Posted on 04/27/2008 8:05:57 PM PDT by milwguy
The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, announced Thursday that the regulated prices of corn and sorghum will be raised by 30% and that a new Socialist Agricultural Development Fund (FONDAS) has been launched to promote national food production.
The president of the National Federation of Cattle Producers (FEDENAGAS), Genaro Méndez, said the government “presents statistics that do not correspond to reality.”
According to Méndez, the dairy industry in the country is at a “standstill,” and beef production decreased by 100,000 tons last year, in contrast to government figures. “I ask that the national government tell the truth to the producers in the country,” Méndez said.
(Excerpt) Read more at venezuelanalysis.com ...
He has had a great couple weeks, nationalized the cement industry last week, and moving on to steel this week. He is an ambitious guy, you have to give him credit for that. No wonder his buddy in Bolivia, Evo Morales is so happy these days. Old Hugo must be consuming vast amounts of those coca leaves Evo sends him. We can only hope the fool keels over from a heart attack before Venezuela becomes the next Zimbabwe.
What if he nationalizes the cocaine industry? It will be the first time ever that drug dealers lose money.
This Suggett guy is a trip. I’m enjoying his “articles”. Thanks!
Dairy prices are set too low. The dairy herds of Venezuela are being slaughtered for private sale cash.
Anyone know if this man is still alive?
Reminiscent of the Soviet system. Crops rotting in the fields and store shelves bare. It's incredible after all history has shown us that there are still idiots like this that believe in Marxism.
Hugo will succeed at socialism whereas every other dictator that has tried it has failed. Hugo’s model is completely different. /s
Now there is a thought. Kill the illegal drug business by nationalizing it.
You keep throwing it out and it keeps coming back.
And we are going to get a taste of socialism if we elect Obama Bin Laden...
Wondering if he buys his corn and beef along with other food products from the US?
Probably not. But it would be ironic.
Won’t communists EVER learn????
Your crappy system just doesn’t f@#king work!!!
The dairy herds of Venezuela are being slaughtered for private sale cash.”
This is really dangerous.
It takes 3 full years for a cow to be a constant producer.
LMAO !
What a brainless twat. Boy, that's really going to help in your little closed commie society, Hugo boy. Hugo must think he can demand what ever price he wants from the world market buyers.
Comon, Hugo, be a REAL commie, and enforce a quota system on your "collective" farmers as well, just like Stalin did in the 30's. That should really pump your imaginary economy up, and have people cheering your name in the streets...
He'd be dead within the week.
Oh there wasn't anything rotting in the fields, except the copses of starved people looking for a dropped grain to eat.
Stalin purposely set the grain and other quota's too high, forced farmers to deliver every last grain, potato, cream, milk etc. to government collection centers, leaving the farmers, towns and villages with nothing to feed themselves with. The Soviets went and checked every farm by gunpoint to make sure every last grain was delivered. Anyone caught hoarding food was shot on sight.
There was lots of food in those towns, but all of it was under heavy guard. people simply starved to death in the streets, bloated children dying on the otherside of a buildings wall which separated them from all the food.
In the beginning years of the great famine, they ate their livestock to stay alive, so the last year of the progrom there was simply nothing left to eat. even the trees were striped of bark, there wasn't a bug or rat to be found anywhere.
It was a horrid sight, which still much of the western world hasn't seen to this day.
http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/gregorovich/
Basically the same thing that happened with the USSR. In that case, the learned savants and the tenured intellectuals all continued to take the official Soviet production figures seriously....and were shocked when the entire enterprise collapsed.
I doubt it. The USA imports 74% of it's food needs. We probably import from them. Most of our exports are beef and free foreign aid.
FONDAS? I see Jane found new work.
Is your link really horrible? I’m thinking of looking at it, but I’m already bummed and am guessing it will depress me more.
I'm sure Iranian tractor technology is just what Hugo needs to meet his production goals. This must be a cover for some other kind of heavy industry.
I think that figure is horse s**t. Do you have any proof for your assertion?
-ccm
This from 05:
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 9, 2005) – The United States is the world’s largest food exporter. But agricultural policy observers are beginning to see the United States on the verge of becoming a net food importer, said Craig Infanger, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture economist.
“The latest government estimates forecast record agricultural exports of $62 billion for 2004,” he said. “That’s a jump of $6 billion from 2003. Big increases in foreign sales to Asia, especially China, are driving up exports and keeping the United States the world’s major food supplier.”
Infanger said that agricultural exports have been similar to a roller coaster over the past decade with big swings up and down. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting a decline in agricultural exports for 2005, stating the decline could be about $4 billion as a result of increased competition and lower prices for cotton, wheat and soybeans.
Food imports have been steadily rising for four years. There were a few months in 2004 when the United States imported more food than it exported.
“Of course this does not make the United States a net food importer – yet,” Infanger said. “But the trend on agricultural trade is clear if you look at the yearly summary data. The agricultural trade surplus – the difference between exports and imports – has deteriorated since 1996 when it was $20 billion. But with rising imports and roller coaster exports, the trade surplus next year is projected at only $2.5 billion.”
Infanger believes free trade agreements are making the U.S. market more open for new products, thus causing the rise in food imports.
“With the changing tastes of the American consumer and an improving economy, you can understand why imported foods are the fastest growing section of the typical supermarket,” he said. “Our food stores are now stocked with fruits and vegetables year-round with the origin and source changing with the seasons. That’s why horticultural products are the largest component of agricultural imports.”
The steady increase in agricultural imports is a trend that Infanger said will not go away. Consumers expect a wide variety of foods from around the globe. He said exports will vary with production levels, global competition and the value of the dollar.
“It seems clear to me that unless the value of U.S. agricultural exports were to somehow set new records every year, the United States is likely to become a new food importer in 2006,” Infanger said.”
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If we are now importing more food its because we can afford to
-ccm
Bump
You said it better than I could ...in essence I think we (America) is still the top exporter
Translation: "Food production is falling so precipitously under Socialism that unless we evacuate the cities to the countryside to till the soil, our Communist Party members may go hungry." Ever hear of Pol Pot?
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