people to sort out by themselves, but what if it becomes a long drawn out slaughter that is better resolved from outside? I await answers, but not the simplistic ones that so many posters here come up with.

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 1 reply · +1 points

Any country that is largely dependent on oil will be hurt by a fall in oil prices. It hit Russia as well. You say that Chavez helped the people, but I get conflicting reports on which ones he helped.

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 4 replies · 0 points

Chavez's biggest strategic blunder was relying on oil income. His second biggest was to share the money among his cronies, but unfortunately that has a long tradition in Latin America.

"(Remember when world oil prices did tumble? It was after Saudi Arabia decided to boost its oil output, shortly after a state visit from Obama. My guess is that it was a deliberate strategic move, forced by the US, to bring Russia, Iran, and Venezuela to their knees. "

Improbable. Oil prices cannot be manipulated like that. And if anything has reduced oil prices, apart from supply and demand, it has been fracking.

5 years ago @ http://www.information... - Comment -Washington Or... · 0 replies · 0 points

An irrelevant and probably oversimplified comment.

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