[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by nature scene

He's dangerous in the sense that he is seeking increased control of all aspects of government. He realizes that if he can't keep power, by amending the constitution, his programs will be his own downfall.

The benefit of his tactics are that he is directly addressing the poor people in Venezuela. It's hard to argue against bringing poor people up the ladder. In fact, this is what tends to happen in the early stages of a command economy - rapid economic growth. The problem for Chavez is, if the nation's poor suddenly become the nation's middle-class he no longer has a base of support. As these people start to make money and get into their own, you can bet that they are going to want to be able to keep the fruits of their labor, rather than redistributing it. Chavez knows this, he's smart, and that's why he is dangerous.

well if he was actually capable of bringing people upt to middle class levels, that would not be completely bad. the problem is that this creates a dependency on the government that cannot be supported-- well, the thing is, maybe in venezuela it can (oil money), but in most countries it can't. a fluctuation in oil prices could seriously crash his plans and...oww!!

in a way, oil is to venezuela what the soviet union was to cuba-- a source of subsidies.

the problem is that when one butterfucker has so much control, well, corruption ensues, and then the thought police, and then... ayy!!! do we need to describe this whole story?