Venezuelan quality of life after Chavez takes power

[Stephen Colbert]

Any books or excerpts on how exactly Chavez's politics and rule helped the poor majority? I'd be interested in seeing how it changed.

[fa2991]

I think Chomsky's newest book talks a lot about it.

I think that the gist of it is that he's funding cooperatives, putting money towards fixing up the mountain shanties that are about to collapse, funding the construction of new houses, funded excellent literacy programs, and the new constitution makes food and health care legally human rights. There are great little two-story medical centers all over being run by Cuban doctors who live with the poor Venezuelans. So, basically, your average Venezuelan is healthier, better fed, better housed, and better educated.

[Adil3tr]

One really funny thing he did was install a assassination tax, every time an assasination plot is found, corporations get a tax hike. :thumbup1:

[el_chavista]

¿Did you take a look at CEPR's report on Venezuelan last decade economy
(http://www.revleft.com/vb/showthread.php?t=132356)

[RadioRaheem84]

And this written by a liberal left keynesian source. :thumbup1:

[REDSOX]

Life for the poor and working class and even the petit bourgeois in venezuela is far better than it was 10 years ago when venezuela was a neo liberal hellhole.

Poverty rates have fallen from around 75% then to around 25% now with absolute poverty down to about 6%!!

Hundreds of thousands of new (and i mean new) houses have been built across venezuela for the poor.

Massive land reform expropriating private estates which are idle and semi idle to the peasents.

Nationalisation of key services and resources such as electricity, telecommunications, cement, steel, food distribution, ports and docks, transportation,banking, insurance, and some manufacturing as well.

Free education up to and including university level

Free health care for all

Massive expansion in social programs such as education, health, food, culture sport etc

Not bad eh much more to do though

[Raúl Duke]

Free education up to and including university level

Free health care for all

Sounds better than here.

[REDSOX]

Where i live, here in great britain we lost the right to free education over 10 years ago when most college and university students had to pay tuition fees for their education. We still have free health care via the NHS (National health service) but that to is threatened. So i envy the Venezuelans at their colleges and uni's

[MarxSchmarx]

Unfortunately, a lot of the "advances" of Venezuela are really ameliorations of the wrong directions of the last couple of years. This isn't to minimize their significance, but it does point out that combating the worst of neoliberalism has so far been insufficient to address deep historical inequities in Venezuela and Latin America more generally.

Here is a rather wonkish, but still useful analysis of the situation in Latin America from a leftist perspective from an unlikely source:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/LUSTIG&MCLEOD_INEQ&LEFT_JUL%2027_09.pdf

Not surprisingly the trend is mimicked throughout the rest of South America in the last decade when left leaning governments had a near monopoly on power. Even supposed right-wing stooges or nationalists like Uribe or the Kirchners came in with social democratic credentials that forced them to buck the prevailing trend of the economic rightists in the region as well.

[Exasperated_Youth]

Where i live, here in great britain we lost the right to free education over 10 years ago when most college and university students had to pay tuition fees for their education. We still have free health care via the NHS (National health service) but that to is threatened. So i envy the Venezuelans at their colleges and uni's

University is still free in Scotland though...

[REDSOX]

Yes in scotland it is apologies.:)

[Magón]

Having only been to Venezuela once in my life, since Chavez's takeover (I was there a second time earlier as well), I think from my time spent there, Venezuela is sort of like Spain in the 30s. There's a very big divide between the people who either like Chavez or hate Chavez. And from what I can guess and saw, most of those who don't like him are hidden Burgesses from the past government. (Kinda like in Spain and their rich factory owners who sided on the Republican side, just so they wouldn't be killed.) I can't comment on the education factor since I was only a young boy when I went in the 80s with my Mother, but it does seem that people are much more educated. Especially in the slums of Maracaibo where I was, and you'd speak to someone, and they'd know what was going on in the world and more. :thumbup1:

*Note to self, must get flight ticket to Venezuela again*