gdp's Comments

Caracas Chronicles : Fernandez Barrueco Busted...but why?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:09:08 +0000

I guess Fernadez Barrueco must be differente friom the Fernandez barrueco defended by Chavez in his Alo President as a patriot. This one can't prove where the money came from the other could, a going from a parking lot owner to the King of Mercal could be justified. But a banker? Only real people an be bankers. Not johnny come lately Chavistas, and Chavez knows it. Who is necxt, Arne Chacon, Pedro Torres, Gonzalo Tirado, Jose Zambrano. The rule should be anyone that had money in Andorra is out. Nope, Chavez brother did, so lets start again...

Caracas Chronicles : The Collected Wit and Wisdom of Nelson Merentes

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:13:32 +0000

Y hoy cuatro bancos boliburgueses intervenidos, asi seria el desastre.

Caracas Chronicles : The Collected Wit and Wisdom of Nelson Merentes

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:03:58 +0000

Off Topic, Venezuelan Army blows up two pedestrian bridges between Venezuela and Colombia, according to Colombia's Foreign Minsiter and Minister of Defense.

Caracas Chronicles : The Collected Wit and Wisdom of Nelson Merentes

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:27:48 +0000

According to the Central Bank 3Q09 GDP was less than 3Q07 GDP and also smaller than 3Q06, sure, nothing to worry about.

Caracas Chronicles : The Collected Wit and Wisdom of Nelson Merentes

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:52:35 +0000

This is only the warm up to the explosion of the bubble, unless oil goes to 120, get ready, Merentes is at the helm, coached by Giordani and power veto by Chavez. Anyone that dismisses a 25% contraction in exports, the # 15 contraction out of the last sixteen quarters, has to live abroad to be happy about the numbers. A -4.5% contraction of GDP with 30% inflation is brutal on real people. And you have to love tonight's quote: "It is time to change how we measure the economy". Sure Hugo, Sure John. And we all know who will pay dearly for all this BS, not me, the poor. How IVth. Republic can you guys get, really? This has sounds of "Si la economia se opone, lucharemos hasta cambiar las reglas para que el crecimiento sea positivo"

Caracas Chronicles : Irony-NN

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:10:17 +0000

Great post and compilation, I am appalled that oil workers are so quiet, I thought they had some dignity left.

Caracas Chronicles : The Universal Yawn

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:43:02 +0000

Sorry to say, now it looks like we are not going to war...disappointed at my Presidente, he does not recall saying what he said.

Caracas Chronicles : The Universal Yawn

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:47:59 +0000

I am always in the minority somehow...

Caracas Chronicles : The Universal Yawn

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:45:30 +0000

Hey John! When my President says war, I am ready to go to war, he is the President after all. Why shouldn't I believe him that that is what he wants? He is the only one that has said many times in the last ten years that he is ready to go to war, never heard Uribe say it, so I am assuming we will be attacking, we did try to pile up soldiers on the border once, they just never got there, but that was a different problem. Hope to be ready next time and defend the country from your President who is in cahoots with Uribe.

Caracas Chronicles : The Universal Yawn

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:46:30 +0000

It is a pity, that there is not some nut in the opposition that would come out and back Chavez and support him in his quest to go to war with Colombia with even more radical positions.

Caracas Chronicles : The Huffington Post ...

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:56:06 +0000

Recently Amnesty International, that right wing organization, complained about Chávez using the term "retard" as an insult. Chávez has no respect for anything but those ultra loyal to him. Ask Michael Moore.

Caracas Chronicles : The real winner of the Honduran crisis

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:26:36 +0000

Juan: "The OAS erupted in silence" ¡Te Botaste!

Caracas Chronicles : Killing capital

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:10:17 +0000

One thing has nothing to do with the other. Chavez has been in power 11 years and the only conservation project were the lightbulbs so that Cuba could make a buck. Yes, Venezuela has a huge waste problem but is led by the Government itself. The water and electricity concerns come to light because Chavez has ignored the problem of both for 11 years, including prices for both so low that Corpoelec can not possibly do anything to invest in sustaining its infrastructure. And it is going to get worse, because now there is no money to cover the deficit which is huge. Consumption already exceeds generation capacity. This is not only because nothing new was built, but because power generation capacity was lost. Planta Centro a 2 GW power plant is currently rated at 460 MW because the lack of investment in maintenance over the last few years has ruined its turbines and boilers. BTW I don't waste water, even if I own a Jacuzzi. In naming the new Minister f Electricity or whatever is called Chavez said the problem is not technical but political. This proves he has no clue.

Caracas Chronicles : Killing capital

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:21:15 +0000

Chavez is not pushing water conservation, he is blaming people for the lack of water, which is quite different. If Chavez was interested in any form of conservation, he would do something about the price of gasoline. Chavez is laughing at people. He has done nothing about the water or electric infrastructure in 11 years and now conservation is the solution to the problems as blackouts and water rationing become the norm. The worst part is some people are buying it.

Caracas Chronicles : El Sistema and social policy

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:18:37 +0000

I think that Abreu's s most significant achievement has been to shield the program from the interference of politics.You could make dozens of case studies of institutions in Venezuela which were doing rather well in the fourth and the fifth until some politician decided to interfere with it. It is not a matter of one man doing something, it is a matter of someone with the right knowlegde and vision doing it. This has happened in science, culture, education. When decisions become political, the mediocre rise to the top in Venezuela. And mediocrity begets mediocrity.

Caracas Chronicles : Evita G. officially loses it...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:53:50 +0000

I hear bodyguards planning to go on strike over Maduro taking over their jobs without being part of their union...:-)

Caracas Chronicles : Evita G. officially loses it...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:24:57 +0000

I think it was Chomsky (or was it Barreto?) who called MM "El Novio de Venezuela". The rest as they say, is history.

Caracas Chronicles : Merentes\'s line in the sand gets washed away by the very first wave

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:29:51 +0000

lgg: All true, but Fonden does not have much and PDVSA has a cash flow problem, that leaves the China Fund that has to be used for real infrastructure projects. Not pretty. Quico: Another picture of the press conference sent to me by an investment bank: http://twitpic.com/ktno6

Caracas Chronicles : Off Target

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 12:57:42 +0000

There are more. There is the CADIVI rate of Bs. 2.15. There is the CADIVI+corruption rate of Bs. 3.15 on average, there is the discount rate to brokers that pay commission to intermediaries that supply them with dollar bonds which is typically the swap rate -20%+commission, there is the swap rate and there is the cash rate. That's five!

Caracas Chronicles : \"I\'ll have a second serving of crazy please\"

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 23:02:34 +0000

Juan, Juan, Juan, as your favorite PSF's would say, you are just jealous that you never lost a billion dollars in an Andorran account and had to make up for it!