Friday, August 19, 2011

Shorn Goldylocks

Since the bolibanana revolution is a big fairy tale, sure enough Goldilocks ought to follow Cinderella.

The announcements on the gold policies of Venezuela have created quite a stir, giving us articles by people that actually took seriously the announcement as if some economical principle were to be of concern.  Well, it is not.  As all things chavista, it is all political.

See, things must really worse than what we think they are when the regime is quickly dispatching the remains of "management" and "democracy" that may still linger here and there.  As usual, the key to understand these is always the same : the regime cannot surrender power peacefully because too many of its "dignitaries" would find their asses pushed to jails.  As such it is already taking the necessary measures to avoid such a fate were the opposition odds of winning in 2012 to become too good for comfort.

I will not go into the politics, which include fictitious law suits against the opposition as a whole and generals announcing that they will not respect an unfavorable decision in 2012.  Those deserve a full post.  Today, let's just look at how little of management is left, and discarded.

First, it is gold week, for some reason.  Apparently the feverish mind of Chavez titillated by chemo drugs, has made him see the increased price of gold as a bonus and he seems to have decided to control all of Venezuela's gold under his bed.  Or something like that, close enough in his mind.  So he decides to nationalize the unproductive vipers nest of Venezuelan gold mines where Venezuela has already a majority interest in.  No change in gold production is thus expected, hoping that enough gold will be mined to make at least wedding bands for Venezuelans.

More promising for Chavez is to bring back to Venezuela its gold reserves in part stocked elsewhere.  That was a wise measure due to the historical instability of politics around here.  So, having, say, half your gold in a handful of countries made sense.

But this really was never an issue because the world has moved a long time ago from the gold standard and today the value of a currency is based more on the potential of a country than anything else.  In Venezuela, it has been more than a half century that our gold standard is black and runny.  Even if we were to lose suddenly all of our gold, we would suffer high inflation at first but people would still keep lending us after a while.  In exchange of black gold, of course.  A little bit of good management and productivity and we could rebuild these reserves or, well, do without them altogether.

Let's just say if you do not understand my point that is is certainly nice to have some gold to back your currency, but that countries like Switzerland need gold more than Venezuela to have a viable currency.

Thus we must understand, as more and more experts seem to understand, that the reasons to bring back gold from outside to Caracas is of another nature.

First, Venezuela is about to lose some major rulings that it does not want to pay, and cannot pay if it wanted to, anyway.  Seizing Venezuelan gold in a New York safe is an easy way to recover your loss.  Once Venezuelan gold is in Caracas, the only thing left is Citgo and that cash is not as easy to come around fast to your checking account. Let's hope that this is the real reason for the move, as it seems to be good mafia management, at least.  Cold.

Second, for an even wilder reason instead of keeping all the gold in Caracas, as it should be, there is talk to send some to Venezuela's biggest lenders: China, Russia and Brazil.  What a coincidence, ain't it?  I count at least two bears there. Warm.

In third we could point out that Chavez is aware how fast dictators have recently seen "their" gold and other financial assets frozen by more democratic countries.  A Chavez who is seriously thinking going out of the international democratic system at the latest by December 2012, having as much of Venezuela's assets at home, or in supposedly friendly hands, is now a necessity.  Hot.

Maybe someone should tell him that the Russians never returned the Spanish gold sent to them for safekeeping during the Civil War.  The more so that those Sukhois and gold mines concessions to Russians have to be paid back.

Immediate effects for Venezuela?  None as our economy is already tanking with or without gold reserves.  And no one is really investing today unless it has a contract on Venezuela's balls.  And I do not mean a notarized piece of paper.

Possible medium term effects?  If Chavez starts selling gold to pay for his campaign then inflation will get totally out of control and the country will come to crashing stop as most providers of Venezuela will refuse to work with CADIVI and demand payment upfront, in USD or Euro, your choice, before any container is loaded for Venezuela.

¡Saldremos trasquilados de verdad verdad!

15 comments:

  1. I expect there will be shrinkage soon after the gold arrives in Venezuela.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glenn4:13 PM

    No one will ever know where the gold went, when it went or where it went or if it's even there or was ever there for that matter. Such is the transparency of Venezuela.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RabbiBulla5:32 PM

    Your title and pictures-the contrast-too funny!!
    Great style-enjoyable reading.

    First, the Dr. Evil look,now it's
    Goldmember?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr0gNJ090JA&feature=related

    Better to laugh, except really this is not for Venezuela-the gold is for Chavez-all for Goldilocks...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Where is the gold now? Fort Knox?
    But anyhow, if it doesn't outright "disappear" in transit, my bet is that a few months after they have it deposited in the basement of Miraflores, they'll find fake Tungsten / Lead gold plated bars.
    Of course the explanation will be that the CIA had it switched all along and that El Imperio stole it.
    Not that this hasn't been done before, except it was done by sophisticated Mafia type gangsters, and of those, there are plenty in Cubazuela that have the expertise....

    ReplyDelete
  5. RabbiBulla10:39 PM

    Goldilocks reminds me
    of a young-Yulia Tymoshenko
    Seriously, though-the desperation
    of the "end game" of Chavez
    can only get uglier.
    God forbid,if-for example-
    Quadaffi "shows up",another
    devaluation on the horizon,
    purchases of large amounts of small arms from Russia..
    Daniel-are the Iranians really
    building missile bases in
    Venezuela?

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1979 Boat People11:08 PM

    The Castro brothers in Cuba are looking for the experienced tunnel contruction workers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Vaya chamo, un lingotico di oro pa ti, y dos pa mi!! asi dijo nuestro comandante bolibariano directo po el Vergatario mobilnet! Esa vaina silve pa Twitel? se pue vendel ese oro por cara'e'libro facebuk? ils sont fous ces Romains

    ReplyDelete
  8. RabbiBulla,

    I think the Iranian bases are just rumours. What i do believe is that Iran had some deals to extract Uranium in Venezuela (Edo.Bolivar i think) to be transported back home and begin the process (enrichment? is that a word?)to be used for Ahmadinejerk's plans. Wich may or may not be, the destruction of the planet. =)

    My knowledge is limited so i guess Daniel will provide a much better answer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous1:42 AM

    Actaualy moving the gold could be a very good idea.

    Vevezuela is about to be smacked with judgments, and the gold could be attached.

    If the gold is in Venezuels it is immune from attachment.

    What happens to the gold after its return to Venezuela is another question.

    It will probably return to Switzerland with different owners.

    ReplyDelete
  10. RabbiBulla2:11 AM

    Humor of Santana-

    http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/08/17/1005633/jueves-18-de-agosto-de-2011.html
    (thanks Alberto)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Bringing back the gold reserves just at the time when his buddies Qaddafi and Assad are having theirs confiscated,is likely to awaken suspicions that these might be preventive actions to avoid a similar fate.With the December 2012 coming up and the generals announcing that will not respect results, this is likely to worsen his image in the West.

    It strikes me as significant that more and more, Chavez cares less and less about his image as a legitimate leader.

    ReplyDelete
  12. But in the long run,an anti joke:

    Goldilocks walks into a bar, but it's not really a bar, it's a bear cave and she is eaten by porridge eating bears.Moral of the Story: respect the private property of others.

    Fewer and fewer people will want to invest in Venezuela.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Joke day:

    Science News: Scientists say life on Earth is wiped out every 27 million years, and that we have 16 million years left. So Americans are all going to die just about the time we finally get our debt paid off.
    (Venezuela-after Chavez-will take
    a very long time to pay off debts, too.)

    ReplyDelete
  14. RabbiBulla4:21 PM

    Hugo said to tell everyone-
    "Fidel loves you so much-I have
    to sneak away-He almost got on the plane again-to come to Venezuela
    with me..."

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous7:42 PM

    Now we know how "the agitated Buddha" looked.

    ReplyDelete

Comments policy:

1) Comments are moderated after the sixth day of publication. It may take up to a day or two for your note to appear then.

2) Your post will appear if you follow the basic polite rules of discourse. I will be ruthless in erasing, as well as those who replied to any off rule comment.


Followers