Has Chavez Gone Too Far?

In a 31 January Washington Post article Chavez's new plans are discussed. There are plans on the way to give more power to Chavez, allowing him to dictate new laws for 18 months. He says that with this power he will help "transform the economy, redraw the structure of government and establish a new funding apparatus for Venezuela's huge oil wealth." Also there was mention of Chavez's government eliminating Presidential term limits. The article discusses the different reactions that people are taking to this news. A mass of people have been gathering around the embassy to file for the right to move to Spain. Some of them are planning for the move in case things go bad and then things will be in order to leave. Others feel that Chavez's plan may turn over a new leaf in Latin America. This article caused me to think about what Venezuela may be getting into. At the beginning of the article it compares Chavez to a possible Castro. What if this does show true? Chavez seems to be taking some of his presidential roles past the point that his citizens feel is appropriate and it has only been a month since he was reelected. Unless the people make their concerns more vocalized, which is unlikely to happen, I think that Chavez will end up doing more damage to his country with his new 18 month "dictator" type rule.

Rio on the Rebound

In a January 20th article in The Economist, it reports that Rio de Janeiro's new governor is trying a new tactic to clean up Rio, something he likes to call reaching out for help. Being appointed governor on January 1st of this year, Sérgio Cabral was ready to make a change in Rio especially when dealing with cleaning up business, and stopping violence. He felt that in order to do this he would have to appoint outsiders to top positions. With these new people in power Cabral and others are hoping that this will be a turning point for Rio de Janeiro. I think that it is possible that there may be a change in Rio's future, but I am curious to see how well the people of Rio de Janeiro will take the hiring of outsiders, even if it is supposedly for "their own good".

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Corn Crisis!!!

In a New York Times article on January 19 it states that Mexico's public has been heard. With the rise of corn prices, the public could no longer deal with the effects and made their voices heard. The price of tortillas, an essential staple in the people's diet, had risen in the past three weeks to be 35 cents a pound. This price jump effected many local business owners to lose business. The people made their voice known and President Felipe Calderon actually listened. He called for an agreement with business owners to stabilize the price of corn. Not only did he make an agreement to stabilize the price of tortillas but he also regulated the prices of cornmeal that is sold to small businesses. These efforts should make a difference with the people's eyes. It makes me wonder if this understanding and listening to the people was a one time thing or if it will spread to other South American or Central American governments.

Reading Response Paper 1/22

With the prospect of a flattening world, there are possible problems that many people feel will arise. Many people fear the loss of jobs for the United States. In addressing this concern Friedman suggests that despite jobs being outsourced in large quantities there is a continuous rise of new jobs, in smaller numbers, that are created daily. Evidence of this is through the general stabilization of the United State’s unemployment rate, around 5%.
Is there a crisis around outsourcing and being able to maintain a job? Not really, if you have a job in some professions you may have something to worry about, after all nothing is guaranteed, yet, there are continually new fields and endeavors to be pursued. If the world is flattening it means that there is more availability to create new products and ideas, which literally can mean an endless job market. All we have to do is to take advantage of it. Does this mean that there is no crisis for the United States? No, there is still the crisis of the lack of interest in the science, mathematics and engineering fields. These job markets are some of the most available ones, when dealing with new jobs and ideas, yet there is a decline in the interest and ability in these fields in the United States. This lack of interest, as it is, is pushing companies to expand to other countries, with more ability and interest, especially in Asia.
There does not seem to be one real concrete reason why interest in these fields has dropped. Speculations include the lack of government encouragement, society’s need for instant gratification, and the idea to find schooling that is fun. To those with the interest in science and mathematics they find it fun, but how did they get that interest to begin with? Through different interviews Friedman finds a theme with parental support and encouragement. It is suggested that to stop the crisis the government, the Bush Administration needs to spend more time focusing on and encouraging science and mathematics in schooling. Without this support the United States will find itself buried deep in mathematical and scientific crisis.

Columbia Confessions

In an article dated January 20 (even though it is only the 18th, I am not sure how this happened), found in The Economist, there can be found some notes from the confessions of a paramilitary leader in Columbia. These notes disclose that there was a peace deal made between President Álvaro Uribe and Salvatore Mancuso, a paramilitary leader. It states that through this deal, in exchange for confessing and paying reparations the leaders are "eligible" for sentences of no more than 8 years, and the guarantee of not being extradited to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking. In his deposition Mancuso gave a presentation sharing over 87 different accounts and operation that involved the murder of over 300 people during the time frame of 1992 and 2003. Mancuso's deposition was postponed until later this month. I feel that this is a new step for Columbia, if they are able to make use of the information that was given and if more accounts are given. However, I am not sure how much information they will receive, so far they have mentioned that the names that Mancuso was willing to provide included only men that were already dead or convicted. Yet, with the information that will be given in the rest of Mancuso's deposition about drug trafficking may prove to be useful to work on stopping the flow. It mentioned that Mancuso is wanted in the US for charges of trafficking over 17 tons of cocaine. If confessions like this can help the US fight its drug war it will be a great feat.

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Chavez in Battle with RCTV

In a January 13th article in The Economist, it discusses Hugo Chavez's upcoming presidency and his plans to bring Venezuela into a "new era". Chavez's plan to nationalize certain companies has been a widely publicized topic. In this article it informs us that Chavez is not only nationalizing some, but is refusing to renew other companies contracts, mainly in the case of RCTV, a television station run by his opposition. The article states that this particular television station was one of the top supporters in the attempted coup back in 2002. By canceling RCTV Chavez is believed to be sending a message to other media in Venezuela to join him. Besides the non-renewal with RCTV this article discusses the possibility that Chavez with turn the Venezuelan government into a Cuban-style communism. I think that Chavez, despite his push for socialism, will end up turning towards a more communist style rule, during this term. I feel that this is a definite possibility because so far he has discussed the "state's" need to run television shows and to control banks and other businesses. In conjunction with this, he also has declared, for the first time publicly, that he is a communist. "He added that he himself had been a “communist” since at least 2002".

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