All good points Ed, but . . .

I'm writing from Venezuela right now. And let me tell you, it's as bad as I've ever seen. Rolling blackouts, falling productivity, late payments, garbage everwhere, food and goods shortages, desperation, and violence are at all time highs here. Here's the bottom line, and it's the one area where I can sort of agree with Marc: Chavismo will not work. Not here, not there, not anywhere . . . ever. And if you relate it to whatever "we" have the USA, the USA system wins hands down, and it isn't even close. This place has descended into a Fascist hell while the government-supported bloggers drone on and on about how they're standing up to Imperialism. They are just the mirror image of what the USA would be if the Tea Party religious zealots had majority control. By the way, inflation was 30.1% last month, and Caracas continues to burn while the ruling party plays its idealogical purity games. Copious election advertisements for Nicolas Maduro featuring photos of Hugo Chavez in a 10-1 ratio with those of the actual candidate. The Cult of Personality is in full effect, and it is chilling.

The country is literally falling apart and with $96/barrel oil (it was around $20/barrel when Chavez was first elected). To have gotten a 4*times windfall on their primary export product and still be losing currency value hand over fist is one of the most epic mis-management jobs in modern history. And yet with the publicity machine here in full Chavez-worship mode, Venezuela is making the same mistake that China did in the years following Mao's death. Sacred cows are always bad in politics.

I'll repeat as one who is familiar with both countries. No matter what asinine crap you see out of the USA, it's miles ahead of what people have to deal with here where the government improvises against the written Constitution on a daily basis.

It's so bad that government employees for the oil company (PdVSA) are on rolling furloughs now. They get two weeks off at a time on a rotating basis with only partial pay made during the furloughs. All this is because the system is just about bankrupt. Again, to be in that position with $96/barrel oil is preposterous. Of course, this is what one might expect when a bus driver with a high school education gets nominated to run a country.