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Munin posted:I'd almost say that they should approve it and then challenge the executive to solve the problem as they imply that program should. Give Maduro the rope he needs to hang himself with. Ha! That's a great idea actually. I do know that some MUD deputies are already speaking out against it, but we'll see where the debate ends up. I think they have until Friday to make a decision.
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Jan 18, 2016 16:56
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quote:7. Do away with the exchange procedures established by CENCOEX and by the Banco Central de Venezuela with respect to public organizations and entities with the goal of speeding up and guaranteeing the importing of goods or raw materials that are indispensable to keep the country supplied. No, assholes, get rid of it entirely, not just for public organizations. Get rid of the bolivar, we're uselessly crippling our economy with this absurd currency control scheme. All the people arguing that it will lead to inflation or whatever don't realize our inflation is already over 200%, and the prices of many products are effectively set at the unofficial exchange rate anyway, it will change nothing except for the regulated products which are already being sold at distorted prices. This distortion is the root cause of the inflation. Seriously I can't believe these idiots are so blind that they don't realize if they keep up with their idiotic economic policy there will be no money left for them to steal from the country.
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Jan 18, 2016 20:47
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Chuck Boone posted:Ha! That's a great idea actually. I do know that some MUD deputies are already speaking out against it, but we'll see where the debate ends up. I think they have until Friday to make a decision. Once they approve it, its never going away. It's your Enabling Act.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:02
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My Imaginary GF posted:Once they approve it, its never going away. In fact this is exactly how Austrofascism started: Wikipedia posted:The election in Vienna in 1932 made it likely that the coalition of Christian Social Party, the Landbund, and the Heimwehr would lose their majority in the national parliament, depriving the Dollfuss government of its parliamentary basis. To prevent its loss of power, the government sought to replace Austrian democracy with an authoritarian system. These efforts were supported from abroad by Benito Mussolini.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:27
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There's rumors that Nelson Merentes, former Minister of Economy and president of the Central Bank of Venezuela was dating a 16 year old girl. He apparently paid for several plastic surgeries for her, a boob job and rear end implants. He also had his house burgled, he declared that he lost a Rolex watch, $300000 cash, and when the police caught the robbers, he dropped the chargs. This is apparently how his affair with a 16 year old was found, as the burglars seem to be her cousins. The girl is so loving dumb she's actually admitting to everything in Instagram.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:41
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My Imaginary GF posted:Once they approve it, its never going away. Well, I don't know about that. The Constitution already has a mechanism that allows the President to rule by decree (within a fairly vague realm of issues such as the economy or national defense), which is called ley habilitante. The National Assembly grants the powers for a predetermined period of time Maduro has had habilitante powers in the past, most recently up until the end of the December. This economic emergency package would expire in 60 days, but the decree abilities it grants Maduro (as per my post with the list of abilities) is vague enough to cause concern. The PSUV already tried to nullify the National Assembly through much more overt means and it didn't work. We know that the party is brazen enough to try anything (declaring that deputies didn't win even after the electoral body confirmed their victory), so I think that if they wanted to go over the heads of the National Assembly they'd try something much more dramatic.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:53
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fnox posted:There's rumors that Nelson Merentes, former Minister of Economy and president of the Central Bank of Venezuela was dating a 16 year old girl. He apparently paid for several plastic surgeries for her, a boob job and rear end implants. He also had his house burgled, he declared that he lost a Rolex watch, $300000 cash, and when the police caught the robbers, he dropped the chargs. This is apparently how his affair with a 16 year old was found, as the burglars seem to be her cousins. For those of us watching from the US...What's the age of consent in Venezuela? Like yeah, this is creepy (central bank president dating a 16 year old), but is it also illegal?
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Jan 18, 2016 21:59
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Spacewolf posted:For those of us watching from the US...What's the age of consent in Venezuela? Like yeah, this is creepy (central bank president dating a 16 year old), but is it also illegal? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_South_America#Venezuela So not illegal, as far as I can tell.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:03
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Spacewolf posted:For those of us watching from the US...What's the age of consent in Venezuela? Like yeah, this is creepy (central bank president dating a 16 year old), but is it also illegal? It's scummy as hell and shows the sort of entitled attitudes of those who appointed that minister.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:07
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Spacewolf posted:For those of us watching from the US...What's the age of consent in Venezuela? Like yeah, this is creepy (central bank president dating a 16 year old), but is it also illegal? The age of consent is 16. There's however something illegal somewhere in this whole story because I don't think nobody in their right mind would allow somebody to knowingly steal $300000 from them. Chuck Boone posted:Well, I don't know about that. The "ley habilitante" is the same as an enabling act for all intents and purposes, they do the same things. It's also a pretty established piece of legislation that has been used during the 4th republic. Chavez and Maduro however were using it to decree things that are not related to the economy, which is the scope of the enabling act, that's kind of where poo poo got shady. The National Assembly can also declare any state of exception over within 8 days of its declaration.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:08
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Underage prostitution, teen pregnancies and older men dating teens are all a huge problem in this country, I've met some guys who don't even try to hide it and boast about that "sweet 15 year old pussy" they are loving and no one bats an eye. Iirc we have the biggest rate of teen pregnancies in the Americas and it's only going to increase with how expensive condoms are.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:57
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Apparently a friend of mine is Nelson Merentes' illegitimate son, no joke.
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Jan 18, 2016 23:03
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El Hefe posted:Underage prostitution, teen pregnancies and older men dating teens are all a huge problem in this country, I've met some guys who don't even try to hide it and boast about that "sweet 15 year old pussy" they are loving and no one bats an eye. Maybe, uh, you guys should look into figuring out some sustainable funding streams for your nonprofit sector which address the issue? Explosive, uncontrolled population growth has brought down many a developing nation with far more wealth and diversified economic bases than Venezuela before. More people is all well and good when you're a nation with stable state institutions and an internationally competitive labor market, two attributes which Venezuela does not strike me as possessing in the least bit. Christ, does a nonprofit sector even exist in Venezuela? I assume that there's still the catholic church, and that the church owns land and properties throughout venezuela tax-free, hopefully. Maybe that's one of the strengths of the Venezuelan economy that has survived PSUV autocracy and mismanagement, hopefully? Quite a few developing nations have achieved sustainable middle class growth and capitalist classes off the strength of the roman catholic institution. It's really not all that uncommon, tbqh. I've heard some very horrid stories from my African expatriate friends about "big man" culture in their home nations. fnox posted:Apparently a friend of mine is Nelson Merentes' illegitimate son, no joke. Who's Nelson Merentes?
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Jan 18, 2016 23:17
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My Imaginary GF posted:Who's Nelson Merentes? He's the Current President of the BCV (Venezuela's Central Bank, aka. the base of our entire economy).
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Jan 19, 2016 00:18
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fnox posted:The age of consent is 16. There's however something illegal somewhere in this whole story because I don't think nobody in their right mind would allow somebody to knowingly steal $300000 from them. Well, no one should have $300K and 40K euros lying around here, for starters. If he pushed it, it would've been a bit of an embarrassment and I guess he stole enough money not to care. The kicker is they also stole two pernils from his house.
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Jan 19, 2016 00:31
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AstraSage posted:He's the Current President of the BCV (Venezuela's Central Bank, aka. the base of our entire economy). The dude who thinks inflation isn't real? Heh. I think there's some potential humor in that situation. Are there any good Venezuelan comedy shows that routinely get English dubs?
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Jan 19, 2016 01:55
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My Imaginary GF posted:The dude who thinks inflation isn't real? No, that's Luis Salas, the current VP of Economy (also known as the newest dummy with his finger on the button).
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Jan 19, 2016 01:58
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My Imaginary GF posted:Heh. I think there's some potential humor in that situation. Are there any good Venezuelan comedy shows that routinely get English dubs? Certainly there would've been some if the Government hadn't systematically killed with their censorship measures all the Comedy Shows that used to be aired on Television and were capable of having quite the field trip with the events... Well, at least Venezuelan Stand-up Comedians, Webshows and Social Media have been good picking up the enforced slack on that front, but I don't know if there's any dubbed one I can recommend.
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Jan 19, 2016 02:55
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The National Assembly started debating the economic emergency decree, and it's not looking good for Maduro so far. One of the MUD deputies told the Associated Press that he hasn't heard a single opposition deputy speak in favour of it. Also, FEDECAMARAS [the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce, which more or less speaks for the country's private industry] said today that the decree wouldn't fix anything because it doesn't address the core issues that are the cause of the crisis. I had some time yesterday to translate Henry Ramos Allup's rebuttal to Maduro's speech at the National Assembly on Friday, which you can find here. You can also find a link to a video showing both Maduro's speech and Allup's rebuttal there. Anyway, Allup's speech is important because of how frank it was, and because it voiced a number of really important issues that have really been swept aside by the chavista National Assembly over the past 17 years. Allup is a really interesting speaker because he tends to use really flowery language. He interacted quite a bit with the PSUV deputies and the people in the stands who were heckling him, which created a couple of funny moments. Unfortunately, a lot of that is lost in the translation, but at least you'll get a sense of what some of the opposition's thoughts are on the issues of subsidized housing, the line between the military and civil spheres, etc.
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Jan 19, 2016 20:38
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There's really not that many solutions for Venezuela other than an IMF loan at this point. I mean the economy is reaching a critical point with oil prices continuing to plummet, with the current tendency we'll already be producing oil at a loss by next month. Getting rid of Maduro is becoming more and more of a critical matter.
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Jan 19, 2016 22:01
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I'm more of the opinion it doesn't matter if Maduro stays or not in the short term as long as we can start having a lot of the Yesmen from the Ministries weeded out and replaced with actually competent people to stir this nation-sized ship away from the collision course... That said, there have been some rumors lingering today in town about some announcement to be made any moment now on the topic of the Fuel Prices... And also, Chuck Boone posted:I had some time yesterday to translate Henry Ramos Allup's rebuttal to Maduro's speech at the National Assembly on Friday, which you can find here. You can also find a link to a video showing both Maduro's speech and Allup's rebuttal there. Thank you so very much. You lifted a huge weight off my shoulders, specially since the last two days I've been having Blackouts of the worst kind: The Blinking-style ones that go off for 1-to-10 minutes each interval of 10-to-20 Minutes for 6 Hours Period until a 4-hour-long Blackout caps it off for the day, which forces to keep all my electronics unplugged during all that time out of fear of short circuits killing my career as a Third-rate Programmer in his near-Senior Year... Anyways, I have to admit still hold some attachment for the translation effort so I'm still willing to lend you an editorial hand after I clear my College Assignments (in what seems it's gonna be during Australian Working Shifts), mostly by filling the [unintelligible]s and dealing with some of the idioms used... For example: when he talked about the Currency's devaluation, he actually quoted John Law (And I have to apologize to Scottish Goons for the guy being called English); and the Four Images he mentioned before talking about the 1825 Portrait by Gil de Castro and ripping a new one to the sloppy 3D Render were (in order) the 1826 Portrait by an Anonymous Painter, the One by Roulin, the 1830 One by Meucci and the 1829 One by José María Espinoza. AstraSage fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Jan 20, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 01:11
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Even if they increase the price of gas 10 times it'd still be ridiculously cheap, what can you buy with Bs50 anyway?
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Jan 20, 2016 02:08
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AstraSage posted:Anyways, I have to admit still hold some attachment for the translation effort so I'm still willing to lend you an editorial hand after I clear my College Assignments (in what seems it's gonna be during Australian Working Shifts), mostly by filling the [unintelligible]s and dealing with some of the idioms used... Thanks for the offer! I really appreciate it. I'll include your edit into the translation tomorrow. I'm fairly lucky in that I have quite a bit of free time, and I can justify working on these types of things because they tie in with my studies. El Hefe posted:Even if they increase the price of gas 10 times it'd still be ridiculously cheap, what can you buy with Bs50 anyway? This is a good point, and I think it makes sense on a practical level. I think there's sensitivity around the topic of gas price increases partly (or mostly?) because of what happened last time the government tried to increase gas prices (See: El Caracazo).
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Jan 20, 2016 04:38
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None of this would have happened if they hadn't been so foolish as to not adjust gas prices to inflation every year. But then again this government has proven that they simply do not know jack poo poo about how to keep an economy afloat. We're apparently losing $300,000,000 every year due to the domestic subsidy of 95 octane gas alone, so the prices are bound to skyrocket for that type of fuel mostly. Problem is, our gas stations have been pretty shoddily ran for the last decade since the oil prices were so loving low, so I don't know how they pretend to collect any of that money, or even how to charge for it, if they are to charge more than like, 50 bolivares the litre people will ask for receipts and better ways to pay, the current system of "pay the guy who also puts in the fuel and tip the >5 bolivar change since you don't want more lovely worthless coins in your car" won't scale with that. So there's an additional logistics nightmare attached to an increase in gas prices. fnox fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Jan 20, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 18:18
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I remember gas stations used to have credit card slots just like in other countries and they also used to hire armored truck companies to collect the day's sales, so there was a time when fuel wasn't this absurdly cheap.
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Jan 20, 2016 19:33
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A number of ministers, including Nelson Merentes, were told today to the National Assembly for questioning in an open hearing. Unsurprisingly, they didn't show up, apparently since they wanted the hearing to be in secrecy. This is actual contempt (unlike what they were accusing the Assembly of), and it's grounds for removal of those Ministers, and possibly also grounds to initiate an investigation on them.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:12
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The National Assembly is currently in the process of debating whether or not to agree to the economic emergency decree that the Maduro government presented on Friday. They have until this Friday to make that decision. In order to make a more informed decision, the National Assembly summoned the heads of the ministries that would be most affected by/would implement the measures in the decree, namely the Minister of Nutrition, the Minister of Finance, and the heads of PDVSA, the Central Bank, and SENIAT, the tax collection agency. The hearing was scheduled for today at 10:00 AM, and it was supposed to be a forum where deputies could ask clarification questions on what exactly the measures in the decree would look like, and how they might play out if implemented. Last night, the ministers asked for the hearing to be delayed until 5:00 PM, and just a short while ago PSUV deputy Hector Rodriguez said that the ministers would in fact not be attending the hearing at all. The reason: since the opposition took over, they've opened the doors to the country's media, and Rodriguez said that the ministers will not attend a hearing that would be covered by the media. Rodriguez said: quote:[The opposition] just wants to put on a show for the media instead of implementing policy to overcome this crisis.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:18
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They literally had one loving job and couldn't do it because they're too afraid, whichever way you look at it they NEED to be removed. That's kind of a bad thing because whoever else they put in will be worse.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:21
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fnox posted:They literally had one loving job and couldn't do it because they're too afraid, whichever way you look at it they NEED to be removed. That's kind of a bad thing because whoever else they put in will be worse. I can already see the headlines: "Supreme Court Declares Ministers Not in Contempt".
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Jan 21, 2016 23:30
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Chuck Boone posted:I can already see the headlines: "Supreme Court Declares Ministers Not in Contempt". It doesn't matter the National Assembly can remove ministers with a simple majority, they can also remove the vice president as a matter of fact but that is inconvenient at the moment. I suppose that this is some sort of political power play in that they try to force the National Assembly to remove these loving ministers so that the government can push the agenda that the opposition are the ones responsible for the economic crisis.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:44
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fnox posted:It doesn't matter the National Assembly can remove ministers with a simple majority, they can also remove the vice president as a matter of fact but that is inconvenient at the moment. I suppose that this is some sort of political power play in that they try to force the National Assembly to remove these loving ministers so that the government can push the agenda that the opposition are the ones responsible for the economic crisis. If they approve the economic emergency "plan" they'd be complicit in sinking the ship, if they don't, they'll get blamed by the government for "not wanting to help out". Their time to deliberate runs out tomorrow and this way the ministers avoided having to explain that the aforementioned plan is bogus in front of the media. At this point, I don't think they have an agenda beyond forcing a confrontation and finding ways to "legally" bypass the assembly so they can continue stealing and enjoying immunity for a while longer.
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Jan 22, 2016 00:58
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I suppose I'm not the least bit surprised by these news, but still, these people are so brazen. Their excuse is literally "We won't go as long as people are able to see and hear what we say". Labradoodle posted:If they approve the economic emergency "plan" they'd be complicit in sinking the ship, if they don't, they'll get blamed by the government for "not wanting to help out". Their time to deliberate runs out tomorrow and this way the ministers avoided having to explain that the aforementioned plan is bogus in front of the media. Allup's gone on record with what he thinks this is about: quote:[If we reject the decree] it will be the perfect excuse for the government to say, “I didn’t solve the crisis, the shortage, the inflation, etc., because the National Assembly did not approve the decree". This is after saying that the decree is "more of the same", and pointing out (as many others have by now) that none of the things in the decree actually necessitate an emergency decree. Just to give you one example, item number three of the decree is essentially "make sure we're actually collecting income tax".
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Jan 22, 2016 01:20
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one of them also says that companies that don't increase production can be expropriated so I don't see how they can approve that decree as is without any amendments
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Jan 22, 2016 01:27
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El Hefe posted:one of them also says that companies that don't increase production can be expropriated so I don't see how they can approve that decree as is without any amendments The government doesn't need the decree to expropriate. Anything that can be declared in the interest of the public can be expropriated, and besides, I assume that is there to support expropriation of companies that are already in the way of leaving the country, avoiding the total economic collapse that is just around the corner. Labradoodle posted:If they approve the economic emergency "plan" they'd be complicit in sinking the ship, if they don't, they'll get blamed by the government for "not wanting to help out". Their time to deliberate runs out tomorrow and this way the ministers avoided having to explain that the aforementioned plan is bogus in front of the media. They've cornered themselves and now they're giving their last kicks. It shouldn't be long now until Maduro and his cronies find themselves removed from power. They just have no constitutional way of governing without the National Assembly, they just can't ignore it anymore.
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Jan 22, 2016 02:22
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The government has violated the constitution many times already they don't need any law or decree to do whatever the gently caress they want
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Jan 22, 2016 02:43
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fnox posted:It doesn't matter the National Assembly can remove ministers with a simple majority, they can also remove the vice president as a matter of fact but that is inconvenient at the moment. I suppose that this is some sort of political power play in that they try to force the National Assembly to remove these loving ministers so that the government can push the agenda that the opposition are the ones responsible for the economic crisis. Allup said yesterday that he found out the ministers had bailed on the hearing only minutes before they were scheduled to arrive. He also said that Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz is the one who called him with the news, and that Isturiz asked him for the hearing to be conducted behind closed doors, which Allup rejected. Allup said: quote:We're sorry that they've denied the country [the right] to know what the reality is. They won't fix this situation through secrecy. This is contempt. He also said that they were starting the relevant proceedings to hold the ministers in contempt, which might result in the situation fnox has described. The National Assembly has until midnight today to decide the fate of the decree.
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Jan 22, 2016 09:56
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I bought that Vivoplay subscription, and holy poo poo I'm really impressed with how legitimately terrible the PSUV deputies are in terms of their oratory skills. They really, like, REALLY don't know how to win a debate, they just scream and say the same poo poo every single time, stuttering all the way through. Literally only 4 PSUV deputies are able to speak 5 minutes fluidly.
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Jan 22, 2016 20:36
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We are actually losing money on each barrel of crude oil sold  by the end of the year we'll be eating plantain leaves
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Jan 23, 2016 05:13
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El Hefe posted:We are actually losing money on each barrel of crude oil sold Wait, really? I was under the assumption that Venezuelan crude was a sub $15/bbl production costs. It should be even less with a weak currency. I can't imagine Venezuelan crude being that much of a discount.
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Jan 25, 2016 02:16
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We should get a new thread title, since the whole Colombia thing just loving vanished out of the collective Venezuelan mind. Venezuela: screw your assembly, I'll build my own! With blackjack and hookers!
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Jan 25, 2016 08:23
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