Kevin Duffy on regime change in Venezuela

Randolph Bourne, a critic of the U.S.'s disastrous entry into WWI, famously said, "War is the health of the state." The state needs external enemies to survive, but also thrives on internal conflict. 

The military industrial complex has fabricated three main enemies: Russia, China, and Islam, i.e. anyone who opposes Israel's aggressions in the Middle East (the Orwellian-named "war on terror"). The proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine is exhausted, with support of the right lost. The trade war with China is lost, i.e. China stood up to the bully and Trump was forced to TACO out. Israel's non-stop annihilation of Gaza has turned it into a pariah country. The U.S.-Israel alliance has lost the moral high ground and alienated the left. 

Time to come up with a new external enemy. Welcome, Venezuela and its evil dictator, Maduro. (The "good vs. evil" narrative that drives American foreign policy propaganda always requires a bad guy.) Clearly, this has nothing to do with drugs. The solution is simple: end the war on drugs. Prohibition forced alcohol consumers to buy from criminals. Ending the drug war would put the drug cartels out of business overnight.

This is all about finding a new enemy to distract Americans from their growing economic malaise: public debt approaching $39 trillion, interest payments on that debt over $1 trillion and exceeding the entire military budget, the middle class getting squeezed by spiraling costs, and gold going through the roof as foreigners are less willing to hold our dollars and our debt (Biden's sanctions against Russia in 2022 being a major catalyst in "weaponizing the dollar").

To really understand the nature of American foreign policy, I suggest reading Stephen Kinzer's Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.

To understand our policy in the Middle East since 1953 Iranian coup, I suggest watching this epic 3-hour Tucker Carlson interview of Scott Horton.  (See here.)

To understand the Israel-Palestine conflict, I suggest my deep dive on its history.  (See here.)

Lastly, Venezuela's decline didn't start when socialist Hugo Chavez took over in 1999. It began when a social democrat named Rómulo Betancourt was popularly elected in 1958.  (See here.)

~ Kevin Duffy, January 7, 2026

 

Jon Miltimore on Venezuelan "privatization"

It seems that after much pain and suffering, even socialist leaders in Venezuela have conceded that they cannot run an economy with enough efficiency to avoid economic ruin. But while returning enterprises to private owners is a step in the right direction, it’s hardly accurate to call Maduro's strategy “capitalism.” 

The Maduro government is still using everything from price controls on food to minimum wage hikes to currency manipulation to manage its economy, not to mention selecting which businesses get to participate in its privatization efforts (and who gets to invest). In terms of overall economic freedom, Venezuela ranked 179 out of 180 countries in 2020—one place ahead of North Korea and one behind Cuba. 

At best, Venezuela’s current economic system is a form of fascism, which Sheldon Richman once described as “socialism with a capitalist veneer.” 

So while applauding Venezuela’s small but important step, we should not lose sight of an observation from Nobel Laureate economist Vernon Smith, who in 2018 noted that prosperity would return almost at once to Venezuela if politicians repealed their harmful policies and unleashed the power of markets.

~ Jon Miltimore, "Bloomberg: Venezuela Turns to Privatization After Being Bankrupted by Socialism," FEE.org, February 16, 2021

Kevin Duffy on the difference between Democrats and Republicans

If Democrats were in charge, the U.S. would become Venezuela in a year.  If Republicans were in charge, it might take a decade.

~ Kevin Duffy

Warding off hunger, Venezuelans find meals in garbage bins (Reuters)

Kevin Duffy on how to destroy an economy

How do you destroy an economy? Simple, attack the most productive members of society as "greedy parasites" and feed the real parasite (the state) in the process. News flash: the rich won't stick around for you to abuse them. This is what happened in Venezuela: the wealthy fled.

~ Kevin Duffy, Facebook post, December 15, 2019

Mark Weisbrot on how Venezuela's economic critics have been wrong (2012)

Although some media have talked of Venezuela’s impending economic collapse for more than a decade, it hasn’t happened and is not likely to happen.

After recovering from a recession that began in 2009, the Venezuelan economy has been growing for two-and-a-half years now and inflation has fallen sharply while growth has accelerated. The country has a sizeable trade surplus. Its public debt is relatively low, and so is its debt-service burden. It has plenty of room to borrow foreign currency (it has borrowed $36 billion from China, mostly at very low interest rates), and can borrow domestically as well at low or negative real interest rates.

So even if oil prices were to crash temporarily (as they did in 2008-2009), there would be no need for austerity or recession. And hardly anyone is predicting a long-term collapse of oil prices.

~ Mark Weisbrot, "Why Chávez Was Re-elected," The New York Times, October 9, 2012

Mark Weisbrot on how Venezuela nationalizing its oil industry led to improved living standards

Since the Chávez government got control over the national oil industry, poverty has been cut by half, and extreme poverty by 70 percent. College enrollment has more than doubled, millions of people have access to health care for the first time and the number of people eligible for public pensions has quadrupled.

So it should not be surprising that most Venezuelans would reelect a president who has improved their living standards. That’s what has happened with all of the leftist governments that now govern most of South America. This is despite the fact that they, like Chávez, have most of their countries’ media against them, and their opposition has most of the wealth and income of their respective countries.

~ Mark Weisbrot, "Why Chávez Was Re-elected," The New York Times, October 9, 2012

Journalist lauds Hugo Chavez's economic miracle (2013)

[Hugo] Chavez became the bugaboo of American politics because his full-throated advocacy of socialism and redistributionism at once represented a fundamental critique of neoliberal economics, and also delivered some indisputably positive results. Indeed, as shown by some of the most significant indicators, Chavez racked up an economic record that a legacy-obsessed American president could only dream of achieving.

~ David Sirota, "Hugo Chavez's economic miracle: The Venezuelan leader was often marginalized as a radical. But his brand of socialism achieved real economic gains," Salon.com, March 6, 2013

Economist gloats about the Venezuelan economy (2013)

For more than a decade people opposed to the government of Venezuela have argued that its economy would implode. Like communists in the 1930s rooting for the final crisis of capitalism, they saw economic collapse just around the corner.  How frustrating it has been for them to witness only two recessions: one directly caused by the opposition's oil strike (December 2002-May 2003) and one brought on by the world recession (2009 and the first half of 2010). However, the government got control of the national oil company in 2003, and the whole decade's economic performance turned out quite well, with average annual growth of real income per person of 2.7% and poverty reduced by over half, and large gains for the majority in employment, access to health care, pensions and education.

Meanwhile, the poverty rate dropped by 20% in Venezuela last year – almost certainly the largest decline in poverty in the Americas for 2012, and one of the largest – if not the largest – in the world. 

~ Mark Weisbrot, economist, 2013

Chavez emptying Bank of England vault

We’ve held 99 tons of gold at the Bank of England since 1980. I agree with bringing that home. It’s a healthy decision.

If there isn’t enough room to store the gold in the central bank vaults I can lend you the basement of the Miraflores presidential palace.

~ Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, "Chavez emptying Bank of England vault", Bloomberg, August 17, 2011