I will be gone for a few days to go to a sort of family reunion, you
could call it the mother of all Mother's Days. I will probably have a
connection to Internet, but my mind will be elsewhere, so expect
posting to be light. I have asked Jorge Arena to give a hand on things
that may happen while I am away. In the mean time I leave you with three
thoughts, unrelated:
--More irresponsible politicians: Primero Justicia candidate Julio
Borges, joined the ranks of the irresponible politicians in Venezuela
when he suggested that the Government should distribute 25% of all oil
income directly to the population. This comes out to Bs. 2 million per
inhabitant per year (about US$ 900). This is populism and demagoguery
of the worst kind. He should read Uslar's writings. In fact, I would
ask him: Why 25%, why not all? Hey! Let's eliminate Government and we
will all simply collect at the beginning of the year and see what
happens! Sad, very sad...
--Funny article in the papers today. Some guy wrote that if one
applied the criteria for expropriation that the Minister of
Agriculture is applying to companies, basically that they are not
operating at the peak of its potential and they are of social interest,
then the Ministry itself should be expropriated since it has a huge
cost, has a horrible track record and it is full of workers that do
very little. In fact, the article says the Ministry has yet to generate
a single idea to reduce hunger in Venezuela. The Ministry is so
incompentent and useless that Chavez created a Ministry of Foodstuffs.
Well said!
--Good News, bad news department: PDVSA auctioned off gas fields
yesterday. One was won by Chevron, the other by Russia's Gazprom in
what will hopefully become the first important foreign investment since
Chavez became President in 1998. The Bad news? Five fields were
auctioned off, all bidders withdrew from the other three.
11:56:28 AM 
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