Thursday, January 07, 2010

Update on mall closings: when improvisation is a state policy

Today shopping centers and malls were in havoc: the government yesterday gave sign of backtracking from its December decision and nobody knew really what was going on.

In other words, after a reunion with the representatives of the malls the government learned:
  • actually there had already been a decrease in electrical consumption nearing the 20% from the August levels!  
  • That in Venezuela malls and shopping centers were more than just a collection of shops and food courts: there were actually offices, public services, safety centers, food distribution centers, etc....
  • That chavistas and anti chavistas alike had no where else to hang around and that for once they were on agreement on something!
In other words, if sometime in November or early December the vice president had met with the representatives he met with on Tuesday, all this ridiculously sad story would have been avoided. 

Instead we are left with yet another shinning example on how this government operates: permanent improvisation to try to accommodate the silly, crazy and vulgar utterances of the beloved Supremo in his multiple cadenas and speeches.  The notion of long term planning has been lost long ago except for the lone goal of keeping Chavez in Miraflores at any cost.  And the notion of consultation with the concerned sectors is lost except under duress and as briefly as possible.

But what can you expect when the reelected chair of the Nazional Assembly Cilia Flores declared fresh from the expected vote that Obama was worse than Bush?  Contact with reality and sense of proportions  have  been long lost by people who know try to think about what Chavez wants to say before he thinks of it.  I just finished "La Fiesta Del Chivo" and today session at the Nazional Assembly had nothing to envy to the Senate sessions of the Trujillo era.....

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:46 AM

    [OT]
    Hi Daniel, since you changed to the new design (new template too?) my browser (FF 3.5.7 on PC WIN XP SP3) is freezing all the time. Happens only on your page.
    Maybe something loading in the background?

    Regards Hans
    [/OT]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hans

    I use FF so I do not understand what is happening to you. My new template has less stuff than the old one and it should run better :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. While I agree with you Daniel that there is much ineptness on the part of a whole slew of folks working in the Chavez government, I think that the motivation coming from Chavez and ( even worse), the Silly Flowers woman,are as calculated as that of any battle plan in any war.I especially get a 'T Rex feeling' vibe emanating from that " woman".True, Chavez is impulsive and often out of control, but in his motivation I think there is always a general direction towards more and more control no matter how badly it effects Venezuelans, and that is what counts.


    Assembly representative Luis Tascon said he voted to proceed because no suitable Chavez successor has emerged. "Given that reality, I'll stay with Chavez."

    And then there is the confusion coming from some oppos.How many times have we heard oppo folks say the above ? I have heard it many times.I have heard some say" How can you expect people to vote against Chavez when there is no good alternative?" Of course this would imply that we should keep evil in our lives because the alternative is 'ineptness'.The alternative is stupidity and lack of planning....How many of these folks can recognize the important difference between ineptness and sociopathy?

    The motivation gives the general plan and direction..one of chaos for citizens, and greater control by Chavez.

    Maybe when it all crumbles( and it will at some point) because he goes too far,and the pendulum swings, then a space will open up for the opposition.Meanwhile I hope people prepare internally and externally for a hard road.My heart goes out to all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. US YT7:11 PM

    For once I agree with the silly flowers bitch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Roger4:05 AM

    Both Chavistas and Anti-Chavistas are not happy about limiting the hours of Malls. You have to take notice of the governments notice of this voter backlash. This may be another political first by Venezuela. Here we would call it the "Mall Rat Vote" ( and as wiki would say Translation Needed). Perhaps a more realistic view of life than Chavez's dream of saving LatAm from Imperialistic Capitalism. The latter provides <= 23C shopping where as the Mercal has long lines in the hot sun the temperature of which like the exchange rate cannot be be printed here!

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1979 Boat People4:30 AM

    OT:

    The K's goverment in Argentina is in trouble.

    "
    Argentina bank head refuses to quit
    "

    http://mwcnews.net/content/view/35433/0/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Boludo Tejano5:41 PM

    Roger
    Mall Rat..
    and as wiki would say Translation Needed).

    What about "chigüire del centro?"

    And for "mall rat vote": gritos de los chigüires del centro:

    Of course,from the actual animal it is probably more like a bleat than a shout, but some poetic license is in order.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1979 Boat People11:40 PM

    OT:

    Can you believe what this Robert Huish guy wrote.

    From the article below he wrote:

    "
    If the U.S. wants to put Cuba on a terror list, they might as well add the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders too.
    ...
    "

    The article.

    "
    The Cuban "Threat"
    "

    http://www.themarknews.com/articles/809-the-cuban-threat

    Can anyone know Cuba history well enough to debate this guy.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://globovision.com/news.php?nid=137636

    Devaluation is finally here!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Roger4:12 AM

    Boludo: I like that. Gives it that Venezuelan connection. Let hope some newspaper pundits pick it up. Of course when Himself speaks this weekend he might use it to insult those that go to malls as being un-bolivarian. I think and hope that this struck a nerve in many Venezuelans. Ive seen a lot of interviews of Venezuelans saying " I love Chavez but, I don't want Venezuela to be like Cuba!!!"

    ReplyDelete

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