Hugo Chavez is dead

[Luke]

If someone wants to say "good riddance" after a death, they are certainly entitled to that. I think it is bad form to do so, but there are times where context allows for that.

When one of the jackass clowns died from driving drunk, the first thing to come to mind was "I hope he didn't hurt the tree", which is a-holish, but at the same time I'd rather a drunk driver die than kill someone else. Still, an a-holish thing to think/say.

I'd rather this thread have more "what now?" conversations.

[Gamerforlife]

Sorry if we aren't quick to mourn someone who from most accounts was an overall lousy human being...

i'm sure he was referring to Paul Bearer.

i'm sorry if i offended anyone with my insensitive post.

Yeah, it was the Paul Bearer (William Alvin "Bill" Moody) reference I was talking about, especially since he passed like yesterday and was known to be a good person by people who knew him.

It's cool though, I got a little touchy there. I watch a lot of wrestling and was saddened by the news.

[prfsnl_gmr]

On point...

Hugo Chavez was an interesting semi-dictator. It will be interesting to see whether his successors continue his quest to reduce income disparity or whether they will revert to old-fashioned , South American, strong-man dictators. (I suspect the latter, unfortunately...extractive political institutions are hard to shake...)

[AmishSamurai]

Never forget.

[jfrost]

I didn't realize we had Fox News employees active in our forum.

Actually Flojo lives in Mexico, so his views would be influenced more by the relevant media there. I don't know how much Fox News has a hold there as opposed to things like Telemundo.

That said, some of what he said is correct. In the days leading up to Chavez's death, Venezuelan VP Nicolas Maduro kicked out two US military attaches and claimed the cancer might be a secret US plot. Chavez was known for his anti-US rhetoric, such as his "Yankee go home" slogan or his claims that George W. Bush was Satan while giving a speech for the United Nations.

Amongst his allies, he counted Cuba, Iran, and the FARC in Colombia. He wrote letters to imprisoned terrorist Carlos the Jackal and accused the Israelis of conducting a Holocaust on the Palestinians.

Internally he closed independent media sources who were critical of him and asserted control over the judicial system by firing judges who passed judgements he did not like. He arrested dissenters or opposition members, and many others fled the country. And to further his gains, he created numbers television stations, newspapers, and other media sources to proclaim his excellence.

The guy even once claimed that there no life was on Mars because of capitalism.

Look, love him or hate him (obviously I wasn't a fan), he had the hallmarks of a dictator. But he was also one of the most important political figures of the modern era. His influence will continue to be felt for generations worldwide, but especially in South and Central America.

And frankly it sucks for anyone to have to go through a several years long bout with cancer, regardless of how much we agree with them.

The land reforms Chavez carried out, while from the outset looked good, only centralized more power in the hands of the government. Agriculture became completely centrally managed, price controls followed, output plumetted.

As a result, Venezuela is nowadays a net importer of food and people are starving. I don't know how much of that counts as caring for the poor, but I reckon it isn't much.

Also, inflation is crazy, prices skyrocket day by day in Venezuela. Americans have been blinded by their good fortune. You guys have never been through things like hyperinflation. It kills. I remember the early 90s in Brazil, when people would give away money in exchange for anything because it was losing value so rapidly.

I'm not even going to delve deeper in other aspects of Chavez's economic policies. Nationalizations, price controls across the board, exchange rate controls, takeover of people's savings, judicial insecurity, flimsy property rights... You name it, we've been there.

And while he fancied himself as a brave leader fighting the hordes of imperialism, Chavez's policies are nothing we hadn't seen before. He's more of a natural progression rather than a rupture.

He was just more shameless than yesterday's caudillos.

[Flake]

I don't celebrate a person's death unless they are in the Bin Laden category but I have to say that US policy in Latin America is going to be a lot easier now. It's my hope that without Chavez' influence, we can normalize relations with Venezuela and Cuba.

[MyNameIsVince]

Can't say things will improve, but good riddance.

How bad could he have been?
Even Sean Penn liked him.

Venezuela and its revolution will endure under the proven leadership of Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro. Today the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a friend I was blessed to have. My thoughts are with the family of President Chavez and the people of Venezuela.

Sean Penn was Hugo Chavez's buddy because both are socialist pigs.

[Retronomy]

At the risk of alienating myself:

RIP Hugo Chavez. You will be missed.

[Retrodude]

Sean Penn was Hugo Chavez's buddy because both are socialist pigs.

And what, pray tell, is wrong with socialism? Done properly, it would be the best system because, economically at least, it would make everyone equal. The problem is that no one wants to do it properly because we're a greedy species. Watch "Capitalism: A Love Story" sometime and let your eyes be opened.

[Jmustang1968]

Sean Penn was Hugo Chavez's buddy because both are socialist pigs.

And what, pray tell, is wrong with socialism? Done properly, it would be the best system because, economically at least, it would make everyone equal. The problem is that no one wants to do it properly because we're a greedy species. Watch "Capitalism: A Love Story" sometime and let your eyes be opened.

Greedy and lazy. Inevitably some would be doing the work of others while getting the same compensation. Then more and more workers figure this out and stop working. Productivity plummets and then everyone starts getting less and less and economic production spirals downward.

More goes into it than that of course, but that's the gist of its downfall.