The End of Chavez

Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, friend of Fidel Castro and enemy of all that is good and right in the world has been granted very broad dictatorial powers by the National Assembly (their Congress).

From the article:

Chavez, a former paratroop commander who easily won re-election in December, has said he will use the law to decree nationalizations of Venezuela's largest telecommunications company and the electricity sector, slap new taxes on the rich and impose greater state control over the oil and natural gas industries.

The law also allows Chavez to dictate unspecified measures to transform state institutions; reform banking, tax, insurance and financial regulations; decide on security and defense matters such as gun regulations and military organization; and "adapt" legislation to ensure "the equal distribution of wealth" as part of a new "social and economic model."

Chavez plans to reorganize regional territories and carry out reforms aimed at bringing "power to the people" through thousands of newly formed Communal Councils, in which Venezuelans will have a say on spending an increasing flow of state money on neighborhood projects from public housing to road repaving.

What Chavez is going to do will so thoroughly and completely destroy that country that the people will be begging America to come down and take over the oil fields and make the country productive again. Hopefully this will be short term pain for long term gain.

Our Congress should immediately cut off any foreign aid to Venezuela, all humanitarian relief, etc. Let them stew in what they have created. It won't take long before Chavez is crying to the United Nations that his country deserves a fair share of the wealth of the world and goes begging for funds.

The nationalization of important industries always reduces productivity; nearly eliminates innovation, causes prices to rise and supporting industries to fail. When you remove incentives to produce, that's exactly what happens. That's why a Socialist Paradise will never exist. You have to let the producers produce. It keeps the non-producers employed, fed, housed, etc. Let the producers get rich, it helps everyone.