We’re a little pressed for time heading into the long holiday weekend so today we’re flipping the script. We’ll start out by heading Down The Rabbit Hole and if we have time we can try to squeeze in a little current news. Here we go…

 Chapter 17 continued…

 …Perhaps one day Maduro will connect the dots between work and productivity. The ongoing power crisis caused the workday to be shortened to 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM, and that’s on a good day. When there’s a widespread blackout workdays are simply cancelled. Workdays are also frequently cancelled to extend holiday periods in an effort to boost Maduro’s popularity. Without work there is no productivity and Chavismo’s “shared prosperity” becomes “shared poverty”.

 Hey, did you know that at one time, before Chavismo, the “Concorde” flew to Caracas?

 This will tell you everything you need to know about Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism. With virtually no economy to speak of Venezuela still ranks #8 in the world in private jet ownership.

 Here’s something you just don’t think about. Venezuela used to produce a lot of zinc. Zinc is used in coffin liners. With the drop in zinc production, waiting lists for coffins became commonplace, which creates a problem due to the extended time bodies must be stored, not to mention the power problems. The good news is that the coffin rental business is booming. Due to the shortage, coffin prices rose drastically so most people could no longer afford to buy a coffin. They just rent one for the funeral service, to keep up appearances. After that it’s a box or a bag. I would say, “Is nothing sacred?” but we’re talking about Chavismo so it doesn’t apply.

 In our discussion of TSJ (Venezuela Supreme Court) this one got lost in the shuffle. In 2009 the TSJ imprisoned a judge for “spiritual corruption” because Chavez didn’t like a judge’s ruling that, in her opinion, a prisoner had to be released because, according to the law (the Chavistas hate it when the law gets in their way), the time limit for holding him had expired.

 To meet the government’s housing mission projection for the poor for 2019, the government would need to build 1,554 units per day or approximately one per minute.

 I discovered a new term while reading an Op Ed by a Venezuelan ex-pat. He was talking about a trend he’s become aware of after having heard the same story repeated numerous times by other Venezuelan ex-pats around the world. He calls it “political appropriation”. It’s the tendency by people who identify as Democratic Socialists to dismiss a Venezuelan’s real-life experience with socialism. The idea is that Venezuelans don’t accurately portray the situation in Venezuela and don’t really understand the reasoning and motives behind socialist policies. Many Venezuelan ex-pats are even dismissed due to the light color of their skin (if their skin is lighter they must be privileged). I feel the Venezuelan’s frustration. It’s easier to be ideologically pure when you aren’t faced with the consequences (of the ideology) up close and personal.

 Just so you know, Pope Francis, the first admittedly socialist Pope, has continued to refuse to denounce the brutal regimes of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. That’s how deep the roots of “utopian” socialist ideology run. They even trump theology…you know…like The Ten Commandments…”Thou shall not kill”. Remember, Maduro’s security forces commit, on average, 1,400 extrajudicial killings per year.

 Illegal trafficking of narcotics, gasoline, food, and minerals produce an estimated $10 billion a year in revenue for the Maduro regime. Remember that number when you hear there is no money for food, medicine, etc. for the Venezuelan people.

 Peru and Venezuela both have (or had, before Venezuela’s mass migration) populations in the 30 million range. Peru doesn’t have a whole lot in terms of natural resources while Venezuela is incredibly blessed with natural resources including the world’s largest proven oil reserves. It is almost incomprehensible that there has been a huge influx of Venezuelans into Peru. In Venezuela people are starving and dying while in Peru they are just living their lives. The only real difference is that Venezuela has Chavismo (21st Century Bolivarian Socialism). Oh, FYI, Venezuela was the only South American country with a contracting economy in 2018 (Part of Chavismo’s unprecedented run of 8 consecutive years of economic contraction causing Venezuela to lose 80% of GDP). Argentina and Colombia are a bit bigger, population-wise, while Chile and Ecuador are a bit smaller. Pretty much everybody did fine in 2018 except Venezuela.

 When Maduro was denied new loans from China and Russia, desperate for more money, he gave away several billion dollars in debt owed to Venezuela in return for quick cash. When he heard that Jamaica and the Dominican Republic had money from bond auctions he offered one dollar of debt reduction in return for every dollar paid to Venezuela (so it was a two for one deal) if they paid immediately. Chavismo isn’t content with destroying Venezuela today, they want to wipe out the future as well.

 And here’s my favorite analogy pertaining to Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism… “They’re like meth addicts, holed up in a house. They first sold everything of value, then they burned the furniture for heat, now they’re tearing out the walls to get at the electrical wiring to sell for it’s copper.”

 Summary : This will be quick. It’s pretty easy to see that Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism spares no one and nothing. It destroys everything it touches.

 That will do it for the week. We’ll be taking a long holiday weekend to celebrate America’s birthday. We’ll be back Wednesday with more Venezuela : Down The Rabbit Hole and more current news. Until then…have a great 4th of July everybody!!!!