I am not sure what to make of AD’s backing of Pablo Perez as its Presidential candidate. The much-desired endorsement could work both ways, it could be the push Perez needs to get closer to Henrique Capriles or simply the kiss of death of his campaign.
As the party of the opposition with most militants and votes in recent regional elections, having AD’s endorsement will be very helpful come primary day, as AD’s voters will certainly go to the polls and express their opinion. The problem is that primary day is still 100 days away and Pablo Perez’ candidacy so far does not seem to have taken off. Given the fact that most Venezuelans, particularly those in the middle, those of the Ni-Ni variety, are so party-phobic these days, AD’s backing may hurt Perez in the polls and his candidacy may simply run out of gas before the AD party faith full can go help in February.
Thus, I don’t feel sorry for the losers in the “get AD’s backing race” Antonio Ledezma and Maria Corina Machado. The first one has proven to be very good at campaigning, but AD’s backing would have had the same effect and he runs far in the polls. As to Maria Corina, if she was truly trying to get that endorsement, it simply does not fit, as she is the least JuanBimbaesque candidate of them all.
Thus, in the end this endorsement is important because it will help decant the race. Once candidates register, I expect no more than two or three of them to have significant support in the polls, at which point I will tell you what I think. My intuition at this points says that yesterday may have been Pablo Perez’ high point of the campaign.
But what do I know? I think Chavez’ popularity should be less than half of what it is, but it ain’t…
The Devil's Excrement 
October 30, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Miguel,
This is not new. This doesn’t come from Chavismo. Teachers were earning a joke before Chávez. You couldn’t make a living out of that.
Was the percentage of the budget back then also going primarily to the military and to foreign aid or were there other issues ALSO at play?
How many university professors do we need versus teachers? Give enough but also guarantee enough teachers…enough good teachers.
Is the proportion in Venezuela similar to other places? If there are more teachers than university professors, why should the total of expenses on prof pensions be dramatically higher than that for teachers?
How many of those professors are actually needed? How many were really professors of mathematics and how many were ghost professors at the faculty of sociology?
As far as I remember, my siblings and I could have got a place at university just because of our dad…even though we all got through our degrees. But a lot of others used and still use that, occupying free places that should go to better qualified…only because teachers’ and professors’ and university workers’ unions managed to get a lot of free places for their groups.
And there is and was a huge mafia on student places in public universities, at least at UCV, UC, ULA, UZ. The student centres got those places and sold them off to the best bidder.
How many resources are wasted like that?
As I said: you cannot build a country when everybody wants to be the managing engineer. You need skilled workers as well.
We actually were having quite some brilliant engineers but skilled workers?
I perfectly understand the concerns of the university community in Venezuela. But what I cannot understand is how they are so blind to the rest of the world and even to some people that influence a lot of what they have to do: those fro schools.
This was very manifest when through some university professors I sent this appeal to the university rectors about supporting the petition for the PISA programme. They didn’t want to sign it out of laziness, out of cowardice, out of “no vale la pena” (they just had to sign that) or out of the fact they really don’t care a fig for anything but their wee world.
Así no vamos a progresar mucho.
October 30, 2011 at 6:19 pm
This is a perfect example of what we’ve been discussing and it’s happening right now:
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/111029/barinas-state-turns-its-back-on-mandela
October 30, 2011 at 9:25 pm
I dont think they are that blind, they just cant live well and they defend their rights, we have to start by establishing a pension system that is universal and not when you have had 25 years at the University (or middle school for that matter). But take oil, how much talent do you need to develop our oil? That is as much as a priority as elementary school.
October 31, 2011 at 3:50 am
Miguel,
I understand the plights of professors as well. I will come up with the numbers and show them to you when I have more time.
October 30, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Kepler, I dont think it is a certain budget, it is education versus military. It is education versus subsidies to other countries. Yes, you should spend more at the lower levels, but that does not mean you do it at the expense of universities. You have to be careful with university budgets, university spend over 50% of their budget paying pensions, schools don’t. As for research and development, except for PDVSA now defunct Intevep, expenditures have never been out of the ordinary and Venezuela had a very productive scientific system for the money invested.
When you learn that the President of MIT is a Venezuelan, you wish he was in Venezuela exercizing that leadership that took him there. When you learn that Ignacio Rodriguez Iturbe won the Swedish Water price, you wish he was here and not at Princeton. (Ignacio once won the vote to be Rector of Simon Bolivar University, the Government appointed someone else). Same with Bruni and so many others…
October 29, 2011 at 8:16 pm
It was Felipe Pirela who blew down the damn wall!
October 29, 2011 at 5:21 pm
OK. That’s it. I was giving PP the benefit of the doubt. No more.
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/pablo-p%C3%A9rez-capriles-ya-fue-pedirle-cacao-copei).
October 29, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Chavez admits he’s not in the best of health.
The picture is worth a 1000 words.
http://www.reporteconfidencial.info/noticia/30339/-chavez-reconocio-que-no-esta-bien-de-salud/
He says he has a cold. When was his last chemo? He still looks bloated & sick.
October 29, 2011 at 3:28 pm
It doesn’t even matter who wins, UNTIL a large majority of the people are educated. Because it is they, the people, who have the power.
If a decent woman or man were to win, the opposition (Chavistas) would rise up and march, protest, etc…imagine, petro at $1 a galloon.
The problems in Venezuela today aren’t Chavez and his rabid supporters. The problem is that a majority of Venezuelans still want something for nothing.
Venezuela is screwed for at least the next 30 years. Probably much longer. This evil philosophy needs to run it’s course, in order to completely get it out of the country’s system. (See Eastern Europe/China and nearly all of Asia.)
October 29, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Amen.
October 29, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Liz, Watching PP on youtube, I have to say his character doesn’t appeal to me, but that is not based on any objection to what he said.
My favorite is MCM who has no chance….in my opinion she speaks the firmest, the clearest and in the least fearful way of all – which is what we need.
My middle choices are both Capriles and LL, both whom I like well enough, though LL looks somewhat immature , and Capriles a bit fearful which comes across as not totally convincing to me.
But like everyone else, I will be happy enough if any one of them wins.
October 29, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Cerdita, My first choice is Capriles, but I really love MCM. I think she could run for president in 10 years. She needs more experience, but as you say, her message is the strongest.
October 29, 2011 at 1:06 pm
I just feel very sorry for Ledezma. I mean, the man has worked so hard and he is always left behind!
Anyway, I don’t know if this is the death kiss for the maracucho. Last night I heard Ramos Allup saying that they were speaking with Copei and other political parties and pretty soon they’re going to announce more parties supporting PP!
Kiss of death? Nope. More like cayapa against Capriles!! The only way they can fight his high numbers in the recent polls is this.
This is going to be interesting or ugly. We’ll see.
And yes… I cannot stand PP. I look at him, hear him, think of him… and I just see another Rosales. Un bolsa pues. But hey, that’s me.
October 29, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Liz, I don’t like PP, as should be obvious from my comments. The positive parts I put for the sake of trying to say something nice. But for me he is not enough. And yet: if Chávez and Pérez are the option, I would go vote for Pérez…sad, very sad.
So far Capriles has my vote.
October 29, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Mijito, por fin estamos de acuerdo en algo LOL!
If PP wins, I have to vote for him… anything to get rid of chavez.
October 29, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Well Liz, maybe Ledezma has to realize he can be a very good Mayor, but will never be President and concentrate on being a Great Mayor, one that will be remembered for the ages. And maybe, if the oppo wins and he does a fantastic job, he can get elected in 2018, nothing like results.
October 29, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Miguel,
I agree with you, totally. I just feel sad for him. Geez, he won the elections and chávez took almost all the power from him!
And he kept on working ‘con las uñas’!
October 30, 2011 at 4:29 am
I also think that maracuja juice is delicious. And I like the empanadas de cazón and the cachapa con queso rallado.
I always thought Hugo Chávez was ugly and Rudy Rodríguez hot.
I hope we can agree on one of them.
October 30, 2011 at 11:12 am
Yep. And you know exactly which one!
October 30, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Did you forget to take one of your medications, Kep?
October 30, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Liz was saying we agreed on one thing. I am trying to show we may agree on more, at least two or three.
October 29, 2011 at 1:02 pm
¿¿¿What does Reagan have to do with Venezuela???
October 29, 2011 at 3:02 pm
It all began with the observation that RR used chitchat to good effect. But I had no idea that he blew up the Berlin Wall with the power of his voice, before the wind blew against his Superman cape as he flew back to Washington, wearing only a pair of blue tights. Qué sé yo.
October 29, 2011 at 1:00 pm
By the way: I would vote for this Pérez guy without a doubt if he is the candidate against Chávez, but only if they can’t get someone better.
This bloke is not a winner.
October 29, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I’ll say it again – he doesn’t have a snow balls chance in hell.
October 29, 2011 at 3:22 pm
No one has a chance of winning, other than Chavez or his Cuban replacement. If you don’t think that the voting machines are hackable, well, you’re not thinking. The Cubans won’t let their meal ticket escape their grasp.
October 29, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Firepigette, you are telling us my critical analysis of Pérez shows how Chávez was elected?
Geez…
This is not about labels. Labels my foot. This is about what it takes to avoid the militaty from taking over ever again. Venezuela’s economy is and will remain highly unstable for quite some time. Most people think wealth comes in planes from the Gods.
We must change that if we want to get rid of Chavismo and avoid a civil war.
To do that we need to improve our vision.
It’s not enough to repeat the formula of AD.
You really should try to analyse things less superifcially.
Have you ever thought why people were so stupid-stupid-stupid as to “vote out of vengeance”? Why didn’t they do the right thing as Miguel and I did back then (I take Miguel never voted for Chávez either)?
Why did they have that mindset? How come people could be so thick as to vote for Chávez in spite of him being a murderer, a military, a man associated with the extreme left? Go further than that: how come people in Venezuela think our country is a rich country and we need just to distribute wealth? How is it possible people think like that?
How is it possible people are so conformist and do not want Venezuela to become a developed nation but just be a nación bonita?
October 29, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Wake ’em up! Kepler! Head ’em up. Move’em out!!
Drive ’em in, Kick ’em out! 🙂
October 29, 2011 at 12:32 pm
One of the reasons I think Chavez won was due to an irresponsible reaction to the 4rth Republic.People didn’t keep things in perspective…they voted out of vengeance, and out of impatience and being fed up ” everything”, instead of really looking at the character they were electing.If they had taken the time to be more objective and less reactive they could have clearly seen the sociopath for who he was…
Not voting for someone because he had anything to do with our past, is not a very objective way of looking at something…. it will be easy to fall into another reactive voting pattern, sorry to say.
I personally knew Ledezma when I lived in Venezuela, and I knew him for about 30 years,and since he was quite young, and I know for a fact that he is a capable, and hardworking man, but so many people only react to his Adeco roots or otherwise absurd labellings….if this keeps up, it spells future trouble in my opinion.Not that I think folks have to like Ledezma, but it is the reactivity that I find so blinding.
October 29, 2011 at 12:31 pm
I only listened up to minute 40.
I will try to find the time to hear the rest.
1) Pérez is using his children way too much. The the first wean didn’t want to appear there, he was pushed. That’s not good.
2) Study at the university, we have mentioned that, is not the main thing. Get first things first. He hardly mentioned schools. God, what’s wrong with Venezuelans that don’t bloody get that? Geez!
3) He talks about about quotas for young people. ??? And what about people over 30? In Venezuela more than elsewhere THAT is the problem.
In Europe and North America there are issues…in Venezuela someone over 35 is too old unless he has palanca.
By the way: I am against quotas. There are other ways. And the main issue is: employment should go for those who can do the job, not those with connections.
4) He doesn’t go into details about education. Same thing as 40 years ago and as now. The devil is in the detail. I would love to put every candidate in a jail for one day, without Blackberry and force him/her to write down on a piece of paper all his thoughts about EDUCATION!
5) When he talks about budget, he also talks about the problem governors have now face with “oil price at $50”, not about budget distribution later on (how much for research? on what? transparency? sustainibility?
Venezuela is one of the most corrupt nations not only in the Milky Way but in the whole Local Group.
He talks about jobs and support given independently from a party. That’s fine but not enough.
He doesn’t talk about how to stop amiguismo and giving jobs according to family links, not a single real idea about TRANSPARENCY.
The best thing I heard was min 23 and the patents
and min 29 about prisons
Wee detail: bizarro doesn’t mean bizarre in Spanish.
Read, carajo!
http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=bizarro
What the hell is “muchísimamente inteligente”?
One thing is to be maracucho and another thing that.
OK, I am a nagger, but this is just for the good de la nation.
October 29, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Same with me-I could not listen to it all.
2 words. “Hot air”.
Not meaning to be disrespectful, but I believe
this is not the candidate…
October 29, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Kep – Your point 3 also called my attention. What you say is true. There is a big fuss around Venezuela about laws and things to hire young people, and nobody thinks about those over 40.
Read any job posting in Venezuela: they all ask for an age range, usually 20 to 30, and they also ask for a gender, and ask them to include photos in the resume.
I tell you, it should be illegal to ask for the age, the gender, the marital status and photos in resumes, but apparently in Venezuela everybody is so used to that and don’t make a big deal of that.
October 29, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Age range is usually till you’re 35. After that your not eligible for a position. The adds even say that you have to be good looking or from certain race! Talk about discrimination. Moreover, having no children is an asset.
Now, employers are required by law to do some medical tests before hiring you. And twice a year -before you go on vacations and when you return. I find this very expensive for the companies and also serves as a form of discrimination: for instance pregnant women will not be employed or if you get sick after your vacations you’ll be dismissed.
October 30, 2011 at 6:14 pm
That’s absolutely disgusting. Discrimination at its best.
So, how come all that is not in the news??
October 30, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Carolina, people are used to it, it’s the norm. And nobody seems to know that in other countries it would be illegal.
October 29, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Thank you, Kep. I urge you to go the extra 20-minute distance.And I look forward to your remaining comments, most so far which I agree with.
I too was pleasantly surprised to hear about the so-few patents. That goes directly to the quality of education, especially in the sciences. And I liked hearing a few bytes more than just electoral pablum about prisons.
I especially liked PP’s mention of Venezuela’s timidity vis-à-vis tourism, a topic he expanded further with comparisons to the DR, even Cuba. And I thought to myself, how will tourism gain traction in a country, where technical schools don’t form an important part of the educational options in a country.
I liked PP’s repeated mention of his being a democrat, and how it is normal to disagree and abnormal to follow one colour, etc.
Yes, PP could be blowing a lot of hot air. But he’s presented – so far, more information than Capriles, notwithstanding the differences in their public interactions (twittercam vs public speech and vanity videos).
I agree with FP that Capriles is a little too timid. I keep wondering how he will deal with an engorged military. I don’t have to wonder how PP will manage in that regard.
October 29, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Chavez has Cubans that are supposed to be advising and teaching
Venezuelans about tourism-didn’t you know?
We know what happened to tourism- Chavez killed it.
Why did you not know about “so few patents”-this is problem throughout
Latin America- except now- Brazil- well known- common knowledge.
Perez is not an intellectual-not even what I would consider University level
education-just my opinion.
Perez wants to “play Mr. tough guy,manager- I doubt he could calculate the area of Venezuela, for example. Yes, he wants to be loud and louder.
And, deeper and deeper voice – I really hate it when he starts waving his fists in the air and looking far away like he is looking into space to find something….
October 29, 2011 at 11:25 am
Some people believe being endorsed by Adecos is bad, others believe it is okay.
This is the way ALL political beliefs are ….there will be some who like something ,and some who don’t…
We can speculate, but one thing that calls my attention is the fact that about half the country was Adeco so it seems hypocritical now to worry about that connection.The other rough half was Copeiano , and from those 2 pools we get the majority of Venezuelans today.
For those who claim the 4rth Republic was so much worse than Chavismo, : my sympathies…my guess is nothing will get through to them.
October 29, 2011 at 11:44 am
Until Ramón José Velásquez Venezuela was maybe 70-80% AD-COPEI plus independents with more support for AD than for COPEI. For Caldera to win with El Chiripero (German cockroaches) that level of support was much reduced. For Chavez to win by a landslide the AD-COPEU base must have been even further reduced. A lot of the people who voted for Chavez are “arrepentidos,” they are sorry for their stupidity but they won’t back AD-COPEI ever. We need fresh blood in politics. We need fresh ideas. We need a bit of love of country.
IMO, the backing of AD is baggage that a successful candidate cannot carry.
October 29, 2011 at 11:52 am
Problem is there is not much true fresh blood over the age of sufficient experience…Almost all of the Venezuelan people come from these historical roots…..and just because there might be some fresh politicians, does not mean that they are good….
Let’s listen to the messages, let’s intuit their characters…that is my message.Let go of a resentful past, to build a hopeful and more respectful future……People need to stand up without fear.
October 29, 2011 at 11:20 am
You guys can say what you want but Venezuela used to be the land of opportunity until around 1980 as much as the USA was. Maybe not high tech but financial opportunity all the same. You didn’t need a degree, all that was necessary was the willingness to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.
Figure it out, during 20 years or so after 1958 Venezuela was able to withstand the ravages of socialism and populism but not even our El Dorado can withstand the pillage for ever. We are now paying the price. And until the day we are allowed once again to make a decent living free of the encumbrance of socialism and populism the country will just continue going down hill. We will surpass Cuba and Albania and even North Korea in the quality of our misery. Mark my words!
October 29, 2011 at 7:40 am
Off topic but interesting.
http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=813476
After expropriating the fincas in Sur de Lago in December of last year the production of platanos has fallen 50% because of the deteriorated condition of the farms.
What a surprise!! Didn’t see that coming.
According to Marta Colomina there are thousands of radio station licences that have not been renewed by Conatel. The result, of course, is that they are only broadcasting music & tame news because of the fear of being closed down.
http://www.noticierodigital.com/2011/10/marta-colomina-este-es-el-peor-momento-de-chavez-en-toda-su-carrera-politica/
October 29, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Old video -but remember the message.
October 28, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Regarding PP, I saw in these past few days some sort of a video chat thing he gave via twitter. I thought ‘good for him” at using new technology to approach people, so I watched a bit.
It was annoying at times, since his kid was interrupting him all the time and he would not stop kissing the boy. Sweet, but annoying when you are “online dating” someone. LOL.
Anyway, he started with “good evening everyone, sorry to bother you..”. Really? ‘Disculpen la molestia?” I almost stopped it right there but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He kind of fixed it later with a “disculpen la tardanza”.
One other thing I didn’t like about his message was regarding employment for the youth. He said something like “there are many youths out there that are good plumbers, good carpenters, good electricians…that SADLY couldn’t finish a career for one reason or the other (or the lack of opportunities)”. Something like that.
I may be taking his comment out of context, but I think that this guy, as many other people in Venezuela, have to understand that there is nothing shameful not to have an university degree. Technical careers and trades – like electricians, carpenters and plumbers – are as valuable and important for the development of a country than an university degree and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Here is the video:
http://twitcam.com/6zagp
October 28, 2011 at 5:13 pm
>>>I may be taking his comment out of context, but I think that this guy, as many other people in Venezuela, have to understand that there is nothing shameful not to have an university degree.<<<
Considering that Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and captainccs don't have university degrees should be proof enough that they are not always needed. ROFL
But for most people it is much better to have a degree than not to have one. Please note that Jobs and Gates were not uneducated, they just didn't stick around to get a degree. In his Stanford commencement address Jobs explains why he dropped out of college.
October 28, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Captain, that’s not what I was referring to.
PP almost said – or did say – that being blue collar was shameful, and I absolutely disagree with that.
Venezuela needs – and it has for a long time – good and well trained blue collar workers. More mechanics, more plumbers, carpenters and electricians.
Post secondary education of all sorts, not only university degrees. I’m talking about INCE’s, technical schools that offer 2 to 3 years programs.
October 28, 2011 at 6:06 pm
No job is ever shameful. Some jobs might be unpleasant but the easiest way to get a better job is to have a job. My grandfather was a tailor and for a time my father drove a delivery van. That’s how he met Medina Angarita, delivering bread! There is no shame in a job well done.
October 28, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Well, maybe Gates did not need it, but let me tell you a story: My first semester in grad school, I took Applied math 101, it was rough and I had a good background in math after four years. Well, Bill Gates, just out of high school was taking that class…
October 28, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Very few people really know about Bill Gates background. Like at one point, he had computer time access like no one in the world. One good source to learn about this guy is Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.” Gates’ life has been the perfect storm: lots of wealth and smarts … always.
October 28, 2011 at 7:57 pm
And a lawyer (his Dad), no doubt, advising him at every step of the way.
October 29, 2011 at 2:54 am
Miguel,
Remember the kind of primary school education and average family education from the average kid in Guanare or Puerto Cabello and compare that the one of Bill Gate with his family.
I agree with Carolina.
We so much forget to start with the beginning, we always go back to our stuff as we have become so alienated with Venezuelan society: “I need X millions to produce 20 top PhD physics specialists”.
Well, give us those millions to produce 20000 top bachilleres who may become physics specialists, electronic engineers or the kind of skilled workers you find in any small Bavarian or Baden-Württemberg city.
That’s the way any one and every single country started that became developed. Read Japan, South Korea and China for some years now.
October 29, 2011 at 5:38 pm
I was not saying anything about whether Venezuela needs Ph.D.’s or not, I was just noting Bill Gates did not need to finish a formal degree because he had knowledge at the graduate level at a level that was certainly not available when I was in high school.
But Venezuela needs everything, you have to educate at the bottom and nurture at the top, only by have people who are pushing the envelope of knowledge and excellence at the top, will you get that to permeate down, otherwise the best and the brightest will always leave and you will never get out of the hole.
Those engineers exist because there is something else to feed, a system, which does not exist here at any level. And that system exists because of leaders and entrepreneurs that create the companies that use them. Those guys are pushing the envelope of their field and exist because all around them there is a culture at all levels. Kids that grew up in Silicon Valley in the 70′,80’s and 90’s are exposed to something much more competitive and high level than those in Texas, for example. But once in a while one leaves the system and goes to Texas and starts something.
You need education at all levels, and if you want to have a good basic educational system, someone has to teach from pre-school teachers to Graduate degrees, you can just fund or feed one level. You need Ph.D.’s at the top and a zilliion good teachers at the bottom.
Again, what I said had nothing to do with this, but this is my opinion about your comment.
October 30, 2011 at 4:58 am
Miguel,
This is the chicken and that’s the egg.
We need excellence everywhere, but given a certain budget, you need to distribute it in a better way. It is not possible that in Venezuela universities get such a much higher proportion of the whole education budget than schools. It’s completely nuts.
Gates was excellent at maths before he started (and dropped) university but that kind of thing, in spite of all his outstanding intelligence, could only have happened in a nationl where the AVERAGE 15 year old kid
had a rather decent level. Talking about pushing: you push from the base, you can only pull from above and that if you have a critical mass on top…which you would never have in Venezuela before you start with the bottom now (given our demographics).
I wish there could be more for universities in Venezuela and I am very much aware of the problems they had, definitely not as well as you do, who were actually a professor and researcher there but I think I have some idea.
According to some reports I read (EU, but based on very open data from Venezuela) no country in Latin America has such an disproportionate chunk of education budget going towards university level. And it it not enough? Perhaps, but the education part of our national budget is not particularly low. Whatever happens at university level (half the budget going towards bedeles inexistentes or whatever) that gets lot, a lot is being wasted in trying to improve the level of rookies who shouldn’t have gone to university in the first place. The only thing university people seemed to have come with about it all is “give us more money” and “don’t take our limited power to select people”. Well: that’s just a third of the story. Their selfish attitude is self-defeating. As they have to deal with students they need to be worried about where those students are coming from and for that they need to care a bit more and work a little bit more closely with school teachers.
Schools are getting much much much much less. It’s in Venezuela people think school teachers are pieces of shit. Do you think you can’t live with a professor’s salary? Well, try to make a living working as a teacher.
Teachers at public schools could not rent a 30 mt2 flat in Caracas even in the eighties or nineties. What do you expect?
What do you expect when the average pupil in Venezuela in 1998 had the by far worst level of educational achievement whereas the graduates from the USB and some chunk from such universities as UCV and UC (depending on faculty, etc, etc) had a rather decent level?
Do you really believe they would pull things up? With what workers? You are talking about giving those engineers and scientists work at decent factories…how when even the average politician was and still is half illiterate and much so the average “worker”?
I do not have your knowledge about university life, but I knew a little bit about their problems:I had a father who was a professor at Universidad de Carabobo and I spent quite a lot of time in the “professor environment”. I also went to university first in Venezuela and then in Germany and then in Belgium to work.
But I also saw what the public education in Venezuela in the late seventies and eighties was up to. My mother was a school teacher at a poor school and I got some feeling about what she had to fight against. I went to that poor school myself, to a middle average school and then to a private school. I have several relatives who are either professors at university or teachers at PUBLIC schools.
October 28, 2011 at 6:24 pm
That comparison is out of place, altogether. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college because they already knew much more than what was being taught at the time in their field.
The fact is that for any kind of skill, anybody needs some degree of training. When that person masters said skill, then he or she becomes needed in the job market, … if there is enough demand.
If that person is unskilled, then in the XXI century he or she is dead in the water, no matter what. That’s a fact of life.
October 28, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Just saw the video. Pathetic. Lots of irrelevant chatter. This guy is not presidential material even for a “Junta de Condominio.” Even as I learn how things unfold in the modern world, even as I read about the most crucial issues that mankind faces, even as I learn that some global leaders have finally come to their senses about the best way to lift up their constituencies out of poverty, we, in Venezuela, still have these so called “leaders” who still sputter stupidity and vague generalities. This guy is hopeless and out of touch with the real issues. I don’t know if it is out of ignorance or because he adheres to the old ways of doing politics. Either way, if Venezuela elects him, it would be another six years lost. Haiti with oil, nothing more.
October 28, 2011 at 7:37 pm
perhaps the irrelevant chit chat is a way to win over the ni-ni’s with a chavez leaning. As well, one has to keep in mind that a little chatter greases the wheel of social discourse. No one knew this as much as Ronald Reagan.
October 28, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Yes, my dear, one can be folksy with the people, but they do have to get a sense that if somebody wants to be their leader for the foreseeable future, that leader should convey an air of what is needed to do in no uncertain terms. In my humble opinion, this guy fails at that. Not very hopeful about the other ones, though.
About RR, people think that economic recovery during his presidency was due to his policies. Dead wrong. It was chairman Volcker’s monetary policy that got America out of that recession. Sorry, no Republican in here, although not very much satisfied with Democrats either.
October 29, 2011 at 2:58 am
Venezuela is not the US. The US already had the top technology, it was a developed country, people would flow from all over the world to the US to study there.
Reagan was targetting something else. Reagan was talking to people who were very much in the first train. Nothing would have mattered had Reagan said this or that, but for him being elected or not.
In the case of Venezuela: everybody is still in the lost town, nobody is even moving towards the train station. They don’t even know they have to take a train to get somewhere.
October 29, 2011 at 8:46 am
“In the case of Venezuela: everybody is still in the lost town, nobody is even moving towards the train station. They don’t even know they have to take a train to get somewhere.”
Very well said, pal. [I don’t want to discuss RR]-but to this description of Venezuela I believe is very profound picture of reality. Thanks.
October 29, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I must have known you don’t want to discuss about Reagan and I am sure you shed a tear or two when you remember him. It’s OK, it’s OT.
🙂
October 29, 2011 at 8:34 am
and your comment relates to what, Kep?
As for the US economy/US dollar/US confidence, a few years prior to Reagan’s presidency, I suggest you read some economic history.
October 29, 2011 at 11:39 am
And he also blew up the Berlin wall with the sheer power of his voice.
Would you care recommend me a book, Syd? Perhaps Zinn’s? I read that.
October 29, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Kepler- you missed again… 🙂
No lovefest for Reagan here. Not one tear.
(PS I was called a crumudgeon this week..)
October 28, 2011 at 7:27 pm
PP’s one-hour date with the nation, on twittercam, was a novelty. At least for me.
Yes, the presentation began with weak audio and oratory results. Yes, the carajito should have played outside, rather than interrupt his dad, or have his voice heard in the background. And yes, PP seems too rooted on university as a definition of career success. He needs to branch out and give equal attention to graduates of technical schools who, if well trained, will be a vital fuel in his revamped economic engine.
Other than the negatives, I found him to be very positive and nowhere as ‘arrechito’ as he was in a previous political speech to the nation.
Overall, I found his pronouncements decisive, his orientation inclusive, and his disclosure content-rich.
Since I never grew up with a bias against a maracucho accent, that aspect did not form part of my criteria, which ended by giving PP one and half thumbs up.
October 29, 2011 at 3:01 am
He just talked like any Adeco leader would have talked 40, 50 years ago.
And Venezuela was – no nos caigamos a embustes- not going in the right direction, its development was only a thing for the few, it was not sustainable and when the wagon lost its power – low oil prices, too many people- this brought in Chavez
October 29, 2011 at 8:25 am
Kep, please expand your accusations with specifics related to PP’s chat with the twitter questions from his feed. Thank you.
October 29, 2011 at 11:48 am
I shall do it, Syd
October 28, 2011 at 4:10 pm
AD has been very stigmatized for the past 12 years, and the polls show that. We are talking about what used to be one of the mightiest political parties in LA, and yet every poll shows that they are in low single digits.
I would’t be surprised if this was a kiss of death that Ramos Allup agreed with either of the two leading candidates to get rid of PP. You can guess who benefits the most!
Machiavellian, yes. But, if true, no one can dispute that it would be a brilliant political maneuver. The downside would be that “adecos” would be handed some power in a future opposition government. Oh, well …
October 28, 2011 at 4:38 pm
That’s what I said but Kepler doesn’t think they are capable of that. LOL.
The truth is that AD have been out of power for 18 years now, and we owe to Ramos Allup the lost of the Assembly with his ridiculous boicot, and he is still their leader. I guess that shows that AD hasn’t changed one bit.
October 28, 2011 at 6:37 pm
My dear: “Loro viejo no aprende a hablar.” Hope you’re well.
October 28, 2011 at 3:39 pm
The kiss of death is because of the anti-party mood.
On guisos, people say the adecos qould charge 10% commission and the road would get built. The Chavistas charge 25% and never get the road built.
October 28, 2011 at 2:59 pm
As long as we are talking primaries, where only militant opposition goes to vote, AD is no worse than any other party around. Hence, no kiss of death for now. Does Ni Ni vote in primaries? don’t think so.
then in general elections …. the “party of the People” will support whomever wins the primaries so, I see no difference in the long run.
October 28, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Between AD and Chavez I’m voting for someone else. During a previous election I got an email from Claudio Fermin asking for my support. I shot back: “If you are a candidate I’m voting for Chavez.” AD is the party of dinosaurs and the dinos are extinct. Get used to it!
Just to put the above into perspective, I’ve voted AD up to and including 1997 not because I’m adeco but as the lesser of the two evils AD-COPEI. It’s time for fresh blood, no more dinosaur blood. How many 20 or 30 year olds remember an AD government? 12 years of Chavez, 5 years of German cockroaches and maybe 10 to have some understanding, no one under 27 can remember an adeco government.
Today in the metro there was a long queue of 20 somethings registering to vote. Not one of them has seen an adeco government.
October 28, 2011 at 2:43 pm
I worked at the alcaldia when Claudio Fermin was the mayor. You could smell the “guisos cooking” all over the place, all the time. It was a very difficult environment to work trying to stay out of the corrupted system.
Remember when he decided to change all the pavers on sidewalks of the city centre, regardless of its actual condition? I do.
One day, when the department was in the middle or rewriting bylaws and trying to meet the deadline, my boss at the time told us all: “wear jeans tomorrow, we’ll be doing some manual labor”. Fair enough the next day, the very first thing I saw in the morning was the secretary of the department sawing some flags….for the mayor’s kiosk at the romeria blanca. The whole department was set to dedicate the day to decorate his stand.
I quit the next day my job of 8 months.
October 28, 2011 at 3:27 pm
There were “guisos” then, and there are mega guisos today. Per one of Miguel’s past posts, $29B (29 millardos) are unaccounted for in the Fonden. Que tal?
October 28, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I remember the “sidewalk guiso” very well. This guy, Fermin, has always been a crook. And to think he wanted to be president.
This is the problem with the Petrostate, isn’t it? Politicians only run for office because what they really are after is the money. To date in Venezuela, very few, if any, have proven that to not be the case.
Few of these crooks would run if the government depended solely on income taxes and the money was tightly controlled like in civilized societies.
Then, again, in civilized societies, few of them could be elected …
October 29, 2011 at 4:37 am
Talk about sidewalk guisos I have three words for you:
Boulevard del Cafetal, brought to you by: Diego Arria when he was Governor of Caracas.
O sea, the sidewalk guiso is as old as, well, sidewalks!
October 28, 2011 at 1:56 pm
None of the pretenders to the Presidency have a chance of winning anyway because the masses are far to the Left of them and even the bureaucracy of the present government.
If I were you all I would be looking for lodgings somewhere in Miami or Doral.
Cort
October 28, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Which only shows how little you understand Venezuela, the “masses” have no ideology, they are reformed adecos.
October 28, 2011 at 7:51 pm
TROLL ALERT!
October 28, 2011 at 11:17 am
??.
October 28, 2011 at 11:06 am
I get flashbacks to the 1998 election (yes, precisely that one) when AD (before aligning themselves along with other “traditional” parties with Salas Römer) originally chose the infamous Alfaro Ucero as their candidate.
They were out of touch with reality then, and so are now.
October 28, 2011 at 10:40 am
It’s too early to tell. Perez wins the support of AD’s machinery but maybe the downside is the “raya” of being the “adeco” candidate. Pretty obvious that the choice of Ramos Allup was for electability reasons and not ideological, even if AD and UNT share the same basic social-democrat roots.
I want to see how long can Ledezma last and if Leopoldo can take votes from AD base. The real race is about to begin.
October 28, 2011 at 10:38 am
I agree – PP never really had a chance & the AD endorsement will not help.
October 28, 2011 at 9:38 am
Do you think that, by any chance, AD could have done this on purpose?
October 28, 2011 at 9:39 am
I mean, endorsing the third runner up, so the first two can really take off?
October 28, 2011 at 9:40 am
Not really, Pablo is closer to them than the other two, he used to be Adeco
October 28, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Hahahaha, Carolina! You are giving Adecos a level of sophistication they definitely do NOT have.
October 28, 2011 at 3:33 pm
I guess that’s right. 😉
October 28, 2011 at 9:31 am
It looks like the fighting among the opposition is starting. already critical of non-favored candidates, and showing less than favorable photos. Hopefully there will be full unity once a candidate is selected
October 28, 2011 at 9:31 am
Se juntaron los mochos pa rascarse
I think this shows how out of touch AD is, to me PP didnt have a chance from the start and I am convinced that if he wins the primary, Chavez will win without pulling tricks
AD seems to be backing Chavez with this choice, like Chiguire Bipolar said.
October 29, 2011 at 12:14 am
In other words, I think that PP offered AD and Ramos Allup a better deal than what Capriles, LL or Maria Corina offered… and they are so full of themselves that they think that they could make him, or any of them, the winner of the primaries.
Sad, any way you look at it, sad