Saturday, May 7, 2016

Venezuela Has 4,000 Generals

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) and national assembly president Diosdado Cabello attend a military parade to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the failed coup attempt by late president Hugo Chavez in Caracas in this February 4, 2015 picture provided by Miraflores Palace.

Bloomberg editorial: Venezuela's Military Needs to Get Out of Business

Venezuela has more than 4,000 generals, compared with fewer than 50 in 1993. This kind of runaway inflation is every bit as pernicious as the economic variety, which also afflicts Venezuela -- in fact, they have to be addressed together.

Instead, opponents of President Nicolas Maduro are hellbent on removing him from power, and they have collected some 2 million signatures on a recall petition. Maduro still has significant political support, and he will use his control of the executive and judicial branches to frustrate and delay that effort, which is unlikely to succeed this year. (If a recall succeeds in 2017, Maduro's vice president will step in to complete his term.) The opposition's credibility has already been hurt by its rash boast that it would throw out Maduro within six months after taking over the legislature in January.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Instead of giving an employee a pay raise .... you give them a promotion. How many times have we seen that happen. In Venezuela .... I guess it is a way for the government to keep the loyalty of the military .... give them promotions, and permit them to run an enterprise. But my experience has been that the military is not good at running economies and non-military government institutions .... and for Venezuela we are now seeing the fruits of that involvement.

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