The Devil's Excrement

Two years ago I started this blog as a curiosity and as an experiment, it has become a commitment. This was my second or third post, trying to describe what was happening in Venezuela:

Banana Republic 101 Part II: A fable in 4,5 maybe six Acts: Too many bananas or not enough republic? Act I

Imagine a far away country, let’s call it Little Venice, the economy is growing at a 10.5% clip after many years of little growth, but most politicians dislike the President. One night in February, four lowly colonels attempt a coup. Their plan is to establish a militaristic regime to redistribute wealth. On the first day they plan to have trials of all politicians, will eliminate the Constitution and expand their revolution to the whole Continent. Fortunately, while three of the colonels succeed with their military objectives, the fourth one, let’s call him Victor, fails when he holes up in an apparent act of cowardice.

Victor is the only one of the four colonels to appear on TV  that night to call on all his co-conspirators to give up the fight. All four are jailed and pardoned three years later by the new President.

Of the four colonels, one dies, another one, call him Pancho, becomes a Government official and later runs for Governor. Victor goes around the country calling for a people’s revolt and speaking against democracy. Suddenly, two years later, he decides to run for President. One year before the elections, the front runner is a former Miss Universe turned politician, followed by an eighty year old politician. As election time approaches, the Miss Universe drops sharply in the polls, the old politician is not doing well and a former Governor let’s call him Henri is the only threat to Victor’s chances. Two weeks before the elections, the other two candidates drop out, turning their votes to Henri. Victor wins easily with 56.2% of the vote with Henri a distant second with 39.97%. The rest don’t even count. Victor celebrates his victory as crowds gather to cheer him. Seems like a happy ending.

Right now we are looking for our own happy ending. It seems like it has been longer than two years, it has been a lot of work, but it also has been quite gratifying to see so many people interested in what I have to say. This is what bloggers have in common, we think we have something to say. I do hope we have a happy ending and my audience decreases as I write about more mundane and boring subjects. Thank you all for your attention!

Two years ago I started this blog as a curiosity and as an experiment, it has become a commitment. This was my second or third post, trying to describe what was happening in Venezuela:

Banana Republic 101 Part II: A fable in 4,5 maybe six Acts: Too many bananas or not enough republic? Act I

Imagine a far away country, let’s call it Little Venice, the economy is growing at a 10.5% clip after many years of little growth, but most politicians dislike the President. One night in February, four lowly colonels attempt a coup. Their plan is to establish a militaristic regime to redistribute wealth. On the first day they plan to have trials of all politicians, will eliminate the Constitution and expand their revolution to the whole Continent. Fortunately, while three of the colonels succeed with their military objectives, the fourth one, let’s call him Victor, fails when he holes up in an apparent act of cowardice.

Victor is the only one of the four colonels to appear on TV  that night to call on all his co-conspirators to give up the fight. All four are jailed and pardoned three years later by the new President.

Of the four colonels, one dies, another one, call him Pancho, becomes a Government official and later runs for Governor. Victor goes around the country calling for a people’s revolt and speaking against democracy. Suddenly, two years later, he decides to run for President. One year before the elections, the front runner is a former Miss Universe turned politician, followed by an eighty year old politician. As election time approaches, the Miss Universe drops sharply in the polls, the old politician is not doing well and a former Governor let’s call him Henri is the only threat to Victor’s chances. Two weeks before the elections, the other two candidates drop out, turning their votes to Henri. Victor wins easily with 56.2% of the vote with Henri a distant second with 39.97%. The rest don’t even count. Victor celebrates his victory as crowds gather to cheer him. Seems like a happy ending.

Right now we are looking for our own happy ending. It seems like it has been longer than two years, it has been a lot of work, but it also has been quite gratifying to see so many people interested in what I have to say. This is what bloggers have in common, we think we have something to say. I do hope we have a happy ending and my audience decreases as I write about more mundane and boring subjects. Thank you all for your attention!

Another cute parody of an ad going around the Internet. On August 15th. you decide what you drink:

The pro-Chavez forces who had three stands in Plaza La Candelaria destroyed the opposition stands which supporters of the “Si” vote were trying to set up. Some of the Chavistas used firearms and the National Guard intervened with tear gas. Two people were injured and two women were asphyxiated by the tear gas. This is the type of intolerance Chavez has taught his supporters.  These are the thugs of the revolution, we need to stop them both.

The pro-Chavez forces who had three stands in Plaza La Candelaria destroyed the opposition stands which supporters of the “Si” vote were trying to set up. Some of the Chavistas used firearms and the National Guard intervened with tear gas. Two people were injured and two women were asphyxiated by the tear gas. This is the type of intolerance Chavez has taught his supporters.  These are the thugs of the revolution, we need to stop them both.

Moody’s is a credit rating agency from the US that gives impendent opinions on the credit risk of private companies and governments. In its July “Bank risk Monitor”, there is an article about the Venezuelan banking system, some highlights:

-The average Venezuelan bank has about five times its capital in government bonds. This is a huge amount of exposure and is one of the reasons why our average bank financial strength rating for Venezuelan banks is an extremely low E+

-At the same time, the average return on equity of Venezuelan banks is, by far, the greatest in Latin America, about 26- to 28 percent.

-Basically, Venezuelan banks have ceased to serve as a normal banking system…The banking system is very weak. The banking system has shrunk by about 60% over the last five years in real terms. This is a banking system that is slowly wasting away.

-The depositor’s money is really just a pool used to make payments. Because the money is mainly in direct demand accounts, the banks use this no-cost funding to purchase up to five times capital in investments in government paper, at relatively high nominal interest rates. …the money never leaves the banking system; it just gets debited and credited to different accounts.

-So, there is a very large and predictable margin there, but it’s not a margin earned by a real banking system, it’s one gained as a payment system or as a transaction system. That is where the impressive profitability is really from, especially when nominal rates are high.

The Venezuelan Government has indeed shown in the recent past…..the ability and willingness to take political action to support the banking system, if necessary. It has even supported weak banks that are not “too big to fail” in a classic sense.

There you have it! The true face of the “pretty” Chavez revolution “for and by” the poor! Please!

My friend and faithful reader Maruja wrote this article in today’s El Universal and I simply could not resist translating it, it combines the seriousness of the situation we are in with the light side that every day should have:

Take advantage of it ladies and gentleman, the 15^th., the 15^th.!

By Maruja Lander de Muci

I can’t stand it! I am counting the days for the famous August 15^th.!That day I am going to have a banquet and I am going to take advantage of it and revoke a lot of people, dead and alive. Beginning obviously with the most obscene assasin of our hopes, thief of the future, compulsive liar, the most perverse personality that has stepped on these lands in the last one thousand years: The un-namable. With him I am going to revoke that bunch of dead people that accompany him, Bolivar and company, we have to return them to their tomb and let them rest in peace, we need to forget about them and understand that those times are nothing like the present we are living and even less like the future we want. The dead ones have no place here today, no more heroic dizziness please!

That day, with my forceful and secret “SI”, I am also going to revoke a bunch of opportunists from the IVth. that lately have been stealing the show and stretching their necks to jump on any podium around. They think that these thousands of anonymous heroes that have marched risking their lives are dumb and we have no memory; they are the ones that are the dumb ones that have yet to understand that the rallying cry that mobilizes us is nor Chavez, nor a jump backwards, I revoke all of those people, Yupii!

As a society we have this golden opportunity to straighten out this terrible mess and we can not waste it, that day the appointment is a date with our future, a sort of new beginning that we can even apply to our own personal life. Take advantage of it Madam, take advantage of it Mister, revoke your couple if you decided you can’t stand it anymore, revoke the butcher that cheats on you, the neighbour that looks at you funny, the mother in law that torments you, the son in law that makes your daughter suffer, take advantage of the 15^th. to put some order in your life and that of Venezuela!

My friend and faithful reader Maruja wrote this article in today’s El Universal and I simply could not resist translating it, it combines the seriousness of the situation we are in with the light side that every day should have:

Take advantage of it ladies and gentleman, the 15^th., the 15^th.!

By Maruja Lander de Muci

I can’t stand it! I am counting the days for the famous August 15^th.!That day I am going to have a banquet and I am going to take advantage of it and revoke a lot of people, dead and alive. Beginning obviously with the most obscene assasin of our hopes, thief of the future, compulsive liar, the most perverse personality that has stepped on these lands in the last one thousand years: The un-namable. With him I am going to revoke that bunch of dead people that accompany him, Bolivar and company, we have to return them to their tomb and let them rest in peace, we need to forget about them and understand that those times are nothing like the present we are living and even less like the future we want. The dead ones have no place here today, no more heroic dizziness please!

That day, with my forceful and secret “SI”, I am also going to revoke a bunch of opportunists from the IVth. that lately have been stealing the show and stretching their necks to jump on any podium around. They think that these thousands of anonymous heroes that have marched risking their lives are dumb and we have no memory; they are the ones that are the dumb ones that have yet to understand that the rallying cry that mobilizes us is nor Chavez, nor a jump backwards, I revoke all of those people, Yupii!

As a society we have this golden opportunity to straighten out this terrible mess and we can not waste it, that day the appointment is a date with our future, a sort of new beginning that we can even apply to our own personal life. Take advantage of it Madam, take advantage of it Mister, revoke your couple if you decided you can’t stand it anymore, revoke the butcher that cheats on you, the neighbour that looks at you funny, the mother in law that torments you, the son in law that makes your daughter suffer, take advantage of the 15^th. to put some order in your life and that of Venezuela!

In one of the most cynical and outrageous statements made by any Chavista recently, MVR Deputy Raul Este said yesterday that now the process of “a revolution within the revolution will begin”. According to Este, after the victory of the “No” on August 15^th. those that are corrupt will leave the Government. Thus, for the Deputy, corrupt votes are good and only after the 15^th will they get rid of those people. Well, I am sure that besides the cynical nature of the statement, this is nothing more than another empty campaign promise by the most corrupt government in the country’s history.

In another cynical statement, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the US Bernardo Alvarez said today that he “guaranteed” the voting of Venezuelans in the US. He failed to say that proof of residence is being requested and that 95% of those that registered do not appear in the Electoral Registry. To close the Ambassador said that “Voting abroad is not for tourists”, simply another perverse interpretation of the law. Venezuelan legislation guarantees the right to vote for Venezuelans abroad irrespective of their status in the country where they live. This is the second “innovation” by the brilliant representatives of the Venezuelan Foreign Service; the Minister had said last week that illegals could not vote either because the country could not promote violating the laws of other countries. He said nothing of violating the laws of Venezuela, but maybe that is irrelevant to him…or them.