Yep, sainthood premature. But a time for dignified reflection.This guy isn't dead yet?
Yep, sainthood premature. But a time for dignified reflection.This guy isn't dead yet?
Yep, sainthood premature. But a time for dignified reflection.
Chavez is a devout Catholic, so your premise seems reasonable.
8 1/2 years in India.Trex,
I could ask the same as you. How come you don't move to India where they have unbridaled capitalism and anarchy?
I was born in Canada and I am a patriotic Canadian. Canada is far too capitalist as it is. As a patriotic Canadian, I want Canada to be a better place to live for all Canadians. I would like to see Canada eliminate poverty, desperation that comes with poverty and crimes that comes with desperation. Unfortunately a few wealthy @ssholes have convinced most Canadians that making wealthier people wealthier is good for Canada, when really a small wealthy out of touch elite class and lot of poor desperate people isn't good for anyone including wealthy people who believe that if the poor don't have enough bread, then they should eat cake. Most people are too greedy and self serving to realize that they a certain degree of socialism benefits everyone including the wealthy over the long term.
BTW, I also own my own corporation (1 employee: me, 1 CEO: my wife) and I earn a very good living. I put myself in the top 10% relative to other Canadians. So I am also a capitalist... to a point.
I am a socialist (to a point) for selfish reasons, that on the surface may appear altruistic.
Desperate people do desperate things. In the last two years, I've had two near mugging events. If I was an old man or a woman, I'm sure I would have been mugged for pocket change... but I am intimidating enough in person to make most muggers think twice. If these desperate people had food, clothing, shelter and their drugs of choice, then they would not have been looking for people to mug. I support my tax dollars going towards buying drugs for drug addicts, rather than drug addicts knifing me for pocket change.
I support all children having the opportunity to attain their potential. I want the doctor who operates on me to be the best qualified, not the son of a wealthy person, because only wealthy people can afford to send their children to medical school. The same with the engineers who build the bridges I drive across or design the planes I fly in. I don't want these people to be rich brats who earned mostly D's in university and got their steel ring because Daddy donated a new library to the university. As it is now, most children will never attend university because their parents can't afford it. These potential doctors and engineers end up working a McJob, living at or below the poverty line, because they never got a chance to go to university. As university becomes more expensive, it becomes more out of reach for most people. University students should be focused on their studies and shouldn't have to worry about hodling down a few crappy jobs to pay tuition, rent, food or clothing. The only work they should do are coop jobs related to their education. If post secondary school was free and merit based, far more people would be educated professionals and they'd be paying a lot of taxes, just like me.
I don't have a problem paying my taxes. I want to pay my taxes. I told my accountant to make sure I pay the government every dime I owe them, but not a penny more. My problem with taxes are the way they are collected (I shouldn't need an accountant or a tax specialist) and the way they are spent. (corruption, multibillion dollar fighters and other ridiculous nonsense)
As many as 17 million children nationwide are struggling with what is known as food insecurity. To put it another way, one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life, according to the study, "Map the Meal Child Food Insecurity 2011."
HUNGER HURTS: Millions of American Kids Go Hungry - ABC News
Also one can be obese and malnourished at the same time.
The Nutrition Paradox: How Malnutrition and Obesity Rates Grow Simultaneously
Obesity doesn't indicate that a person is well fed. It indicates they are getting too many sugar and starch in their diet and not enough exercise. But it has little bearing on how well nourished a person is.
You really do not want to be hanging while waiting for an answer.8 1/2 years in India.
Rotating back and forth on various contracts.
Interspersed with a few trips to Thailand and China.
Had an apartment in Mumbai.
Spent time in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore , Surat, Pune, Rajasthan and so forth.
Walked the alleys of Dharavi, talked to the locals.
Unless you are a national of India eao, which BTW I am not, I suspect there is not much for you to tell me about India.
I believe I have answered your questions, why have you answered none of mine?
Why not walk the talk?
Go hang out in a casa in Cuba, and no, not Varadero.
Hang with the locals, attend a few neighborhood "struggle sessions".
Walk with the locals to try and pick up their non-available food rations.
Learn how your Cuban friends cannot even leave their village without the correct Carnet (internal passport).
Heck I have done it.
Why dont you?
Your the Socialist after all.
From an April 8 Bloomberg.come article :I disagree- He claims to be.
Oh please. Talk about getting caught in one of your nonsensical babbles yet again.
Dude the basic necessities have been provided for decades now. No longer is it acceptable for poor in the US to just have 3 squares, a roof, and access to primary education. The poor MUST live on the same standards of the middle class here in the US. That means FREE EVERYTHING. Up till recently the poor could use their welfare cards for a day at the spa in Massachusetts. That's right... welfare money Spa Treatments.
Yet you want to take more from wealthy and give to layabouts.
And believe me... the middle class gets the shaft.
From an April 8 Bloomberg.come article :
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wiped tears from his face as he pleaded for life in his fight against an undisclosed cancer at a Catholic mass in his home state of Barinas.
Chavez, speaking yesterday at the mass held for his health and broadcast on state television, said cancer is a “real threat” that takes many lives and that he has faith that he will win the fight against the disease.
Chavez, who returned April 4 from Cuba where he underwent a second round of radiation therapy, said he shed tears when he felt the hands of his parents, Hugo and Elena, touch him during the mass. His siblings also attended the service.
“If this was necessary, may it be welcome,” Chavez said, who wore a white T-shirt under a blue and white track suit. “But I ask God to give me life, however painful. I can carry 100 crosses, your crown of thorns, but don’t take me yet. I still have things to do.”
Seems devout to me...
BTW, a 5% increase on the top 1% of Americans would probably feed every hungry child in the US.
I'm pretty sure Hugo Chavez would not be as ambivalent to the suffering of Hurricane Sandy victims as Republicans are:
..
A retired officer, Mr. Cabello has no direct command of troops. Mr. Chavez recently promoted General Carlos Alcalá as commander of the army and Wilmer Barrientos as head of the Operational Strategic Command in order to dilute the power of other officers with prolonged tenures. He also ensured that 11 of the 24 state governors recently elected were former members of the military – a way to disperse military power as well as strengthen the military-civilian entente.
Does this mean Mr. Maduro will prevail? Only in the short run. Beyond that, the regime is doomed. No one commands the control and popularity that Mr. Chavez enjoyed. The economy is dismal: Inflation is running at 25 per cent and an imminent devaluation will fuel it further. There was no economic growth in 2011 and, last year, it was artificially generated thanks to a colossal fiscal deficit (amounting to more than 16 per cent of GDP). Government debt is 10 times larger than when Mr. Chavez came to power. The populist mirage that has made it possible for Venezuelans to fill up their gas tanks for less than $1 and to import ever-increasing amounts of goods and services while producing little will end sooner rather than later.
Let's do the math:
...the official poverty line was an annual income of $23,021 for a family of four. By total numbers, roughly 46.2 million people remained below the poverty line, unchanged from 2010. That figure was the highest in more than half a century when records were kept. The 15 percent poverty rate was basically unchanged from 1993 and was the highest since 1983.
U.S. Poverty: Census Finds 46.2 Million Impoverished As Median Income Drops
A family of 4 earns $23,021 a year. They pay $800/month for a crappy appartment in a trashy neighborhood.
$800x12months=$9600
Lets assume they eat all their meals at crappy fast food restaurants like Taco Bell. They might be able to get away with about $2.50 per person per meal, which translates to $40/day for the family x 365 days = $14,600 in food. (BTW, I can't remember the last time I paid $2.50 for a meal anywhere.)
$9600 + $14,600 = $24,200
By my estimate, they run out of money in December and that's not even taking into account clothing, bus fare to get to work, medicine, heat and utlities...
.
Pretty much.Chavez's dismal economic record can be layed on his inability to develop a comprehensive national industrial strategy.. Relying on oil as its only export.. and importing virtually everything else it consumed.
His domestic policy was based on redistribution rather than creation of wealth by way of industrial development. That's similar to the situation Canada is facing with the disintegration of its industrial potential through Free Trade. Globalism is something that is shared by both Free Market Capitalism and Socialism.. and in both cases it has profoundly failed.
As for the future for Venezuela.. the country in polarized now into pro Chavez and anti Chavez camps.. with the Chavez group representing a modest majority. But the only way forward is to reject both the radical socialist and capitalist models.. and find that Third Way within a national economic system. I don't see any of the current contenders proposing a viable future for Venezuela.
From an April 8 Bloomberg.come article :
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wiped tears from his face as he pleaded for life in his fight against an undisclosed cancer at a Catholic mass in his home state of Barinas.
Chavez, speaking yesterday at the mass held for his health and broadcast on state television, said cancer is a “real threat” that takes many lives and that he has faith that he will win the fight against the disease.
Chavez, who returned April 4 from Cuba where he underwent a second round of radiation therapy, said he shed tears when he felt the hands of his parents, Hugo and Elena, touch him during the mass. His siblings also attended the service.
“If this was necessary, may it be welcome,” Chavez said, who wore a white T-shirt under a blue and white track suit. “But I ask God to give me life, however painful. I can carry 100 crosses, your crown of thorns, but don’t take me yet. I still have things to do.”
Seems devout to me...
the meek shall inherit, what the hells your problem smack they're inheriting, they'll get your boat some day,
maybe even eat you on the beach hahahahahahahahahahahaha