Buckle up Venezuela! Its going to be a [economic] bumpy ride...

Yep, finally today the Venezuelan Government has issued a statement concerning the real deal economic global crisis affecting also, who? Venezuela. It is obvious that Venezuela is probably one of the first affected countries in the whole world. The reason, well would it be just because 90% of government spending comes from oil revenues. And more importantly, Venezuelan economy depends roughly 60% from imports. The drop of the oil prices had to mean something to Venezuelan economy, almost a year ago Venezuela oil crude was trading around $125 per barrel, now its lucky to get even $38, thats a -30%, and I am being very optimistic.

So finally today Chavez gave in on the subject, Ali Rodriguez, Venezuela´s Finance Secretary has issued a statement saying that the Government will make economic adjustments announcements in 15 days. What??? I know Mr Rodriguez is the Finance Minister but is he buying time? At the same token the inflation levels seems to surging through the days of the year 2009, and at the same time next week we have an increase in the Tax Unit (Unidad Tributaria) from Bs. 46 to Bs. 55, an increase in 19% percent. How will this affect Venezuelans? Well, let me put it this way, how about Stanflation, that is inflation with economic recession. I seriously think that it will probably take 3-4 weeks to really feel it in local supermarkets.

At the same time, considering that Venezuela generally depends on its oil revenues for its internal economy, the President of PDVSA and Energy Minister (Venezuelan Oil Czar) has also announced that PDVSA is considering renegotiating with Venezuelan oil contractors a decrease in 40% for their fees. He is arguing a radical change in circumstances, and as an attorney know the implications of such an argument. Bottomline, it is publicly known in Venezuela that PDVSA has defaulted on its local contractors and now PDVSA will argue "radical change in circumstances" to negotiate their way out of their legal quagmire. The term legally is Rebus Sic Stantibus, which derives from latin "fundamental change of circumstances" that gave reason for the contract to take place and remains a lawful option to excuse performance on contractual terms. Whats going to happen then Venezuelans would ask? Contractors will have no other option but to accept...and ooops, another factor to consider for the Stanflation to seriously kick in.

My economic advise, divest Venezuelan currency and invest in real estate and wholesale goods. Watch the government regulation on the latter...

Rupert Murdoch apologizes for racist cartoon

Financial mogul and international billonaire Rupert Murdoch has issued a formal apologies for the racist cartoon that was published a while ago in the New York Post. Murdoch was born in Australia and is the owner of News Corp, including Fox, Sky network in Europe and a vast collection of newspapers, including the famous NY Post.

The New York Post published a cartoon depicting two NY Cops killing a chimp and asking themselves who will write the next economic stimulus package. Several afro american groups in New York were requesting an explanation to the newspaper. Well the head honcho himself issued a statement titled "Statement from Rupert Murdoch" and goes like this:

Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted," said Murdoch, head of the media giant News Corp, which owns the Post.

"We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community," Murdoch wrote."


I personally think that this cartoon is not race related, in fact I think it wouldve conveyed the same message if it were another animal perhaps a dog, a horse or even a pig...

What gets my attention is the effectiveness of people coming together and protest againt a consumer product (a newspaper in this case) that completely disregards the emotions and affections of their clients. Mr Murdoch as he is always well advised, issued a statement to settle the issue out of the courts and out of the public scrutiny.

the Wheel of Fortune (or destiny)

If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.

Its the little choices that make up our lives. Human being are governed by free will, however we rarely see such choices come up in our lives. Its the little choices that count, those choices like waking up earlier or later, or wearing this or that outfit, that make up our lives. Even better, the choices that makes our day, taking this road, instead of that one, taking time to listen to a friend or a relative...

We choose constantly throughout the day, sometimes it seems that the choices pick you, instead of us making sound and sane choices. Then coincidences are no longer little freak events where we try to look busy and really interested in some other place and time. We must stop looking foolishly busy or not interested in these coincidences, but must act pleasently surprised to find that they constitute the makeup of our minds and our lives...

Carlo Tamagnone, an Italian philosopher from Turin, proposed a pragmatic view of destiny, like a force on the back that pilots the life of the men. According to him the destiny is therefore not an anthropological a priori, but an a posteriori of the flow of life, as evolutionary way under construction by every living person. In fact, apart from the genetic factor as its base, the destiny is forming by living and by accumulating experiences of life. In this perspective, the dstiny is therefore something that each individual built up as largely as an involuntary "project" of his life, acting and influencing his decisions and choices. Tamagnone recognizes six destinal elements-agents: the genetic inheritance, the childish imprinting, the condition, the situation, the role, the social class and the level of wealth

the blue house

Alone I sit from my blue
house that shelters me from
strange and afars, sights
and smells of tree

Alone I sit, and afar I read
your verses from wherever you are
Inside with me

This blue ceiling and walls
is what I see, and the covers
and the paintings they are blue
inside of me.

Afar from the winds and the feathers
while some leaves still stay with me
from the red yearning of my soul
to the green inspiration of my trees,
turning blue into everything that I see...

painting by Marc Chagall

the more things [climate] change, the more they stay the same

As published by Harpers magazine, the increase in lobby for climate change policy has really blossomed in the United States. This makes me outright challenge climate change allegations. Its not that I do not agree the planet is taking a beating with pollution, over harvesting, fishing and what not, but our understanding of how does the planet work, and better yet, is the remedial action going to have the planned effects?

I think Al Gore is suspect...

The number of lobbyists seeking to influence federal policy on climate change has grown more than 300 percent in five years, with a slew of new interests from Main Street to Wall Street adding to the challenge of addressing global warming, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report, The Climate Change Lobby. The report provides a first-of-its-kind look at the universe of special interests shaping debate in the United States and how it has sharply expanded between 2003— when Congress previously voted on climate change— and 2008.

Among the report’s findings:

More than 770 companies and organizations hired some 2,340 lobbyists to work on climate change and spent at least $90 million lobbying in 2008. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity—a group of 48 companies—topped the list of those solely focused on the issue, spending $9.95 million.

Finance, insurance and investment firms, with virtually no presence in the climate debate on Capitol Hill in 2003, last year had as many lobbyists as alternative energy firms— about 130. Their interest is in shaping the rules of a market-based “cap-and-trade” system.

Despite the huge growth in the number of environmental, health and alternative energy lobbyists, they are outnumbered by industry and other interests 8-to-1.