Tourist Mementos

Just taking flight to Porlamar triggers reflections. Flying over Cubagua, what a good place!... to set up the mother of all "Surviving" episodes, placing 10,000 ultra pro and 10,000 ultra against Chavistas and letting them, unarmed, negotiate an islet project.

I landed at the Porlamar International Airport and speculated on the impact that a photo would have for Joe W. from Texas, a fan of adventure tourism, where “Er Arcarde” [the local mayor] gave him, for his personal use, a latest model Cavim bulletproof vest.

At the airport I confirm that the “duty free” type stores, which in the whole world mean high prices, are camouflaged and do not stand out in a “duty free” area and I remember having proposed to tax “L'Aisla” with very high taxes, to then encourage tax evasion tourism, thus reclaiming its venerable smuggling tradition. For Hans from Hamburg, there should be no antelope head that can compete with a tax evasion certificate issued by the Chamber of Commerce.

And following the same vein, imagine the shy and obedient Lisa from Birmingham, taking a photo “negotiating with the authorities”, with that fat traffic guy who always stopped me at the intersection of Rómulo Gallegos and Los Ruices.

Hans and Helga, the environmentalists from Amsterdam, will remember their protests in front of the power plants that burn oil, because of the geniuses who prefer to cross the Gran Sabana with a power line, to sell our hydroelectricity to Brazil, cheaper than the one we bought to Colombia.

Frank from Boston will be able to visit the Miss Venezuela museum, that should be built; and Moníque from Cannes, could rebuild her ego in Playa El Agua, noting that there are still those who are not indifferent to her uncovered parts.

Finally, and as a great departure gift, everyone will find in their hotel, bound in leather, a copy of the Official Gazette of July 15, 1998, which contains Instruction No. 1 for the Public Servant, which among others, in Article 19 forces the use of “You”, prohibiting familiarities, such as “my love”.

Some time ago I read the label of a soft drink, which proudly proclaimed “Guaranteed 100% artificial” and learned about the importance of mental attitude. Frankly, Margarita is too much of an Island to follow the same route as the others in the Caribbean, where, even on the souvenir flannels we can read, “Different Island...same shit....”

http://alborotandoturismo.blogspot.com/2001/08/momentos-turisticos.html

Hugo, me and the Revolution

Hugo, me and the Revolution

When I see our industrial cemeteries, where the hopes of so many Venezuelans lie due to a very poorly implemented trade liberalization and a stupid exchange rate policy, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I see the United States apply a 60% tariff on the import of orange concentrate and only allow the best quality to be imported, while Venezuela only applies 20% and allows the entry of any garbage, condemning our orange groves to die, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I observe the very unfair distribution of income in my country, the inefficiency of fiscal spending and I notice how efforts to collect an income tax are abandoned for the ease of VAT and other direct taxes, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution .

When we reflect on the decades of silence in the face of a terrible education system and the obscene and violent programming with which our television stations indoctrinate our youth, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

When I see my Venezuela immersed in anarchy, without an authority capable of controlling that small percentage of abusers, who exist everywhere, I know that Hugo and I want a revolution.

But, when Hugo says that his revolution is the daughter of the Chinese or Cuban revolution, I also know that Hugo and I are not talking about the same revolution.

My revolution only pursues the humble goal of achieving a good Venezuelan government for Venezuelans and that, if we ever make a mistake along the way, at least it will be in favor of Venezuela. My revolution welcomes the foreign investor happily, but it is only happy when it manages to retain the Venezuelan investor. In my revolution, except for the strengthening of OPEC (including gas and incorporating new members), a pragmatic Great-Colombianism and a rational environmental solidarity, there are no resources or time for other geopolitical considerations.

Although I consider that selling about 53 thousand barrels of oil to Cuba under overly generous conditions is a minor sin, compared to the still not so distant proposal of selling 5 million barrels to the world at a price of only 7 dollars; The fact is that as long as some Venezuelan is dying of hunger, does not receive a good education or decent health care, my revolution does not contemplate giving anything to anyone – except, a Christian solidarity in emergencies.

Hugo has an amazing ability to communicate, in a pedagogical way, Venezuelan messages to the Nation and in this sense, for those of us who know that the future requires building bridges of understanding, he represents a very valuable asset for the country. For this reason, whoever has access to Hugo, please ask him to stop with this invention and not waste his talent, speaking to the Sovereign, in Chinese with a Cuban accent.

Translated by Google from an Op-Ed in Venezuela April 26, 2001

https://radicaldelmedio.blogspot.com/2001/04/hugo-yo-y-la-revolucion.html

Beware of bank consolidation

Beware of bank consolidation

Every day there are fewer banks in the world. For those of us who have heard horror stories about those who, in order to solve problems with fraudulent withdrawals from their cards, must talk on the phone with anonymous voices and try to sound innocent, thinking about the possibility that one day we will only have one bank left, reminds us of Kafka .

But, apart from experiences worthy of a Stephen King, banking consolidation, an evolution that has been sold to us as a marvel, may contain other risks not sufficiently commented on – or happily ignored. Among these the following:

Less risk diversification. Whatever the authorities do to guarantee the diversification of banks, there is no doubt that fewer banks mean fewer baskets in which to put the eggs. When I read that during the first four years of the 1930s in the United States a total of 9,000 banks failed – I wonder what would have happened to that country if there had been just one bank.

Regulatory risk. Before, there were many countries and many ways of regulating banking. Today, when rules of global application are arrogantly dictated in Basel, the effects of any mistake can be explosive.

Excessive similarity. Encouraging banks to adopt common rules and regulations is ignoring the differences between economies, which is why some countries will end up with banking systems that are poorly adapted to their needs. Certainly, regulations whose main objective appears to be to safeguard capital come into conflict with other functions of banking, such as promoting economic growth and democratizing access to capital.

Less diversity of criteria. The smaller the number of participants, the lower the diversity of opinions and, with this, the greater the risk of misconceptions prevailing. Anyone who doubts this should read the one-dimensional analyzes published by the risk rating agencies.

Violent reaction. The development of decision-making processes has benefits but also risks. Thus we see that the speed of information itself, which promotes a rapid and immediate response, can aggravate the problems. Before, between those who took the problem home to study it and those who found out about it late, the market was provided with a buffer, which often saved it from untimely and poorly thought-out decisions.

Unclear benefits. To date we have not seen a foreign bank grant, for example, mortgage loans with globalized term terms and interests. In this sense, the benefits of a global bank are not clear, when it operates replacing local banking.

Cost of global aid. When banking in Venezuela had its last crisis, among other reasons due to buying banks at excessive prices, it was sad but logical that the cost was paid by our country. Today, with globalized banks, which are not immune to committing scams, as well as buying other banks at whatever price, who will pay the bill?

Nowadays, when the world calls for bank mergers or consolidations, I wonder if, on the contrary, the creation of special reserves based on size should not be imposed on banks. The larger the bank, the worse the fall and the greater the need to avoid it.

http://subprimeregulations.blogspot.com/2001/03/beware-of-bank-consolidation-early.html

 

Here is the energy family

Here is [my] the energy family

Dad Oil, a tough and hard-working guy, who brings the bread to the house. He is quite lonely since the family, even though they like him to earn well, ignores him, considering that marketing the devil's excrement does not have enough social status. In his work, when facing difficulties such as consumption taxes, he seeks the company of the OPEC guys, even when they also seem somewhat lacking in desire.

The Hydro breast, always present with its clean and pure energy. As long as there is good communication, he does not need praise and fulfills his duties by sowing renewable warmth in the family.

The eldest son, Carbon, [coal] a solid and conservative boy, even if somewhat boring. He doesn't complain much but, by searching for his language, we can hear him commenting on how unfair it is that he is ignored at home, while in countries like Germany and Spain, his peers enjoy such extraordinary subsidies that they even go by the same name as his father Petroleum.

The second, Heavy Oil, a man who, although he looks like his father, does not even remotely have his father's personality. He is a slow and heavy guy, but if someone only gave him some technical clinics, who knows if in the future he couldn't become a real cleanup hitter. Recently he tried to do something, putting on the Orimulsion flannel but, even in Florida, supposedly a friendly state, they wouldn't let him play.

The little boy Gas – who everyone knows as the genius of the family – but nothing he can start. Although he is a good associate of Dad Oil, helping him fill the empty spaces he leaves, he fails to assert himself when he is alone and free. However, one day he will be a star

The Aeolian female and her alternative cousins ​​are still too young to know how they will behave, but they look good.

Finally, there is a nuclear guy who, because he lives outside the country, almost no one knows him.

What's the point? It occurred to me that describing our energy family in this way could help me explain what a few of us consider to be possible errors in our energy policy as a country. Let's see.

The little Gas boy, instead of preparing him to exploit all his talents in the future and assist him in forming his own OPEG, we want to launch him onto the streets alone, because we have read that he is fashionable in other countries. We don't even realize that one of the reasons for its popularity is that since it is not organized, it is a perfect strikebreaker to be used against its father Oil. Furthermore, and even if it is not bad to generate electricity, when considering its true potential, burning it in this task is like being satisfied with it washing dishes, as long as it is in New York.

Regarding Heavy Oil, if in the Orinoco Belt we sold cheaply, for about 30 years, to various national and foreign groups the bitumen they need and in return developed on-site technologies for generating plants, we could make the boy a champion. How much better than to make him pass off today's global punishment as fat, dirty and flabby!

Finally, Carbon [coal] is not without reason. If they can use it in other parts of the world and if its value is not really seen to rise explosively in the future, why don't we allow it to be useful, generating electricity?

Obviously, all of these are only matters that a united family understands and considers.

PS. Translated by Google from  an Op-Ed in Venezuela, March 1, 2001

 

 

No, thanks

 No, thanks

The following paragraph is extracted verbatim from the UK Energy Report 1999, published by the Department of Trade and Industry of England.

“The retail price of products is largely determined by taxes, especially for fuel. The attached figures ... illustrate the increasing proportion of the price of gasoline attributable to taxes. The incidence of taxes, ...explains around 85 percent of the final price of unleaded gasoline..." Prices are expected to continue growing, given the commitment of the English Government to increase taxes on petroleum by an average of 6 % annual, above inflation.

The report's figures indicate that the price of petrol before tax fell from 15 to 10 pence per liter between 1980 and 1999, a decrease of 33%. However, for the same period in England, the consumer price went from 26 to 68 pence per liter, increasing 162%. The explanation for this phenomenon is found in the various taxes on gasoline, which rose from 11 pence in 1980 to 58 pence per liter in 1999, an increase of 427%.

Taxes, applied in a discriminatory manner to oil, which favor coal, for example, affect both the volume and the sales price of our main export product and therefore directly harm our country. All of Europe applies taxes of the same order and the other consuming economies, except the United States, are evolving in the same direction.

It was only a few months ago that the magnitude of these taxes was understood and the consequences, at least in Europe, were serious protests by consumers. It will be necessary to observe whether in 2001, countries like England and Germany, even when stripped, continue with their pre-programmed increases.

The relative silence of Venezuela and other oil-producing countries, the truly aggrieved ones, is surprising. Sometimes I wonder if such passivity has its origin in the fact that in this globalized world, everyone is still dying for the possibility that one day The Queen will invite them to have tea in her palace.

In November 2000, the president of the European Energy Foundation of the European Union, with great cynicism, announced that in the dialogue between oil consumers and producers, everything could be discussed, except taxes, since these did not significantly affect consumption.

In December 2000, the European Union announced a donation of 55 million euros for the reconstruction of Vargas, to be disbursed over two years.

In a world that preaches free trade, oil taxes are hypocrisy. I, being a Venezuelan of European descent, may react in particular, but I am convinced that we have to place our protest in its correct dimension. In this sense, and even if I had never rejected the help offered by the United States during the tragedy in Vargas, today I would not hesitate to respond to Europe: No thanks, we do not want your donation, that amount is equivalent to what Venezuela would obtain each week if You, on the basis of false environmentalism and real fiscal voracity, do not apply taxes that discriminate against oil. We will not help calm their institutional conscience by accepting some insolent barter with begging mirrors.

(Translated by Google from an Op-Ed published in Venezuela February 1, 2001)

The Oil Curse

My Plan Colombia

My Plan Colombia

In times of disagreement, it is important to draw the conveniences, which is why I firmly believe that with the people and land of Venezuela and Colombia we could build a Nation capable of competing, face to face, with the other superpowers of the world. However, given the many mental and real barriers that exist, you will probably ask me: what lumpia [eggroll) did I smoke?

Paraphrasing Carlos Zubillaga, I consider that one of the obstacles to the integration of interests of the two countries is due to the fact that Colombia seems to have developed under the influence of a ruling class, which only sought to dominate, while in Venezuela, our course was marked by a ruling class that refused to dominate.

Another impediment is the loss of self-confidence, caused first and foremost by the gospel of globalization. Normally, our geographical conditions, between north and south, east and west, would represent for a glass-half-full philosopher a cluster of fortresses, but unfortunately, for our glass-half-empty philosophers, they only constitute weak flanks to protect.

To make matters worse, even Bolívar's life cycle, his birth and death, which could unite us so much, instead of constituting a platform to launch us into a greater future, only seems to anchor us in the past.

Given these difficulties, it is understandable that prudence suggests deferring an integration effort until when more favorable conditions exist. However, the reality is that our Colombia, said with the same right and respect with which I hope they can refer to their Venezuela, faces something very close to a civil war, which we simply cannot ignore.

Of course, if we want to preserve the ambitions of achieving a future and twinned greatness, we cannot participate directly in this conflict, but I believe that this should not mean that our only alternative for action is to equip our border and avoid the splash of a Colombia Plan.

On the contrary, the moment is historically opportune to relaunch an aggressive economic integration plan that helps us, both them and us, to understand that the true obstacles to a better future are very, very far from the causes of a fratricidal conflict.

In this sense, I propose that we immediately seek to reaffirm the Andean Pact, at least as it relates to Colombia and Venezuela. To begin, we must seek to align our currencies in order to maximize Colombian-Venezuelan commercial exchange and impose significant external and common trade barriers, which will allow us to create an important internal market.

The above, like a successful angioplasty, could unblock the commercial arteries and oxygenate the economies to such an extent that both Colombia and Venezuela can observe new and better horizons and perhaps even a bonanza that allows generating new and peaceful solutions.

In so many places in the world we observe the presence of wars caused by passions that are absolutely inexplicable to a normal being. For God's sake, whatever happens, I beg you not to leave as an inheritance to our children that absolute, eternal and corrosive hatred between brother peoples, which eats away at a newborn life.

(Translated by Google from an Op-Ed published in El Universal January 4, 2001)