Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:34 am  

Cronus wrote: Bolivarianism in action. He might be a power-hungry oil billionaire with a questionable human rights record, but he's OUR power-hungry oil billionaire with a questionable human rights record. Isn't that why these guys get into this - power and ultimately access to huge amounts of money? Sadaam, Mugabe, Qaddafi, Putin not to mention the huge list in Africa containing the likes of Hassan Al-Bashir, Biya, Obiang etc

Cronus wrote: Bolivarianism in action. He might be a power-hungry oil billionaire with a questionable human rights record, but he's OUR power-hungry oil billionaire with a questionable human rights record. Isn't that why these guys get into this - power and ultimately access to huge amounts of money? Sadaam, Mugabe, Qaddafi, Putin not to mention the huge list in Africa containing the likes of Hassan Al-Bashir, Biya, Obiang etc

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:22 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Isn't that why these guys get into this - power and ultimately access to huge amounts of money? Sadaam, Mugabe, Qaddafi, Putin not to mention the huge list in Africa containing the likes of Hassan Al-Bashir, Biya, Obiang etc

But that wealth can trickle down to the poor - would Chavez have been able to make such a big impact on poverty reduction if he had not been of such high net worth.

I know it might be populist to hate people for their wealth but if you drive the wealthy overseas they simply take their wealth with them.

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:27 am  

sally cinnamon wrote:

But that wealth can trickle down to the poor - would Chavez have been able to make such a big impact on poverty reduction if he had not been of such high net worth.

I know it might be populist to hate people for their wealth but if you drive the wealthy overseas they simply take their wealth with them.

The point is how much of the wealth is stolen from the very people who vote them in?

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:28 am  

He was a decent lad with poor taste in friends. Just that instead of his being ones that hang around bus shelters drinking cider, his were maniacal despots.

[John_D]

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:50 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

He was a decent lad with poor taste in friends. Just that instead of his being ones that hang around bus shelters drinking cider, his were maniacal despots.

Good job our elected leaders would never dream of cosying up to maniacal despots, sell arms to them, take holidays in their beach-side residences, side with them over the ECHR etc etc and so on

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 9:54 am  

John_D wrote:

Good job our elected leaders would never dream of cosying up to maniacal despots, sell arms to them, take holidays in their beach-side residences, side with them over the ECHR etc etc and so on

I don't think anyone is trying to glorify any of the idiots we have running our major parties

[John_D]

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:06 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

I don't think anyone is trying to glorify any of the idiots we have running our major parties

Granted, but still worth mentioning.

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:26 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

The point is how much of the wealth is stolen from the very people who vote them in?

Given that huge numbers of those who voted for Chavez were lifted out of poverty and gained free healthcare and education for the first time, I wouldn’t say he stole from them, would you?

On the human rights front, I’d put him more in the George W Bush category than the Saddam or Mugabe category.

Compared with say, Pinochet, he should be beatified.

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:44 am  

He wasted money on things for the poor – when he could have spent it on skyscrapers.

He wasted money on things for the poor – when he could have spent it on skyscrapers.

Re: RIP Hugo Chavez : Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:51 am  

Mintball wrote: He wasted money on things for the poor – when he could have spent it on skyscrapers. Does all this money chasing make anyone really happy. A quote from the King of Bhutan when asked why his country lagged so far behind the developed world was 'gross domestic happiness is more important than gross domestic product'

Mintball wrote: He wasted money on things for the poor – when he could have spent it on skyscrapers. Does all this money chasing make anyone really happy. A quote from the King of Bhutan when asked why his country lagged so far behind the developed world was 'gross domestic happiness is more important than gross domestic product'