Chavez suspends asphalt exports

Source: businessweek

CARACAS, Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez ordered a halt to Venezuela's asphalt exports, which go largely to the U.S., to improve his country's roads.

"In the biggest U.S. cities, there are highways completely paved with our asphalt," said Chavez, whose nation remains the fourth-largest oil supplier to the U.S.

"Why do we have to export asphalt if the highways of Venezuela don't work?" he said on his Sunday television program. "If we didn't have resources, I'd understand, but we do."



Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8U5TMDG1.htm

but it's hard to argue with his logic.

The "major" highway from Barcelona to Caracas is about 1 1/2 cars wide and full of potholes/ruts. Tough to do more than 50mph max, or average more than about 40. This was as of about 10 years ago.

AlphaCentauri

Probely the only way to get US attention, and to make them behave.. And why not, if Venezuela need the asphalt to pawn their own road, so why not.. Cant USA, as one of the most powerfull nation get asphalt from other nations?. Or made it innhouse for their own need.. Other less powerfull nation have been doing that for decades...

And by the way, Asfphalt is a bi-product when produse all sorts of fuel, so I guess US must have some asfphalt lying around...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

The point is not that USA could or could not buy asphalt from other nations is that Chavez is pointing his finger to the problems the previous Venezuelan governments ignored.

AlphaCentauri

Absolutely correct. But You wil never find that in the ordinary media sircus, where Chavez have going the "buggy-man" paint on his hand, and where the rhetoric about the "Mad man from Venezuela" are tighten year for year.. I would not be suprised if CIA was trying to "stop this man" with all means.. As they have been doing for the last 120 year or so..

Mr Shavez is maybe not the great democrat someone want him to be, but he is good at pointing finger to where the problems are, and trying to do the right ting, give the venezuelan pepole something to be proud of.. But the means, is something else.. But in a country who have been so corrupt as Venezuela have been for deacades, this is posible the only way to do it?.. Rattle the cage, and se what is coming out?

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

democracy in Venezuela hasn't change until the revolution was not televised.

There may be other ways the Venezuelan government could do thing but they may lack the monetary resources that we have so they have to find their own way of doing things.

AlphaCentauri

I don't belive that USA in the position to teatch other how Democracy work anymore. Not after the gaffer the current Administration have been doing.. And a Senate and a Congress who are just happy to se a once great democracy go down the drain:sarcasm: In fact US should tray, at hard as they can, to rebould the democracy they once was famous to have.. Not "export" democracy, when they not even can trow a mad man out off office, and work with the world with many important cases...

Off course, if Venezula had the money, they should do it other ways. But they dont have it, and they are in some deep need in the country.. 50 year with bad government have not doing it better for the government, or the country to fix thing when they are broke.. On the one side you have the wealth of the country, on the other side,you have a lot of extremely poor peopole, who have not even had the slightets shance to get out of it..

It have been a "revolution" of sorts in South America, Not just in Venezuela, but in many parts of the continent. And I would doubt that it would be that easy to take back the power US once had, in its "backjard".. Today many country are working hard to get control over their resourses, and on many cases, they are taken their country back, a cm at the time, but it is going forward.. It is maybe time for US to let the rest of the americas stand of their own two feet, and se what coming out of it.. The Monroe-doctrine have destroyed more life, and resourses have been wasted in the name of "freedom" When it come down to dictatorship, and murders.. We can just guess what Sentral and South America had been, if they had managed their own affairs, and not by ruling from Washington DC...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad engelish, not my native language

are a must for South America, if it is going to pull out of decades of brutal exploitation, and economic ruination, by the U.S. and its global corporate predator rulers.

"We can just guess what Sentral and South America had been, if they had managed their own affairs, and not by ruling from Washington DC... " --Diclotican

Chavez has more than guessed. He has assessed the situation with great intelligence and shrewdness. One of the prices of US/corporate domination has been the failure to develop local infrastructure and manufacturing, because foreign corporations care nothing about the welfare of local people or the fundamental health of their economy. The story has been corporate extraction of raw materials and natural resources (such as oil), with as little cost as possible, paying nothing back to the people who live there, and then IMPORTING goods, U.S. ag products, and U.S. corporate monoculture--MacDonald's, Starbuck's, Gap and Musak--to destroy local creativity. It is a game of diminishing returns--predatory capitalism--recently amended to include their seeking slave labor for certain manufactures, with jobs provided at the price of labor protections and all social benefits. The World Bank/IMF has also played a role, by indebting third world countries, on loan shark terms, and then REQUIRING the destruction of social programs--education, medical care, infrastructure development--and corporate control of resources (even water!) in loan repayment terms.

Venezuela and the other Bolivarian governments (Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina) and allies such as Brazil are attacking this set of problems on many fronts. One of them is local infrastructure--building roads, bridges, schools, hospitals. Another is local manufacturing. (For instance, up til now, Venezuela has had to import parts for its oil industry--Chavez has promoted local manufacture of these and other necessary items.) Another is regional financing (creation of the Bank of the South, which is driving the World Bank out of the region). Another is the goal of food self-sufficiency, achieved by land reform (finding land for small peasant farmers). South America's growth and prosperity have been greatly retarded by the utter neglect of these essential components of a healthy, industrial economy. It has been in the U.S./corporate interest to prevent such development. And the rich elites have just fed off U.S. corporate largesse and have grown fat, lazy and spoiled, and rather sick with a feeling of entitlement (thus, their many rightwing plots to overthrow democratic government, and reinstall rightwing dictatorship, so they can feed at the U.S. trough), and have been criminally negligent toward their own people, failing to provide education, medical care, help to small business, infrastructure and other basics of a good society. It's as if they had Bushites designing their countries. Busites don't know how to make anything, or how to improve peoples' lives, or how to run anything efficiently. Bush and Cheney failed at business, and Rumsfeld, Rice and others have always been on the government tit. They couldn't create an army themselves, or a successful business. They couldn't build a house or a jet airplane. They are parasites. They haven't a clue. They just exploit what others created. And we are suffering greatly, as a people, from the lack of real enterprise of our government leaders, who only know how to be fascist bullies, and to loot and give orders to torture and kill. They are turning us into the biggest "Banana Republic" on earth. It is the same syndrome that South American countries have suffered from--a useless, fascist rich elite.

In any case, Chavez has them terrified, because he is actually DOING something--building a country, and helping his neighbors to do the same. He has imagined what it would like without U.S. domination and U.S. support of local fascist looting and brutality, and he's going for it--following that vision. And it's not just him. It's an entire continent that is finally waking up--to their natural wealth, their strength in numbers and in regional cooperation, and their own peoples' needs. It's a beautiful thing to behold. And we shouldn't wonder that Bushites hate it with all their black little souls.

that they must sell their resources at bargain prices and get loans to develop their countries. That's why they been poor with a huge debt they can't even afford to pay.

that he is an evil dictator and tyrant :sarcasm:

Of heavy oil will be going up.

Venezuela Govt Disputes Value of Orinoco Heavy Oil Projects

Oil consulting firm Wood Mackenzie puts the current value of the projects at roughly $25 billion, assuming a conservative long-term Brent oil price of $40 a barrel.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=44280

what a POS country we live in, with no ability to make jack whatsoever.

to the tune of 900 billion dollars a year.

http://nam.org/s_nam/bin.asp?CID=5&DID=238986&DOC=FILE.PDF

:brrr:

yes we have a trade deficient, but manufacturing is still a huge part of out economy

...would make the manufacturing sector irrelevant was such sloppy reasoning. Economists, or I should say "writers", would connect the dots on a few data points of the rapidly growing service sector (from the 1970s) and predict that we can somehow thrive without manufacturing.

that a large fraction of our mfg output is military rather than consumer.

you should take the time to read the link I provided.

It is more efficient and does not create as many jobs as in the past

chances are your shingles are made from asphalt, some paint and caulk too.

Asphalt prices have quadrupled under bush, just like gasoline, and Citgo's sweet(er) crude helps make specification material out of the sour crap on the market that will no longer be usable, so even more product is lost for use.

Modification with polymerization and acid will be required more and that doubles the price of liquid asphalt, so gas taxes will have to go up as well.

You've got taxes going up because one country won't ship asphalt!!!

Nice stretch.

according to a story I heard on NPR this morning

gives me my insight, where do you get yours?

Higher prices for asphalt has absolutely nothing to do with raising taxes. It is such an inconsequential item, you're looking at the world with your binoculars on backwards.

Its one of the most commonly used paving materials the world over, and is almost universally used for shingles on roofs in the United States. Being that about 80% of it is used as a paving material, and that most roads are supported by taxes, the price of asphalt has a direct consequence on the price of maintaining roads, which means that taxes, either gas or property, will be raised if the price of the asphalt is raised, it either that, or you have to tolerate having more potholes.

your federal income taxes go towards government services.

nt

That'd be better than drinking it.

Putting aside the snark, didn't Bush learn in MBA school that people don't have to sell you stuff, especially after you've mugged them?

That's our George. He sure knows how to establish business relationships. Throw another log onto the inflation fire.