This is Socialism

Venezuela food shortages cause some to hunt dogs, cats, pigeons

Peter Wilson

Special for USA TODAY

Published 5:09 p.m. ET May 18, 2016 | Updated 8:29 p.m. ET May 18, 2016

LA VICTORIA, Venezuela — Unemployed construction worker Roberto Sanchez could hear a time bomb ticking as he waited in line with 300 people outside a grocery store this week, hoping that corn meal or rice might be delivered later in the afternoon.

He fears that Venezuela could explode at any minute into political and economic chaos.

“We have no food. They are cutting power four hours a day. Crime is soaring. And (President Nicolás) Maduro blames everyone but himself for the mess we find ourselves in,” said Sanchez, 36. “We can’t go on like this forever. Something has to give.”

The question is what will give first. As the economy spirals into deeper disarray, protests aimed at driving the unpopular president out of office are growing. Maduro responded over the weekend by declaring a 60-day state of emergency to combat what he said are U.S.-sponsored efforts to overthrow his socialist government.

Venezuela's Maduro: Take Fridays off, curb blow dryer use to ease power woes

The confrontation has spilled into the streets. On Wednesday, riot police in Caracas fired tear gas as they clashed with thousands of protesters seeking a recall referendum against Maduro. The anti-government protest was the third in a week.

The unrest mounts as the country faces continuing shortages of essential food, medicine and toiletries. All the bakeries here in La Victoria, 55 miles southwest of Caracas, stopped producing bread last week because there is no flour.

"People are hunting dogs and cats in the streets, and pigeons in the plazas to eat," Ramon Muchacho, mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao, said this month in a tweet that was reported in many newspapers.

Beer shortage for Venezuelans proves tough to swallow

Although Venezuela has the world's largest petroleum reserves, the country has suffered from a combination of lower oil prices and tight limits on dollar purchases that have cut off vital food and most other imports. The result has been a plunging economy and the world's highest inflation rate — above 700%.

Because Venezuela imports 70% of the goods it consumes, including most medicine, growing shortages of medicines for such ailments as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and HIV has created dire situations for many.

“My 4-year-old daughter is dying of cancer, and there’s no medicine here to treat her,” said Luis Avila, 42, a farm worker outside this industrial city. “What am I supposed to do? What can I do? Maduro has destroyed this country.”

An epic drought has also gripped this nation that relies mostly on hydroelectric dams, sparking rolling blackouts and water shortages. Hospitals have had to postpone operations and procedures because of power outages. And government employees now work only two days a week to conserve electricity.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference on May 17, 2016.

“Shortages are just going to get worse in the coming weeks and months, and the government's bet that they can keep the protests and looting ... small-scale seems risky,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. “Venezuelans are not used to hunger and do not have a lot of respect for Maduro as their leader.”

Voters in Venezuela gave the opposition a landslide victory in December's congressional elections, and polls now show a majority of the country wants Maduro out as president. His term expires in 2019.

“Venezuela is a bomb that could explode at any moment,” opposition leader Henrique Capriles warned during a Saturday rally.

Maduro, the handpicked successor of the late Hugo Chávez, discounted the chances of a recall referendum being held this year.

“They don’t want a referendum, they want a coup,” Maduro said this week during meeting with foreign journalists. “We have no obligations to hold any type of referendum in this country.”

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that "reports of excessive use of force and violence against protesters obviously is troubling to us ... We don’t believe that that response to peaceful protest about real difficulties facing the Venezuelan people is the appropriate response."

He called Wednesday for "all Venezuelans to try to work together peacefully" to solve the country's problems.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/05/18/venezuela-food-shortages-cause-some-hunt-dogs-cats-pigeons/84547888/

U.S. Saudi Arms Deals

I was dismayed to find this New York Times article[1] about U.S. arms deals with Saudi Arabia allowing them to manufacture advanced guidance components for our missile systems. 

This is not okay.

U.S. engineers worked tirelessly for years to perfect those systems, and giving the designs away is not worth any geopolitical gain.  There is zero chance that these designs will not be stolen by the Russians and the Chinese.  Zero.

We are giving away all of our hard work, and then we wonder why the rest of the world catches up so quickly.

I do not see how Trump can be so strongly against technology transfers to China and then hand over our advanced weapon systems to Saudi Arabia. 

This is unacceptable.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/us/saudi-arabia-arms-sales-raytheon.html

The Death of China in Slow Motion

The intelligentsia in China is more aware of the abrogations of freedom than the same in the United States.  Many professors in the U.S. long for communism, while those in China suffer under it.

Under Xi, China is suffering from increasing lack of diversity in thought that is brought on naturally by the lack of diversity in political viewpoints and leadership.  This, in turn, leads to a stagnation of innovation, which will lead to a stagnation in economic growth and the eventual decline of all of Chinese society.  China is now following in the footsteps of Soviet Russia.

Yet, in America, people clamor for communism without thinking about the consequences of such a system.  People are evil, and thus communism will always fail.

This article was written by a Beijing professor, named Xu Zhangrun, who is attempting to change the course of debate in Chinese politics.  He wrote a blunt and scathing article on the issues with Chinese communism:
http://chinaheritage.net/journal/imminent-fears-immediate-hopes-a-beijing-jeremiad/
This article was translated into English by Geremie R. Barmé.

Xu addresses four principles, eight fears, and eight hopes for China:

Four Principles:
 - Stability and security
 - Private property rights
 - Tolerance for personal freedoms
 - Term limits for political appointees

Eight Fears:
 - Property tremens
 - Putting politics back in command
 - Class struggle
 - A new closed-door policy
 - Excessive international aid
 - Repression of intelligentsia
 - A new cold war
 - Return to totalitarianism

Eight Hopes:
 - An end to wasteful international aid
 - An end to diplomatic extravagance
 - An end of party privileges and party nobility
 - An end of luxury provisioning
 - Requiring party officials to publicly declare their assets
 - An end to the Xi personality cult
 - Restoration of presidential term limits
 - Overturning of the 4 June Edict (regarding Tiananman Square justification)

Related article here: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/04/19/a-specter-is-haunting-xis-china-mr-democracy/

The Globalist on China

The Globalist has, in the past, been somewhat known (at least in my mind) for their single-minded Liberalism.

This post is one of the most thoughtful, comprehensive and nuanced articles I have ever seen from the Globalist.

A 5 second view of the article is about how many business leaders adore China and their strong, unified policy without considering the costs of such a policy.

https://www.theglobalist.com/china-united-states-governance-society-economy-xi-jinping/

Mauldin on the Trade War

John Mauldin wrote an excellent piece here on the ongoing, insane trade war with China.

The key points are:

1. Intellectual property theft is a FAR bigger problem than deficits or trade imbalances.
2. "If other nations don’t want your currency, you can’t run trade deficits without severe economic problems. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was right: The US has an exorbitant privilege as owner of the world’s reserve currency.  In fact, if you have the reserve currency, it is your obligation to run deficits so that the world has enough currency to conduct trade. (bold face mine)

We need to resolve the intellectual property theft crisis.  The trade imbalance is a side effect of owning the world's reserve currency.

https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/digging-a-hole-to-china

A New Facebook?

I peruse the news, as usual to keep abreast of the madness in our world, and I came across a curious article that portends a turn in past Facebook policy.

Everything before now that I have seen come from Facebook typified a company sold on the Liberal agenda of controlling minds by controlling information availability.  The arrogance of using position to dictate.  The same sin of many dead socialist dictatorships before Facebook.

But this turn is new.  It is the first sane statement that I have seen come out of the faceless, soulless machine that is Facebook.  The very same soulless machine that was dragged before Congress and cross-examined.

This is the first breath of humanity that I have seen of Facebook in a very long time.

The article is from Fox News, for which I also hold no particular love, but there is one statement in here that I picked up on:

"We remove things from Facebook that violate our Community standards, and we don't have a policy that stipulates that the information you post on Facebook must be true,' the company said Friday, according to ABC7 News.

This is the first time that I have seen Facebook take a stand for freedom of information, which is a fundamental pillar of any free society.  Like Thomas Jefferson said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, they expect what never was nor ever will be."

The duty of determining and defending truth lies with each individual in a society.  Shirking this responsibility remains the surest path to tyranny.

Think for yourself and judge everything that you see or hear critically in a holistic fashion.  All of our freedom depends on this!

Observables Explained by Thomas Nield

http://tomstechnicalblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/understanding-observables.html

Venezuela: A Post-mortem Analysis

I found an excellent article by Dr. Anne Bradley regarding Venezuela and their fall into abject poverty.

There is one line in particular that strikes with as both true and with great fear:

Bad economics, poor policy decisions, and terrible institutions will trump the engines of human creativity and entrepreneurship every time.

No truer statement has ever been said, and this statement is as true today in America as it was in Ancient Rome.  Civilizations grow and thrive on the productivity of the people within them.

Be productive!  God calls us to good stewardship.

https://tifwe.org/how-venezuela-took-the-fastest-route-to-poverty/

Facebook Insanity

I have been a part of Facebook since its inception.  Back when it was a platform for college students.  Now, however, Facebook has become a group of thieving, lying, sociopathic people who have no interest in security, privacy, or social good.  They are self-serving, evil, and with no interest in preserving whatever shred of dignity they had left after the congressional hearings.

As of now, Facebook is dead to me.

IPCC Climate Change Technical Summary

https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/SR15_TS_High_Res.pdf

This paper is a curious representation of the credibility crisis that has infested mainstream science.  Contained within this technical summary is not one line of science that I could find.  There was no description of the methodology used to arrive at the results, no description of the measurements taken, no assessment of the biases inherent in the methodology or any assumptions made to arrive at the results, no procedure that would allow this report to be reproduced independently.

https://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously

It seems to me that they do not want this report to be reproduced, and that they merely wish to cry foul and harp on their particular view of the world in order to peddle influence and force people to adhere to their narrow view of what is happening.

This is not science.  This is political dogma wrapped in a scientific robe.  Congratulations, environmentalists, you have destroyed science.

A New Year of Power

I am writing this open letter in the hopes that this new year will be a year of rebirth for Christians, for those of us who truly believe and hold fast to the Word.  God has been teaching and convicting me of my complacency.  We, as Christians, are soft.  We are weak.  We do not rely on the power that stretched out the universe, even though He has made it available to us when we obey Him.  We let sin lie when we should be hunting it.  We let it live when we are called to gouge it out of our lives.  We choose not to obey, and as a result we weaken our faith and deny the power that God makes manifest.

As this world grow increasingly dark, it becomes ever more important that we cling to the light, that we follow and obey the Word with all of our passion and will.  Jesus calls us to be salt and light.  He calls us to be hallowed.  He desires that we should be set apart for Him, that we should be holy.  But it is more than a suggestion.  It is more than a request.  It is a command.  Over and over in the Bible, God says to us: "Be Holy as I am Holy," and "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, I plead that you would take this command to heart in 2019.  Be holy.

Christians need to recognize the value of judging sin in our lives and in the lives of our brothers.  As Jesus says, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."  This process must happen in the church if we are to get serious about being holy.  We cannot bury our heads in the sand and let our body perish.  If we want God's power and blessing in our lives, we must judge sin in our each other's lives with the love and grace fitting for our station.  "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not forsaking meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  It specifically says 'spur' to imply that this process is not without pain, any less than excising a cancer from our physical bodies involves pain yet is necessary for life.  As it is written, "the wounds of a friend are sweeter than the kisses of an enemy."

But what about, "judge not lest ye be judged!" you ask?  Dear brother, we are not called to judge with our judgement.  We are called to judge with God's judgment, as it is written, "it is mine to avenge, says the LORD," and "judgment is mine."  Fortunately, for us, dear brother, we have God's word, and we can compare His word to our actions and the actions of our brothers.  Do not judge on your own discernment, judge with God's judgment.  Compare your brother's actions to God's word.  See where they differ and go and plead with your brother or sister to remove that sin from their life.

It is my prayer that those of us who are called by His name will seek to be holy and be open to the wounds of your friends and brothers.  Be willing to wound your friends, for their spiritual life depends on it!  "But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses."  And, likewise, "anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"

God is serious about our holiness!  Seek out your brother and convict them of sin.  God will not give us His power if we do not seek to be holy.

Mauldin on Trade Deficits

Mauldin has yet another excellent article regarding trade and trade deficits, as he says: "I have to confess something: I run a huge trade deficit. It’s not with China or Mexico, but with Amazon. I buy all sorts of goods from them and Jeff Bezos has yet to spend a penny with me. It’s just not fair."

The U.S trade deficit is just as useful.  It does two very good things, 1) it gives us lots of cheap stuff, and 2) sends lot of U.S. dollars around the world to help maintain our currency as the world's reserve currency.

A great many people do not realize what advantages you get by issuing the world's reserve currency (like being able to run 130% debt-to-GDP without completely destroying your economy... yet).

If we pursue aggressive protectionism, it will deeply incentivize other countries to not hold as many U.S. dollars in their reserve pools and thus erode the dominance of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency.

This trade war nonsense is the only reason I refused to vote for Trump, because I understand the nature of trade and the advantages of our country issuing the world reserve currency.

Hopefully, Trump does not destroy this advantage with his tomfoolery.

Mauldin's article is posted below, but without images, since my email does not load images.
If you want the chart and image version, go to Mauldin's site, here:
http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/the-trade-deficit-isnt-the-boogeyman