Robert Reich vs Reality...

Robert Reich on the right...with some sex offender

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According to Robert Reich, "Two years ago, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans slashed taxes, creating a massive give-away to the wealthy and corporations. Since then, Trump and the GOP have attempted to pay for their nearly $2 trillion tax handout for the rich by slashing critical services for working families. Just look at this New York Times headline:

"Trump Administration Unveils More Cuts to Food Stamps Program"

"The Trump administration is literally taking food off the table of hungry families, through $5.5 billion in SNAP cuts over the next five years. These devastating cuts will force nearly 10,000 families to lose all food stamp benefits.

"Trump’s ruse was that under his tax bill working families would see a $4,000 - $9,000 benefit both in individual tax cuts and through investments made by corporate America. Nothing remotely close to this has occurred..."
(Robert Reich)
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Funny story, Robert Reich had promised "Armageddon" if the GOP tax bill passed back in 2017.

What really happened?

Well, wages rose 4.5% for the bottom 25% over the past year – compared to 2.9% for the for the top 25%. (https://www.wsj.com/…/rank-and-file-workers-get-bigger-rais…)

I believe Robert Reich also lauded Hugo Chavez' Command (government-run) economy and even now blames U.S. sanctions and Maduro's "incompetence" for Venezuela's failures.

THAT'S utter NONSENSE! Venezuela failed because neither Marxist policies nor Collectivist initiatives have ever worked anywhere.

By comparison, Milton Friedman advised Augusto Pinochet and, in the process, transformed Chile FROM Allende's "democratic Socialist" basketcase TO an economy praised as, "The Jewel of South America!"

Robert Reich seems like a very nice, but extremely naive gentleman.
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Hugo Chavez is Really, Really Pissed Off at America...

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So he’s doing exactly what you’d expect a maniacal, tyrannical dictator to do – he’s preparing to invade...Columbia.

Apparently “Chavez” really does mean “Crazy-Ass” in Venezuelan!

After Columbian military forces moved into Ecuador to kill Raul Reyes, a leader of the FARC terrorist group, whom Chavez has called, “a good revolutionary”, Chavez mobilized 10 Venezuelan tank regiments along the Venezuelan/Columbian border and had his air force mobilized.

Apparently Chavez is toying with the idea of starting a regional war to defend a terrorist group.

That’s a war the U.S. almost certainly couldn’t avoid getting drawn into. Man, if he’s that outraged over having Exxon-Mobil freezing $12 Billion of Venezuelan assets worldwide, think how PO’d he’ll be when U.S. Marines are streaming across the Venezuelan border.

Yikes!

Score One for America’s Private Sector! Capitalists 1 - Socialists 0

Exxon Mobil Corp has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world in its fights for compensation over lost operations to President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.

The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project.

As the Reuters reported, “The move is the boldest challenge yet by an international oil major against any of the governments around the world that have moved to increase their holds on natural resources as energy and commodity prices have soared.

On Thursday, February 7th, 2008 Exxon-Mobil received court orders in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles each freezing up to $12 billion in total assets of Venezuela state oil firm PDVSA. Exxon also won a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December freezing more than $300 million belonging to PDVSA, pending the outcome of its arbitration.

It’s about time that global conglomerates took rogue tyrants like Hugo Chavez to court and “Hit’em where it hurts,”...in the wallet.

Boy, I sure hope the Leftists in America and Europe don’t come to use this as an excuse as to “Why socialism (ultimately) failed in Venezuela.”

Two Energy Giants May Abandon Venezuela’s Chavez

Last week, Conoco-Phillips and Exxon Mobil refused to meet Venezuela’s deadline to reach an agreement on ceding control of their major oil production ventures, possibly indicating their imminent separation from billions of dollars in investments in that country.

The possible exit of two major American oil companies from Venezuela is not expected to have an immediate impact on American energy supplies.

Moreover, most energy experts believe that the Venezuelan state oil company will be hard pressed to sustain production levels without American expertise.

Oil is the centerpiece of a broader nationalization effort that includes telecommunications and electricity companies. Hugo Chávez is seeking a stronger hand for his government in Venezuela’s economy even as the oil industry, by far the country’s largest source of revenue, struggles to maintain its current, anemic production levels.

The possible abandonment by Conoco-Phillips and Exxon Mobil could be troublesome for Venezuela, what with public spending surging under Mr. Chávez and with oil companies from Brazil, China and India hesitant to make major investments in Venezuela while legal uncertainty persists, energy analysts have cautioned that Venezuela’s government may risk allowing prized reserves to remain underdeveloped.

“The Venezuelans have increased the cost of developing this resource,” said Roger Tissot, director for Latin America at PFC Energy, a consulting firm, in Washington. “At the end of the day, the Venezuelan people will pay the price for these decisions.”

In a similar move Zimbabwe’s government has put forward legislation that would require virtually all publicly traded companies to cede controlling interests to “indigenous” citizens, raising the possibility of a sizable redistribution of the country’s remaining wealth at a time when its economy is collapsing.

The draft legislation, which was published Monday, would mandate that a 51 percent stake in the companies be transferred to Zimbabweans who were “disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of his or her race” before April 1980, when the nation won independence from white rule.

The government calls it a plan for black empowerment, while critics label it a bid to shore up crumbling political support for Zimbabwe’s president, Robert G. Mugabe. Given that Mr. Mugabe’s party dominates Parliament, the measure will almost certainly pass.

It was unclear, however, how Zimbabwe’s bankrupt government, beset by hyperinflation and a currency crisis, would finance the transfers.

At the same time, the government began an effort to rein in Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation, officially about 4,500 percent, but described by private economists as approaching 20,000 percent. A cabinet-level task force on price controls ordered factories and sellers to cut the prices of certain basic goods and services by as much as 50 percent — to levels that existed roughly one week ago.

the legislation evokes the specter of Mr. Mugabe’s seizure of thousands of white-owned farms early this decade, mostly without compensation, in what was then called a redistribution of land to poor blacks. Instead, many of the best farms were awarded to leading figures in Mr. Mugabe’s government and his ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Once “the breadbasket of Africa,” Zimbabwe today, can’t even feed it’s own population.

The "Fairness Doctrine" Venezuelan Style...

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Venezuelan troops used tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful prostestors who'd gathered to oppose the Chavez regime's refusal to renew Radio Caracas Television's (RCTV's) broadcast license, earlier today (Monday, May 28, 2007).

University students blocked a major highway just hours after the Chavez government forced RCTV off the air, claiming it was "subversive" and claiming the station had backed a 2002 coup attempt against him.

RCTV was replaced with TVES a new public channel that launched its transmissions with various artists singing pro-Chavez music, followed by an exercise show. The socialist President claims he's "democratizing the airwaves" by turning over the station to public use

Founded in 1953, RCTV regularly topped viewer ratings in Venezuela, but Chavez accused the netowrk of "poisoning" Venezuelans with programming that promoted Capitalism.

Germany, which holds the European Union Presidency, expressed concern over Venezuela letting RCTV's license expire "without holding an open competition for the successor license." It also said the "EU expects Venezuela to uphold freedom of speech.

Protestors vowed to continue their protests in opposition to Chavez' tyrannical rule.