Friday, March 26, 2010

The antagonism of Internet and socialism

Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

It's a verifiable fact, the Internet is censored in every socialist country, with Cuba, China, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea as the most vivid examples.

The Internet is censored in the socialist States because, given that in the communist countries the government is a dictatorship, the ruling oligarchy does not want citizens to learn of the abuses and inefficiency of the regime, or the freedom that exists in other parts of the planet. In the above mentioned nations, people can't access to sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Twitter, any media not approved by the government, instant messaging services -or Internet voice communication tools- such as Skype and messenger, etc. Furthermore, bloggers are considered terrorists and imprisioned in these regions, and the Internet costs are very high for those who dares to request the service at home, which in itself is a way to prevent people's access to cyberspace.

Of course, if we understand well what socialism is all about, we know that this system is enemy of all freedom of expression and human rights, so it should not surprise its well-documented history of repression against the global information network. This will be another historical stain for socialism and its supporters, having denied to millions the right to use the greatest scientific breakthrough of our time.


Related articles:

- Socialist dictatorship vs. capitalist hegemony

- Questions after 50 years of Castrist revolution in Cuba

- Some contradictions of the left in Latin America

Friday, March 12, 2010

Venezuela 2010: Estimate of GDP and inflation

Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

The recent devaluation of 100% in the bolivar says very eloquently how bad the Venezuelan economy is, with nothing suggesting that things will improve in the near future. Rather, if we take into account the current conditions in the country, we consider that the most likely scenario for 2010 is a recession with hyperinflation.

In terms of GDP, we estimate that it will fall -4% during the year due to the severe electricity crisis facing Venezuela, the climate of political instability and the private sector disinvestment by the lack of legal guarantees.

And if we talk about inflation, while many experts are calculating it around 50% for this year, our forecast is 26.2%. We consider this because consumption of goods and services will be drastically affected by the economic downturn described above, which will prevent -together with the government's draconian price controls- a greater increase in the value of products.


Related articles:

- Electricity crisis deepens recession in Venezuela

- Venezuela 2010: Stagnation with hyperinflation

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Friday, March 5, 2010

Electricity crisis deepens recession in Venezuela

Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

According to the Central Bank of Venezuela, the country's economy shrank -5.8% in the last quarter of last year. We cannot ignore that the electricity crisis got out the government's control in the same period, so it certainly was in part responsible for this GDP contraction that was worse than the previous quarter.

Electricity is rationed for more than three hours daily in several cities of Venezuela. In others, the service is interrupted every time or there are penalties for those who consume more than the quota determined by the government. This has led the public administration and many industries to work half time, and to the lost of equipment/merchandise in a lot of business, which ultimately has caused an intermittent national stoppage.

Venezuela has three quarters of negative economic growth, of which the last record was the worst of the past six years. This shows that as the planet moves toward the recovery from the global financial crisis of 2008, the Venezuelan economy is sinking because of Chavez's bad policies, among which is notably the lack of planning and investment in the electricity sector.


Related articles:

- Venezuelan exports encouraged by devaluation?

- Chavez's black Friday

- Venezuelan electricity crisis addressed a la Cubana

Will Insulza be re-elect in the OAS?

Authors:
Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

The vote to elect the Secretary General of the OAS is scheduled for March 24, 2010, and Hillary Clinton, probably not coincidentally, was sent to Latin America just days before this election. In 2005, the vote was complicated by a strong tie, broken precisely by the U.S. by convincing the other candidate to withdraw for the benefit of Insulza.

Currently, we don't know exactly the Obama's plans for this new election in the OAS -and if they would succeed-, but despite the change in the United States presidency, and that Insulza has transformed the OAS into an institution with deteriorated standards, it is likely that the Chilean lawyer continues to be the Secretary General of this organization. We believe this because no country has proposed a new candidate at the moment, and Insulza seems to have now the backing of some countries -Mexico, Bolivia- who did not vote for him in 2005.


Related articles:

- Insulza's OAS: A national liberation movement?

- Evaluation of Insulza as Secretary General of the OAS

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