By Peter Bohmer / Zcommunications
"In the 1980's, we were told by government leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, most economists, media pundits such as Thomas Friedman that there is no alternative (TINA) to unregulated market capitalism. This economic model and the related policies are called neoliberalism in Latin America."......
I will share some of my understanding of the present and possible future of Venezuela so that we can effectively counter the criticisms we hear of it by our politicians and media.. Another reason to study the Venezuela proceso is so that we can dream about and learn lessons for organizing and advocating for socialism in the 21st century in the U.S., a country that today is more unequal in its income distribution than Venezuela. [ii] Venezuela is not socialist but rather Chávez and others calling for 21st century socialism are placing Venezuela in that tradition while calling for something different and new and culturally appropriate and historically specific for Venezuela. In this paper, I will also briefly examine the Venezuelan economy today."
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<span style=" line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;">There has been significant growth in private and public capital formation including infrastructure, machinery and business and farming equipment, offices, factories, roads and in employment and production in all sectors of the economy including manufacturing and agriculture.</span>
ReplyDeleteThis is important. The policy must not be totally redistributive. Surplus must be set aside for capital investments, and not merely towards countering depreciation (ie. replacing what already exists). Investment needs to go beyond that. Since we are talking about an underdeveloped country, surplus needs to be destined toward expanding the industrial base. That is what I fear is not happening in Venezuela.
Yes, this could be a problem Mara. But it is not solved by elite group investment, or foreign control investment. Of course, this was the same thing I said about Cuba in another post.
ReplyDeleteI recognize the problem, v. I just don't know how to solve it.
ReplyDeleteOn a totally different wave...
ReplyDeleteYo tengo un sabor a playa en este cuerpo I have a taste of beach in my body y un sabor a coco que me quema, and a coconut flavor that burns me. una canción nocturna en mi garganta There is a nocturnal song in my throat. manchas de plátano corren por mis venas. Plantain stains run through my veins.
Traigo rumor de olas en mis orejas My ears ring with the pounding of waves y ecos de tambores que arrebatan, and the captivating beat of drums. y un dolor de tristeza en mi sonrisa. I wear the pain of a sad smile.
Tengo la piel morena y me encanta I am proud of my dark skin y por eso yo traigo fuerza en mi cintura, and of my powerful hips. ritmo de amor y en mis manos I have the rhythm of love las maracas alegres de un seis borincano. and in my hands I hold the happy maracas of a Puerto Rican seis.
Mara, every time I see Sonia Sotomayor I feel a pain in my heart (figuratively speaking), of the 35% of Puerto Rican Latina women sterilized by this systemic capitalistic beast. There is never an end to the blaming of overpopulation for economic problems and unemployment, where the United States creates these conditions. The rest follows from there...
ReplyDeleteMara, Chavez has a plan to deal with falling oil production and the falling capital stock/GDP ratio.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/americas/15venez.html?_r=1
Chavez is encouraging greater global investment in the energy sector. Hopefully he will expand this to other sectors as well.
"Nationalizations in other sectors, like agriculture and steel manufacturing, are fueling capital flight, leaving Venezuela reliant on oil for about 93 percent of its export revenue in 2008, up from 69 percent in 1998 when Mr. Chávez was first elected."
Chavez is more pragmatic and sensible than many give him credit for. This is one reason I kind of like him. Let us remember that in 1999 and 2004, op eds in the Wall Street Journal and other prominent global business publications endorsed Chavez' election and reelection.
Many people who know Chavez in the business community like him. I met many at business conferences.
Absolutely. The entire Caribbean was used as a petri dish.
ReplyDeleteIn the long run, I tend to be bullish on commodities because of China. One needs to separate the (short term) business cycle from long term trends.
ReplyDeleteI agree Mara, regarding rising commodity prices. Don't forget India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa . . . all of which are likely to have synchronised growth.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, I notices that Natural Gas remains at 2001-2002 lows, or $3.74 versus $16 in 2006. I am thinking of buying some. The price of {Oil}/Natural Gas has never been higher than it is now.
No wonder Moy hasnt been around here. His grand socialist plans are not panning out in LA, and the USA (ie gringos) hasnt collapsed in a cloud of smoke....(yet?)! LOL
ReplyDelete"...In the new Latin America, party affiliation and ideological inheritance may be heartfelt, but they are lousy compasses to the political future. And while neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus may be still be maldiciones below the Rio Grande, they are hardly dead or even out of fashion. In fact, with the exception of Mexico—whose fortunes are tethered to the faltering U.S. market—the nations faring best in the global financial downturn are those that have hewed closest to the free-market reforms that have proved so politically provocative. If onetime left-wingers are in charge in a dozen Central and South American states, most remain leftists in name only.
In part, this is because Latin America voters are changing. Despite the financial meltdown and for all the lather over neoliberalism, young Latin Americans are still in favor of free-market capitalism. In a PODER/Zogby poll commissioned earlier this year by NEWSWEEK, 63 percent of Latin Americans ages 18 to 29 said they believe that free trade is not only good but "benefits all people." The same number saw Colombia's FARC guerrillas as terrorists or drug traffickers, and two thirds named Chávez as the leader worst suited to lead the region in the future. That doesn't mean that Latin America is veering right again, but it may just be learning to cherish the middle ground.
Consider Alan Garcia, the guitar-playing enchanter who nearly wrecked Peru with his checkbook populism in the late 1980s. Now he's back, but this time as the poster boy of international investors—and reaping the results. Peru's economy is on track to expand by 2.5 to 3 percent this year and 6 percent in 2010; mining stocks have doubled in value on Lima's BVL bourse since January. In Chile, Bachelet's Socialist Party publicly disses neoliberals and the Washington Consensus, but in office she has abided by their rules and kept to the no-nonsense prescriptions of the center-left coalition Consertación. Although she has pumped money into social programs, she has taken care not to rock the broad consensus in favor of the free trade and fiscal conservatism that have kept Latin America's most vigorous capitalist economy on course.
In Brazil, Lula swapped his sweaty denim for tailored suits, broke bread with investors, and paid down the country's debts religiously, and though he is beginning to spread perks and pork again (with an eye on next year's election), his government still boasts one of the most conservative monetary policies on earth. (The central bank's prime lending rate is 8.75 percent a year.) Everyone but Brazil's factory-fitted leftists is delighted. Lula has an enviable 80 percent approval rating..."
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It is amazing that much of Latin America (Brazil and Chile in particular) are more free market and pro business than the people's republic of America.
ReplyDeleteYou left out Central America. With the exception perhaps of Panama, the countries that so embraced the US preferential trade treaty CAFTA-DR are not faring so well - and the reason is precisely their embrace of a US production sharing model that has patently failed. You don't progress economically by stitching pre-fabricated cloth into low end clothing or answering American Express customer service accounts in some call center.
ReplyDeleteThe second "guest", above was me.
ReplyDeleteToday we take a look at which countries have best weathered the global recession and credit crunch. All economies have been affected by the crisis, but a combination of policy responses and strong fundamentals has given some countries, especially some emerging market economies, a relative edge. These same strengths could lead the countries we highlight below to perform better as the global recovery begins, even if their growth rates remain well below 2003-2007 trends.
ReplyDeleteWhat commonalities are visible among these countries? One major theme is that they tended to have lower financial vulnerabilities due to more restrictive regulation and less developed financial markets, as well as larger and stronger domestic markets that sustained domestic demand. Moreover, they had the resources to engage in counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policies, actions that were not possible in past crises. In contrast, countries that borrowed heavily to finance domestic consumption in the days of easy money are now facing sharp economic contractions. Despite the relative strength of these countries, however, their ability to return to sustained growth will depend on structural reforms that support consumption.