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On March 02 2014 23:05 funkie wrote:Show nested quote +On March 02 2014 20:42 JieXian wrote:I have a few Venezuelan friends and this is just fucking sad. Thank you silverman-LG for your posts. However, just maybe, people who know that the poor people who got their 2 year degrees don't want to hire them and it's not their fault. What's worse is that I have a Venezuelan friend telling me this when I said that 60Bsf for a simple lunch is ridiculous, that over here a simple lunch costs RM6 : A normal working person earns 3000Bsf and a student with a minimal scholarship gets 400Bsf. Hence, honestly 60Bsf for a lunch meal isn't a problem. You must know that your currency is weaker than ours, that's why you think it's expensive. But really, the amount we pay for food is really very cheap in comparison to our currency. Original transcript from skype: + Show Spoiler +una persona común que trabaja gana 3000bsf un estudiante becado minimo gana 400 entonces sinceramente 60 no es nada xD debes saber que tu moneda es mas baja que la nuestra por eso se tan barato... pero realmente la comida que pagamos tambien es realmente muy barata comparandola con la moneda de aqui nada mas And later when I said that a black market exists for USD because of government policies making obtaining it difficult this was the response I got: It's not actually difficult but rather that they limit the amount you can get, and people WANT MORE than what is given to them. For example a friend wanted to travel but there were 7 of them and only 2 had the CADIVI quotas and they didn't have enough and wanted more. It's not hard but limited, you get it? Original in spanish: + Show Spoiler + no tanto que sea dificil conseguirlo es limitante... dificil no, es que te limiten sí y la gente QUIERE MAS de lo que le dan... ejemplo una amiga queria viajar pero ellos eran 7 y solo dos tenian cupo cadivi entonces obviamente lo que tenian no era suficiente así que querian mas... es limitante... no dificil conseguirlo me entiendes?
You can correct me if I understood anything wrongly. Later she says, "it's not difficult, you only have to wait for 4-6 months" . Like it's the most normal thing in the world. Of course it's difficult. I don't know what country your friends lives on. The problem here is that we need to ask the government first for permission to access some foreign currency so we can travel. It's like asking the government if you can travel, and if they are "willing" to give you some money so you can travel well. Does that sound logical? fuck no. Keeping a exchange control to "preserve the patrimony of the country" has done more harm than good to the country, due to government officials creating "fake businesess" and stealing a shitton of money by asking CADIVI for money. You think that 500$ in cash, 2200$ in credit card and 300$ on internet expenses is logical in a country that sells a shitton of oil barrels a day for 100$ a pop? absurd.
Yea I know (referrerring to the first paragraph), I've been trying to convince her that this isn't the way things should be and she refuses to listen because I'm "looking in from outside", and that I shouldn't criticise her country.
She thinks CADIVI controlling the money has nothing to do with the government, that it's related to the banks, that the currency control mainly affects the companies and not regular people because the quota/ allocation is enough for traveling. And that the limitation is only a problem to people who WANT MORE than what is given.
I tried what I could and I'm still trying to convince her, but it's hard when she insists that I need to be there to understand how it is and not solely rely on what people say. Funkie, you're probably fedup of listening to this but I thought others might be interested.
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On March 02 2014 23:13 JieXian wrote:Show nested quote +On March 02 2014 23:05 funkie wrote:On March 02 2014 20:42 JieXian wrote:I have a few Venezuelan friends and this is just fucking sad. Thank you silverman-LG for your posts. However, just maybe, people who know that the poor people who got their 2 year degrees don't want to hire them and it's not their fault. What's worse is that I have a Venezuelan friend telling me this when I said that 60Bsf for a simple lunch is ridiculous, that over here a simple lunch costs RM6 : A normal working person earns 3000Bsf and a student with a minimal scholarship gets 400Bsf. Hence, honestly 60Bsf for a lunch meal isn't a problem. You must know that your currency is weaker than ours, that's why you think it's expensive. But really, the amount we pay for food is really very cheap in comparison to our currency. Original transcript from skype: + Show Spoiler +una persona común que trabaja gana 3000bsf un estudiante becado minimo gana 400 entonces sinceramente 60 no es nada xD debes saber que tu moneda es mas baja que la nuestra por eso se tan barato... pero realmente la comida que pagamos tambien es realmente muy barata comparandola con la moneda de aqui nada mas And later when I said that a black market exists for USD because of government policies making obtaining it difficult this was the response I got: It's not actually difficult but rather that they limit the amount you can get, and people WANT MORE than what is given to them. For example a friend wanted to travel but there were 7 of them and only 2 had the CADIVI quotas and they didn't have enough and wanted more. It's not hard but limited, you get it? Original in spanish: + Show Spoiler + no tanto que sea dificil conseguirlo es limitante... dificil no, es que te limiten sí y la gente QUIERE MAS de lo que le dan... ejemplo una amiga queria viajar pero ellos eran 7 y solo dos tenian cupo cadivi entonces obviamente lo que tenian no era suficiente así que querian mas... es limitante... no dificil conseguirlo me entiendes?
You can correct me if I understood anything wrongly. Later she says, "it's not difficult, you only have to wait for 4-6 months" . Like it's the most normal thing in the world. Of course it's difficult. I don't know what country your friends lives on. The problem here is that we need to ask the government first for permission to access some foreign currency so we can travel. It's like asking the government if you can travel, and if they are "willing" to give you some money so you can travel well. Does that sound logical? fuck no. Keeping a exchange control to "preserve the patrimony of the country" has done more harm than good to the country, due to government officials creating "fake businesess" and stealing a shitton of money by asking CADIVI for money. You think that 500$ in cash, 2200$ in credit card and 300$ on internet expenses is logical in a country that sells a shitton of oil barrels a day for 100$ a pop? absurd. Yea I know (referrerring to the first paragraph), I've been trying to convince her that this isn't the way things should be and she refuses to listen because I'm "looking in from outside", and that I shouldn't criticise her country. She thinks CADIVI controlling the money has nothing to do with the government, that it's related to the banks, that the currency control mainly affects the companies and not regular people because the quota/ allocation is enough for traveling. And that the limitation is only a problem to people who WANT MORE than what is given. I tried what I could and I'm still trying to convince her, but it's hard when she insists that I need to be there to understand how it is and not solely rely on what people say. Funkie, you're probably fedup of listening to this but I thought others might be interested.
She seems to me like a conformist? she's happy with what she's given and doesn't think of wanting more. I'm not one of thjose myself. I always want more. Why? Because everytime I travel I have to limit myself on the things that I want because my government doesn't give me enough dollars to get what I want. Not even, when I still pay for them. They're not giving me a gift or lending me money, I'm still paying for that shitty cap you always get.
It used to be 2500$ for CreditCard POS charges, 500$ in cash and 400$ for internet expenses. This year they reduced the total to 2200$ CC POS Charges, 500$ in cash and 300$ internet. Cadivi is an entity that was created by the government so people who travel abroad could "ask for permission" to use USD$ or Euros (€) when they travel. they actually "killed" Cadivi in January and created Concoex (Centro de Comercio Exterior), and informed that cencoex would absorb cadivi and so on.
That hasn't happened yet, and won't likely happen since the protests get bigger and better for us, and worse for the government. She seems to be a pro-government person. Maybe she believes in the revolution, or "Robolución" as we call it here. They've stolen a lot of the assets of the country, they ALL have off shores accounts in which they keep all that has been stolen from the country. It is said that Chavez left an account with more than $2Billion.
So you go and tell me, how a person, connected in the government gets to use more $ or € than a regular venezuelan can?.
Why impose a exchange control when in the past, people who had the means could go to a exchange facility and swap BsF for $ without any trouble. Why change that?
You think that when Cadivi was born, there wasn't a "workaround" to get those dollars without even traveling? They're called the "raspacupos" and according to the government they are "hurting the economy". bullshit, the amount of $ approved last years was nothing compared to the $25billion stolen from the country by those "ghost businesess".
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-26461530
Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, has broken diplomatic relations and frozen economic ties with Panama.
The decision comes after the Central American nation requested a meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) to discuss Venezuela's crisis.
Nothing broadcasts "I am feeling insecure" than try to to bully tiny Panama.
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Thanks for the amazing posts silverman.
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It's kind of hilarious that silverman-LG wants to show how unbiased he is by writing one of the most biased posts about Torre David imaginable. That or this book by a group of architects studying the tower for years is full of lies. Based on the book: Basically, the people who squatted in the tower came there because they wanted better living conditions (the first wave came from the barrios) and now many residents strive for a middle class existence within the tower and the apartments range from no walls to pretty nice depending on the resources and time available to the person. What silverman-LG calls "The Chief of the Tower" is in fact a pastor (don't have the book on me right now but I can look his name up later). Of course he theoretically could still be a drug lord but let's be serious for a while... It is true that water and electricity are "stolen", however the community tries to gain legal access at the moment and starts to work together with government agencies to improve safety and quality. This does not imply that the services are free: building and running an infrastructure within the tower does indeed need effort and money (the book covers this aspect in detail). Furthermore, Torre David is basically a gated community for the poor. There are security guards on duty (from and for the community) because of the notorious situation in Caracas. They also have to be paid. This and other community efforts explain the rent.
It is clear that the authors are sympathetic to the inhabitants and squatters in general (I think they are part of the group behind the cable car from the slums to the metro) but it is interesting how they differentiate between the inhabitants of the tower and the people in the barrios: The former are way more focused on improving their situation. Basically the opposite of silverman-LG's assessment.
I'm sure he knows his stuff from a business perspective and makes many good observations in general but on this particular topic I would take his word with a shovel of salt.
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CARACAS, March 11 (Reuters) - Venezuela unveiled new currency regulations on Tuesday to help usher in a new foreign exchange platform designed to ease dollar shortages, promising the much-delayed system would begin operations within hours.
The Sicad 2 platform adds a third exchange rate to the country's 11-year-old currency controls that sell dollars at 6.3 bolivars for preferential goods and around 11 for other items.
Officials say it will help lower the price of dollars on the black market, where greenbacks now fetch close to 80 bolivars.
"We're going to defeat the illegal, speculative market," Economy Vice President Rafael Ramirez told reporters. "It's a dollar price without any economic fundamentals which has harmed our economy, caused inflationary pressure."
Ramirez declined to provide details on the amounts likely to be offered or the expected exchange rate.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-outlines-currency-platform-fight-171441576.html
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On March 12 2014 05:48 Wolfstan wrote:Show nested quote +CARACAS, March 11 (Reuters) - Venezuela unveiled new currency regulations on Tuesday to help usher in a new foreign exchange platform designed to ease dollar shortages, promising the much-delayed system would begin operations within hours.
The Sicad 2 platform adds a third exchange rate to the country's 11-year-old currency controls that sell dollars at 6.3 bolivars for preferential goods and around 11 for other items.
Officials say it will help lower the price of dollars on the black market, where greenbacks now fetch close to 80 bolivars.
"We're going to defeat the illegal, speculative market," Economy Vice President Rafael Ramirez told reporters. "It's a dollar price without any economic fundamentals which has harmed our economy, caused inflationary pressure."
Ramirez declined to provide details on the amounts likely to be offered or the expected exchange rate. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-outlines-currency-platform-fight-171441576.html
Sorry if this sounds stupid but why do they actually need to control the exchange rate at all? As far as I know no one else has the need to do this and they brought the black market problem upon themselves by limiting the exchange of currency in order to stop rich people from leaving the country easily and to control imports to promote the buying of local products and goods.
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ah, nice. seems like these two should go together. Lopez's opinion pieace in NYT
(redacted lopez claim 30 protesters were killed, he knew bloody well it was ~even mix of security forces / police and civillians, with the blame seemingly evenly distribuited between protestors and security forces ofc)
lol @ that foxnews piece, what world is this rubio idiot living in i wonder.
"Maduro regime’s deadly wave of repression,” said Rubio. “Now it’s time for actions that name, shame and punish the Maduro regime’s murderers and thugs who are responsible for the crackdown against innocent Venezuelans." each side responsible for ~9 deaths mind you, maduro being a democratically elected president.
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another maduro interview.
Venezuela protests are sign that US wants our oil, says Nicolás Maduro
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The conflict has claimed up to 39 lives and posed a significant challenge to Maduro's government. On Monday, the Venezuelanpresident agreed to a proposal by the South American regional group Unasur for peace talks with opposition leaders, who have up to now refused to join a government-led dialogue.
The US denies involvement and says Venezuela is using the excuse of a coup threat to crack down on the opposition. Human Rights Watch and Venezuela's Catholic hierarchy have also condemned the government's handling of the protests, while Amnesty International has alleged human rights abuses by both sides.
Maduro claimed Venezuela was facing a type of "unconventional war that the US has perfected over the last decades", citing a string of US-backed coups or attempted coups from 1960s Brazil to Honduras in 2009.
... the guardian
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USAID Subversion in Latin America Not Limited to Cuba... As CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot described in an interview with radio station KPFA’s “Letters and Politics” yesterday, USAID and OTI in particular have engaged in various efforts to undermine the democratically-elected governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti, among others, and such “open societies” could be more likely to be impacted by such activities than Cuba. Declassified U.S. government documents show that USAID’s OTI in Venezuela played a central role in funding and working with groups and individuals following the short-lived 2002 coup d’etat against Hugo Chávez. A key contractor for USAID/OTI in that effort has been Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI). ... Among the ways in which USAID/OTI have supported the strategy is through the funding and training of protest groups. This August 2009 cable cites the head of USAID/OTI contractor DAI’s Venezuela office Eduardo Fernandez as saying, during 2009 protests, that all the protest organizers are DAI grantees: ¶5. (S) Fernandez told DCM Caulfield that he believed the [the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps'] dual objective is to obtain information regarding DAI's grantees and to cut off their funding. Fernandez said that "the streets are hot," referring to growing protests against Chavez's efforts to consolidate power, and "all these people (organizing the protests) are our grantees." ... venezuelanalysis
from interview, paraphrased:
... and i personally think that governments should do like bolivia did and demand transparency... what are you doing in this country, if you can't tell us what you're doing then you can't operate here. sounds like a great idea! ukraine plz...
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The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Venezuela
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These Washington agencies[NED and USAID] have also filtered more than $14 million to opposition groups in Venezuela between 2013 and 2014, including funding for their political campaigns in 2013 and for the current anti-government protests in 2014. This continues the pattern of financing from the US government to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela since 2001, when millions of dollars were given to organizations from so-called “civil society” to execute a coup d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002. After their failure days later, USAID opened an Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Caracas to, together with the NED, inject more than $100 million in efforts to undermine the Chavez government and reinforce the opposition during the following 8 years.
...
venezuelanalysis
kick'em out.
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Well I for one am shocked - shocked - to hear that there are goods in, of all places, a warehouse. Hopefully the government can enact change to ensure that not only are stores empty, but warehouses are empty as well.
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United States40776 Posts
Those greedy kulaks must be destroyed. How dare they exchange money for goods and services!
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I loved reading this thread from last year after seeing the price of oil go down in the past few months. Some people really have their head way up their ass based on their political viewpoints.
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tough to maintain a democracy under constant subversion from fascists and vampires.
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On January 17 2015 04:19 JonnyBNoHo wrote:Well I for one am shocked - shocked - to hear that there are goods in, of all places, a warehouse. Hopefully the government can enact change to ensure that not only are stores empty, but warehouses are empty as well. Price controls also create an incentive for producers to produce less and retailers to stock less doh!
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On January 17 2015 07:57 KwarK wrote: Those greedy kulaks must be destroyed. How dare they exchange money for goods and services!
I agree! Goods and services are the cause of every evil in the world. Examples! War is a service and weapons are goods.
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So the opposition purposefully bought up essential goods to take them off the market and manufacture a shortage crisis? Sneaky sneaky
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