One of the things that has always
amazed me about the silly revolution is the ability of its members and
supporters to believe that anyone can do anything. Thus, Mathematicians
are named Ministers of Finance, Doctors who treat varicose veins
Ministers of Health and people with no managerial experience are put in
charge of complex institutions.
Even worse, if
the fact that even when they fail to understand how the system they
have imposed works, revolutionaries want to be in the limelight and are
willing to make statements about things that they clearly do not have
even the most basic grasp on.
Case in point was
the interview in today’s El Nacional with none other than Deputy Simon
Escalona, Vice President of the Finance Committee of the National
Assembly, who looks dumb, dumber and dumbest with the statements he
made.
Just the beginning of the interview is priceless:
“For us, the parallel (foreign exchange) market does not exist”.
Wow,
I am not sure who “us” is, but he is definitely very much out of a
loop, as the Government has spent US$ 12 billion in trying to lower
this non-existent parallel market dollar rate and in fact, will sell
another US$ 1.5 billion bonds with that goal next week. Moreover, over
the last two years the Government sold more than US$ 8 billion directly
into that market, with no transparency and making millionaires of quite
a few bankers and commisionists, But I guess Escalona was not told.
But let’s continue it, when he says:
“This is mostly a mediatic thing”
Jeez,
I love the standard explanation of blaming it on a “mediatic” thing. As
I was talking about with a fellow blogger today, we are not even sure
exactly what that means, but when something does not work in Venezuela
it is always some sort of “mediatic” conspiracy, never Government
incompetence.
Deputy Escalona then asks: “Tell me, where I can find this market… those that do it are committing a crime”
Well,
he could first go and ask the Ministry of Finance who it has sold
structured notes or Argentinean bonds to or he could go to the
Government banks which placed so many illegal orders in the last Bono
del Sur III and ask them who and where they sell the dollars obtained
from it. He could also go to the many new brokers in Caracas, dozens of
them brand new and devoted only to this phantom market,, but I imagine
nobody would like to work with him given his PEP (Politically Exposed
Person) category.
As for it being a crime, the
law approved by the same Finance Committee of the National Assembly
that he is part of, explicitly says that securities markets are exempt
from it. What is illegal is to trade currency, bills, checks and the
like.
Then, he comes in the area of dumber and dumbest when he says:
“We
are going to put in the law that merchants will have to place a sign
saying, “These products were acquired with dollars at the official rate
of exchange””
What if they weren’t? Is he
aware of the delays in Cadivi in handing out foreign currency? Or the
fact that not everything is in the list to obtain foreign currency? Or
is he saying that products not purchased with CADIVI dollars can not be
imported? Try that, the country will come to a standstill.
In fact, he recognizes the existence of this market and how positive they can be, when he says:
“ There is no shortage of Scotch Whisky”
And
that is true; shortages occur when you regulate products or restrict
foreign currency for them. That is why there is no milk, black beans
and the like, these products are both controlled in price and access
via CADIVI is cumbersome and bureaucratic. In contrast, Scotch whisky,
by order of his Latin American autocratic idol, receives no dollars
from the exchange control office and its prices are not regulated. Thus
much like caviar, champagne, imported cereals and candies and the like,
you can find shelves at supermarkets stuffed with them.
It’s called free markets…
But that is s lesson that dumb, dumber and dumbest will never be able to understand.
