Hoping to facilitate regime change in Venezuela, the Trump Administration announced on Tuesday that it has handed control of Venezuela’s government’s assets to Juan Guaido, the interim president recognized by the US.
The idea is that the assets will weaken the Maduro government, and
strengthen Guaido in trying to prop himself up as the replacement.
Whether that will actually work, however, is unclear, as the Maduro government has already frozen all of Guaido’s accounts.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court seems to be moving to further strict Guaido’s activities,
including preventing him from leaving the country. Guaido blasted this
as a continuation of the government’s threats and persecution.
All of this probably means Guaido didn’t come out of the day with any new assets he can actually access. US officials are threatening ‘serious consequences’ after Venezuela’s government moved against Guaido, which is in line with US threats against Venezuela in recent weeks.
A modern government toppling in plain sight. Unfortunately Maduro is a Cuban asset and doesn’t have the charm of Chavez.
He has the rest of the world who won’t much like the US using another countries money to black mail them for political gain. Would you keep your money in a bank that used your own savings to get you to change how you ran your household ?
This is proof capitalism is failing. Who would ever trust doing business with the US on a voluntary basis if it insists upon stealing money for political purposes.
The same can be said for London being a financial center. Why send your money to either place if they plan on using your money against you later to impose political change upon you ??
Marxists have been predicting the demise of capitalism for well over a century now. The standard of living kept going up in leaps and bounds. That is until the government rapidly expanded starting with Johnson’s guns and butter along with the resultant finanialcization of the economy.
Allocation of resources were diverted to unproductive uses. Real investment declined. Excessive regulation and inflation made American labor less competitive.
The winners in the corrupted economic system were those in the financial sector…. and government. Both have become increasingly parasitic.
And
“The standard of living kept going up in leaps and bounds. That is until the government rapidly expanded starting with Johnson’s guns and butter along with the resultant finanialcization of the economy.”
You seem to be missing a couple of decades there. Do the words “Great Depression” and “wartime austerity” ring any bells?
Nope. Didn’t miss that. I’m sure you are aware that the Great Depression started as a economic decline brought about by profligate money supply expansion brought about by central banks. An economic downturn that likely would have ended in a couple years if Hoover then FDR had not tried tinkering with the economy. Specifically wages, prices and supply. All previous economic downturns in US history had ended within a few years with little long term impact on the economy.
But it wasn’t capitalism that caused the Great Depression to start or to continue. What was the difference between previous economic downturns that ended within a few years and the extended downturns of the 30’s? Even Keynesian economists now recognize that FDR’s programs lengthened.the Great Depression. Post war, the mainstream economists of the time predicted a return to depression if the government loosened it’s grip on the economy. Instead, the opposite occurred. Less government involvement: more prosperity.
Regardless, even including the GD and the war austerity you cite, both of which involved massive government involvement in the economy, the standard of living in the early 50’s had already easily passed that of the late 20’s. Less than a generation. AND the advance in prosperity was widespread across all economic classes. Unlike during the Great Depression. I’m sure you know that those favorites and connected to the government during the Great Depression did very well indeed. The point being more government involvement meant more concentration of economic prosperity. The opposite of what is claimed.
It has been said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Government involvement and central bank/banking cartel manipulation has worked to the advantage of those connected to those institutions. That, not free markets and capitalism, has resulted in a stagnation in prosperity of the lower economic demographics. But this time, unlike post WW 2/Great Depression there has been no reversal in that trend.
I think we may be talking past each other. You seem to be conflating capitalism (a mixed, state-regulated industrial economy) with free markets.
Your statement boils down to “capitalism didn’t cause the Great Depression — capitalism did!”
Nope. Crony capitalism which is essentially a form of Fascist economics did.
Capitalism has to do with ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods and services. That ownership not being owned by the State.
Unless you think that free markets can be under State ownership?
True the lines can be blurred when non State owned businesses seek to defend themselves via influence into government policies.
No, free markets cannot be under state ownership.
Which is why capitalism and free markets are mutually exclusive.
I’m not a capitalist because I’m not a socialist.
Wait, I will be the legitimate president of Venezuela. I will do what you want for half of what Guiardo is charging you. I will start Spanish lessons today!
Read this report, you wont read this in the US MSM.
Venezuela crisis: Former UN rapporteur says US sanctions are killing citizens
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-us-sanctions-united-nations-oil-pdvsa-a8748201.html
UK refused Venezuelan request to repatriate gold. This is in the news. But I have a feeling that this are old gold reserves, and UK refused requests to repatriafe Venezuelan gold on many occassions before. But Venezuela was for a while sending its gold for “refining” to Turkey and Russia. So it is unclear just how much assets are left out to be used to finance the coup. Naturally, our government bureucrats will find the money to pay for the necessities of the coup organizers. Like it was during break-up of Yugoslavia, bags of money were transfered across friendly government borders to our assets. Mass demonstrations are not hard to organize. It will all boil down to the attitudes of the vast manority of population. If they are motivated, feel endangered, and loyal to its military — coup will not suceed. Population like in Turkey, dealt the blow to coup organizers. In Iraq, Army was assisted by vast numbers of paramilitary units to end ISIS rule. But if Government fails to adress adequately any violent provocation and population feels indifferent, tired of everything and unwilling to fight, then Ukrainian scenario is more likely. Nobody is today asking Ukrainians how they feel, or are their lives better.
It is interesting that Venezuela is democrats wish come true. And the blow to Trump’s focus on Main Street population. I wonder if the deal was struck on the wall. If that be the case, Trump is the one who lost the border narrative, with very poor speech at a critical time. So, we have Abrams in charge of Venezuela!
We’d never, ever involve ourselves in any other country’s politics. Only Russians would do that sort of low-down dirty dog shenanigans.
The UN doesn’t recognize Guaido as President
The OAS doesn’t recognize him as President
In his pretense of following the Venezuelan Constitution
of 1999, Guaidó called on Article 233 to appoint himself. That article
determines the circumstances that would allow the appointment of a president when the elected one cannot be present for the inauguration.
Maduro was present at the inauguration and sworn in.