Archive for June 30th, 2010

First Margarita non-expert Venezuelan CPI. Make your own!

June 30, 2010

Reader Island Canuck has been keeping tabs on prices on that island for the first six months of the year and comes today to report an increase of 35.6%, you may agree or not with his choices, but he did the work.

Let me tell you what impresses me the most about the increases: The fact that so many local products have gone up the most. Look at the Avocados, onions tomatoes, lettuce and green peppers. Spaghetti? For God’s sake, it’s all made here. I can understand the apples, but water? Or Orange Juice.

The puzzle: How come imported microwave popcorn is flat?

In any case, make up yourown index using the data and tell us how it fared. Simply pick a basket, your taste, then calculate the increase in the first six months and tell us the result.

Kudos Island Canuck.


More news from Bizarro VenWorld

June 30, 2010

(Syrian President makes a face when Chavez tells him his refinery will be built after he finishes the other 16 promised)

Too much to digest at once, so here are just the headlines, with comments:

Chavez offers the President of Syria that he will build a refinery in his country.

Does Al-Assad know that there is a huge line? Just off the top, he has to wait until Chavez builds one with Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, Jamaica, Nicaragua, China, and abut ten others, none of which have even been started, but were announced at least three or four years ago. The lone exception: The Cuban refinery, the only one that Venezuela has devoted the time and the money to work on it.

–To get a job in Government denounced Andres Velasquez, you have to get a “Patriotic Certification” saying that you are loyal to the revolution.

This is an improvement, no? This is the Chavez/Tascon list but backwards, you want a job, you register as being part of the faithful, don’t bother if you are not. You can even lie if you want to. In the old Chavez/Tascon list, it was taken from a recall referendum list if you signed against the Dictator.

–According to the Rector of Universidad Jose Maria Baralt, a Bolivarian that supports the process, they are “immersed in forming a new and different educational model in which the professional does not sell himself or buys his degree. Thus, they are thinking of doing away with undergraduate thesis, research and projects as part of degree requirements”. (Bolivarian students marched today rallying, among other things against university internal entrance exams)

I agree, what a bothersome bunch of useless stuff, thesis, research, projects, while they are at it, maybe they should do away with exams, courses and, hell, teachers…bring back the honor system, Bolivarian in this case.

National Assembly refuses to discuss the spoiled food case.

Of course it should. Imagine if all the corruption surrounding the case came up in the discussion. We are talking about 122,000 tons of rotten food, but we know the corruption involved most of the imported food, the containers (you pay rent for them did you know that?), the storage time, the fees, the permits. The guys involved in this are millionaries. Ask Andorra. But it’s bad timing, no corruption fighting until October, at the least.

–Chavez’ PSUB party asks for an investigation into where the opposition is getting money.

You got to be kidding me! PSUV spends 100 times more than the opposition and everyone knows where the money is coming from: From the Government and you want to ask where the puny amount of money the oppo has is coming from? That’s like asking if the US is advising the opposition, when Chavez only does what Fidel suggests and Cuban advisers have invaded Venezuela. Why is this asymmetrical?

–Chavez has given Cuba a billion US$ for cooperaton in science and research between Cuba and Venezuela according to Jaime Requena in Tal Cual.

This has generated a total of 16 publications at an average cost of US$ 62.5 million per paper. I guess we should have quite a few Nobel Prizes coming our way. Or am I an optimist?

Bizarro indeed…