Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The well-trodden path

Further to the post below, Hugo Chavez oh so predictably (after all, Ken Livingston's a fan) continues down that well-trodden path.

PJM's Venezuela commentator examines a few clauses from the constitution about to be put before the electorate. Aside from the inevitable centralisation of power, there is the attack on private property. One aspect of which is that success is verboten.

Article 113 states that a private business that could threaten by its efficiency (termed vaguely as “practices”) a state owned company or a collective (cooperative for example) can be banned. Not only is the private ownership of the means of production frowned upon, but it is forbidden for private enterprise to be more productive than state property.

People still have a right to private property, but the right to dispose of it as they will has slipped away.

It is important to note what was erased from the old Article 115: Everyone has the right to use, enjoy and dispose of their belongings. The implication is clear. First, citizens lose the right to dispose of our possessions as we wish: We can enjoy and use them but we cannot dispose of them as we wish.
[Author's emphasis] 

One man knows better! One man can think for all! Poor Venezuela.

3 comments:

Hazar Nesimi said...

To be fair -Venezuela was always poor (I was there in 98) and stays this way, poor still vote for Chavez in overhelming numbers. It sould come as no surpirse that after years of neglect from right-wing cleptocracies, a left-wing dictator is moving towards the opposite. What do you think will he do - create a liberal democracy?
btw: very nice blog, happened to get in by accident...

NoolaBeulah said...

Yes, you're probably right. It's just that it's not a solution. The opposite of both the right-wing cleptocracies and left-wing suffocation of the economy is the rule of law, property rights and a free economy. What are the necessary stages to pass through? Chile seems to have achieved it. Do you have to have a Pinochet? I don't know.

NoolaBeulah said...

Oh, and thanks for the compliment. It's really appreciated. I had a look at your Universal Thoughts and will certainly be going back there.