Today I learned something about Venezuela...

Carmine

Old Man with a Hat
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The government siezing a GM factory has obviously been big news in Detroit, so I was doing some reading on the subject and turned up this (2010) NY Times piece.

Detroit’s Monsters Thrive on a Diet of Cheap Gas

If you can stomach the predictible NYT opinion drivel about "giant sized gas-guzzling dinosaurs from the evil Detroit cabal" etc., the article is interesting (as are the slide show and video).

Essentially the 70's oil boom in Venezuela created a ripple in time where American luxury cars flooded in. The dictators preach Anti-American sentiment, but have also subsidized fuel, so people keep driving the big US cars rather than crappy modern commie-mobiles from Iran. Like Cuba, but with spare parts.
 
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I'm more surprised GM was still in Venezuela. The real news is how blatantly anti-American the NYT has become. I like their phrasing. They seized the bad GM plant but nationalized the oil industry. Hell they seized the oil industry from foreign oil companies kicking them out.
Venezuela has been a corrupt, socialist hell-hole for years. I did a job in an auto plant there a few years ago. Nobody from our co. would go there. We put the equipment in a container and let the customer self perform the project. The only country in the western hemisphere we refuse to travel to.
 
I'm more surprised GM was still in Venezuela. The real news is how blatantly anti-American the NYT has become. I like their phrasing. They seized the bad GM plant but nationalized the oil industry. Hell they seized the oil industry from foreign oil companies kicking them out.
Venezuela has been a corrupt, socialist hell-hole for years. I did a job in an auto plant there a few years ago. Nobody from our co. would go there. We put the equipment in a container and let the customer self perform the project. The only country in the western hemisphere we refuse to travel to.

A shame. The people seem nice and obviously share our "American" tastes, but once again... like Cuba, and to a lesser degree, Mexico, they get crapped on by despot socialist dictators.
 
If enough of them don't like it I would think they might put some effort into changing it. I know it's not human nature to stick together, but the population of the ruling class is much smaller than the population in general.


A shame. The people seem nice and obviously share our "American" tastes, but once again... like Cuba, and to a lesser degree, Mexico, they get crapped on by despot socialist dictators.
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If enough of them don't like it I would think they might put some effort into changing it. I know it's not human nature to stick together, but the population of the ruling class is much smaller than the population in general.

That's why you don't put a lobster in an already boiling pot. You raise the temp gradually. We are all in pots, the only difference is the temp.
 
Their 10 cent gas is just a form of welfare or food stamps.
 
From what I have seen I bet they would prefer food over cheap gas. Wonder where Joe Kennedy is on their situation? A while back he couldn't say enough good about the Venezuelan government, and their generosity.
 
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