[juyrett]

and renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

[pymnConyelell]

Is that related to happy putin?

[Zptmsemk]

Oh and maybe the US should become the washingtonian republic of the United States of America


I figured for sure the new currency would be the Chavez but I guess he still wants that strong linkage to Bolivar

[pXss8cyx]

He's not studying hard enough. 20% inflation? Bah. That's nothing! He needs to get that up to more like 70% to match the master!

-Arrian

[Baromaro]

Originally posted by Arrian
He's not studying hard enough. 20% inflation? Bah. That's nothing! He needs to get that up to more like 70% to match the master! Give him time. He's already doing wierd things like bring aspects of his chilhood back as part of his economic policy.

[BreeveKambmak]

Originally posted by Flubber
I figured for sure the new currency would be the Chavez but I guess he still wants that strong linkage to Bolivar See! He's not that bad!

Its not like he has a giant gold statue of himself that rotates to face the sun at all times.

[skupaemauto]

This is practically Zimbabwe-esque inflation policy.. Zimbawe has inflation because it is producing nothing, and the government is printing money to pay its debts.

Venezuela has inflation because money is being directed to the lower classes, who are rushing out to buy stuff.

The dude is a moron. Yet he runs a country, and you don't.

[Ruiptuptubre]

Maybe it's a job requirement.

[Aleenkagirlla]

I've already told you, he's CIA.

[Hlennisal]

Originally posted by Elok
Does this Bolivar fixation remind anyone else of the GOP and Reagan? The GOP has no choice but to turn a middling president like Reagan into their personal idol. All their other Presidents have been crap like Nixon & Hoover or closet Democrats like Eisenhower. They of course ignore that their supposedly small government, low taxes president was actually a huge government, massive deficit president. They don't have great leaders like FDR, presidents who caught the national imagination like JFK, or even simply an especially competent president like Clinton. The Republicans only have Lincoln but he was actually a big government radical who is hated in the south and who would be a Democrat if alive today thus they try to build up the mythical cult of Reagan pretending he was something he demonstrably wasn't.

[intifatry]

Reagan caught the imagination of some right wing nutters on the radio who have been spoon feed that his their own personal Lenin or Mao. The personality cult doesn't extend very far though. Basically the GOP doesn't have any one else who could pass as a figure head so they try to recreate Reagan into a god.

[UTHZzJ6f]

@ Oerdin

Teddy was a Republican as well.

[11Pecepebra]

Teddy was a big government guy from the days before the two parties switched roles. In other words a closet democrat. Hmmmm, so I guess we can discount a good number of your mythical Democratic God figures (Wilson, FDR, JFK) as they were from the party of racism. Good job Oerdin


Reagan had good speech writers but he NEVER EVER lived up to his small government pledge. He bloated the government just like the others even as he continually preached small government. I don't quite remember, but wasn't there something very expensive going on at that time.... Nah, what was I thinking

[tq4F7YKs]

Besides, wanna argue that JFK was actually a good president? I'd submit that's not actually an easy argument to make.

"Captured the national imagination" =! good president, in terms of policy. Ergo, Reagan can be said to have captured the nation's imagination, even if you deplore his policies.

FFS, Oerdin.

-Arrian

p.s. Is it really 7000% inflation in Zimbabwe now? Damn, I'd lost track...

p.p.s. You could also make a decent argument that FDR went a bit power-mad at times and was, in fact, kind of Chavez-like. Like when he tried to pack the Supreme Court. There's a reason there are Presidential term limits, and that reason is FDR.

[usaguedriedax]

They didn't call them the "Reagan Democrats" for nothing, apparently.

I'm not a big fan of Ronnie, in retrospect (I was at the time, but that's because I was 4-12 years old and my parents really really really liked him), but come on now.

-Arrian

[WrigleyMike]

Originally posted by PLATO
There is another reason to change currencies. It tends to reveal who is sitting on large stacks of cash. If I was a Venezuelan sitting on stacks of cash I would be doing so in US$. Just as I would if I was a Zimbabwean.

[Tjfyojlg]

I would say there isn't much in it, but the dollar is historically more stable.

[stastony]

Any sensible person would use Turkish Lira.

[evarekataVame]

Is that what Zimbabwe's currency is for?

[Abaanto]

If Chavez was serious about dealing with inflation then he'd get rid of the price controls and sign free trade agreements at least with his latin American neighbors if not with evil whitey. You could still get local industrial development by changing regulations and tax laws so that they're more attractive to investors then using those petro-dollars to subsidize the hell out of key industries.