Not the only estupido
New thought: Maduro is not the only estupido in Venezuela.

I've been pointing out for a long time that his failure has nothing to do with "socialism" and everything to do with Graybill's Law and simple stupidity.

The current endgame was inevitable after several years of failing to fix the obvious problems. Smart leaders can QUICKLY use US sanctions to develop a country's own skills and resources. Putin turned Russia from a one-resource exporter to a widely varied trader in three years. Cuba did the same back in the '60s, and Persia in the '80s.

Here's the new thought: The opposition is equally stupid, or just traitorous. Venezuela's electoral system works pretty well. Opposition parties have been strong and active for many years. If they had been serving the country instead of serving their own interests, they could have reshaped national policy to PROFITABLY USE the country's HUGE variety of mineral and agricultural resources. And they could have personally shared in the profit, since Latin America doesn't have our weird fetish about "good government".

Maduro is not a traitor. He wants his country to succeed. He just doesn't have the slightest clue about the right way to achieve success. Other politicians, in his own party and in the opposition, could have taken advantage of the situation, letting him take credit for reforming and rejuvenating the country. Obviously they didn't.

= = = = =

If Graybill's Law is unfamiliar, here's another metaphor. Heirs to a vast fortune can take two paths. (1) Hire managers to run and improve the business. Preserve the fortune. This doesn't take a lot of work, but it does require awareness and vigilance, and occasionally stepping in when managers fail. (2) Spend half the fortune on yachts and mansions and babes, and the other half in casinos, and then borrow the third half and the fourth half and the fifth half and spend them in casinos, and then pawn the yachts and mansions to keep the casinos from breaking your legs. This is more fun until the casinos finally whack you.

Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela started with the same vast fortune. B and C took the responsible path most of the time. V took the yachts and casinos path in 1922, and now can't even redeem its own gold after pawning it to the Bank of England.

Labels: skill-estate

  ¶ 9:21 AM