The power of Hugo Chavez - literally
Sucks to be you.
Hugo Chavez has been 'nationalizing' the major utilities in Venezuela with very predictable results.
From
Reuters:
Power blackout in Venezuelan capital, oil province
A power blackout hit major parts of Venezuela on Monday, including the capital and an oil-producing province, darkening buildings, knocking out traffic lights and disrupting plane and train journeys.
It was the second massive outage in just over four months on the OPEC nation's electricity grid, which is creaking from outdated infrastructure and low investment.
Let me get this straight -- you want me to come in and build up a solid infrastructure fully knowing that when it is up and running, you will nationalize and pay me pennies on the pound? Not on your life buster!
More:
It was the second massive outage in just over four months on the OPEC nation's electricity grid, which is creaking from outdated infrastructure and low investment.
There were no reports of problems in the country's mainstay oil industry, which is a leading supplier to the United States, the state oil company said.
In some areas, such as the central commercial city of Barquisimeto, electricity was lost for only a few seconds.
Like duh??? That is their only source of income. The barely feed themselves so the oil is where all of the infrastructure money goes.
More:
In April, an even larger blackout hit Venezuela and officials failed to restore power for several hours.
That outage caused chaos for commuters who were caught in snarled traffic or forced to walk miles (kilometers) home as underground trains stopped operating and armed troops poured onto the streets to keep order.
After that outage, the government of President Hugo Chavez acknowledged there has been too little investment in the electricity grid over the last few years. It promised massive spending but warned it could take time for the new investment to improve the system.
Last year, the leftist government nationalized the country's largest private electricity company.
Emphasis mine -- how long is it going to take the poor citizens to realize that "for the people" means "for Hugo and his cronies". There has never been a successful pure socialist state. The only one that comes even close is Iceland because of its incredible riches but even there, as soon as someone starts getting successful, they are taxed into oblivion so the drive to be creative and clever and successful gets stymied and the nation as a whole suffers for the loss -- lots of nice art and writing but no commercial innovation...
Posted by DaveH at September 1, 2008 10:41 PM