Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Facts And Figures On The Decline of Venezuela

Transcript

Facts And Figures On The Decline of Venezuela · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: That's an interesting way to start the third hour of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the radio program known as The Morning Show with Preston Scott,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: how are you friends? Good to have you with us,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: first week back after a lengthy time away, and we
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: are joined on the phone line by our friend Scott Beacon,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: otherwise known as the b line Blogger. You can find
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: his work at b line Blogger dot blogspot dot com
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and Scott Happy Holidays. How are you, sir?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Debut Preston, Happy New Year?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Tell me when did when did you start doing the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: digging on Venezuela, Because when I saw your piece, I
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: knew it was going to be data driven. They always are,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: But I have to believe you got interested in starting
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to look at this long before we took Maduro out
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of the country.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, I've written about Venezuela for a number of
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: years in my blog and it's an interesting study to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: get in from a data standpoint, because when you look
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: at how prosperous and successful and rich Venezuela was at
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: one time and how that's changed in the last twenty
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: five years, it's quite a lab study with regard to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the failure of socialism and collectivism compared to other countries.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: In the world that have gone the other way, even
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: in Latin America. You know, you look at Chile and
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: what they've done compared to Venezuela over the last thirty
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: or forty years, and you look at countries like Poland,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: it's really a sad state of affairs. What's happened to
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the Venezuelan people over the last twenty five years.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I want to get to those comparisons, but I want
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: to start where you started in your column, with what
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you do know, and it starts by quantifying the suffering
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: inside of Venezuela since nineteen ninety nine. That was when
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Hugo Chavez took over and things just went literally from
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: pretty good too horrible. To give us some of the
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: numbers and some of the data.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it is a sad state of affairs of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: what's happened to that country. You know, there's different numbers
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: out there. I actually the data that I use was
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the most conservative. There's some that say that ninety percent
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: plus of the Venezuelan people are living in poverty today.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I just used the number seventy percent. But still, when
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: you compare that to the United States and the rest
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: of the world, it's pretty sobering when you look at
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: you know, their GDP per capita. You know, they really
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: are not much different than they were twenty five years ago.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Right now, I mean, you know, the rest of the
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: world is just passed and by the rest of Latin
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: America has passed. And by I mean they were the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: richest country in South America twenty five or thirty years ago.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Now they're the poorest. They have an inflation rate that's
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: more than five hundred percent per year. Some of these
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: number are hard to put together because the government there
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: are so dysfunctional they don't even produce reliable statistics any longer,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: so it really is hard to get your hand around
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: some of the numbers. But an independent economist has come
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: up with an annual inflation rate for Venezuela that's over
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: five hundred percent. So we have a situation too that
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: this has caused enormous numbers of people to leave the country,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: some for economic reasons, some for political reasons. And obviously
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: we also know that Maduro empties a lot of the
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: jails and sent them to the United States. So the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: end result is just over the last ten years, when
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: things have really gotten bad, the Smiths are about eight
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: million people have left Venezuela, which is about twenty percent
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: of the population in a decade. It's staggering.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: You mentioned some other countries. Let's start with Poland. We
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: got about a minute left in this segment. Give us
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a quick snapshot of the comparison between Venezuela and Poland.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you go back to nineteen ninety nine, two thousand,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: when things you know, kind of changed in Venezuela, Venezuela
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: and Poland were basically the same with regard to gross
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: national product. Today Poland has about uh, you know, six
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: seven times the GDP that Venezuela does. And why is
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: that interesting? Well, Poland lived under collectivism for many, many
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: years and decades under the Soviet Union, and they broke
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: free of that and shows a capitalism, a free market system.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Venezuela did exactly the opposite. And look what happened after
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: twenty five years. It's staggering.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Back with Scott Beek and the Bee Line blogger. We're
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: talking about Venezuela. I told you earlier in the week.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: You know, we came back on the air Monday after
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: nearly three weeks away, and obviously the big story on
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Monday was the capture of Nikol Maduro and his wife.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And I told you when I got Scott's peace that
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I wanted him to come on the program to start
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: talking about some of the data to quantify just how
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: bad things are. You know that that's the mainstream media
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: is of course ignoring that, Scott. They're they're ignoring how
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: bad Even those stories have been leaking for you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: a decade and a half or two about how bad
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: food sources have gone to the point where they're killing
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: zoo animals and eating anything that they can get their
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: hands on for food. You use the word collectivism. I
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: want to make sure that when people hear that, they
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. To find that for.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Us, well, you have you know, you have people in
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Venezuela that took over that there were pure socialists or
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: communists who believed in the the rights of the of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: the government basically, which it translates the leadership to control everything.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And you know, gradually they took over everything in the
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: country of any value. They took over the oil industry,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: which is where you know a lot of the wealth
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: you know, came from in Venezuela. At one point and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, gradually they took the property, They took the
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: oil property from the companies that were there, they took
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the private property, they tried to run up themselves. All
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the people over time that were knowledge believen. The local
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: people eventually left and eventually they didn't have the oil
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: revenues that they had, and then that filtered into everything else.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: For a while, the oil was still pumping and they
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: could as the food sources and other things went down,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: they used that to subsidize the food or the gasoline.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: But eventually, as things got worse and worse, those things
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: dried up too, so that after a while you really
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: don't have anything that's the productive left in the country
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: and you get people that you know, have to live
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: in poverty and eat dogs and all the other things.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: And why twenty percent of the people left the country
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: because it's not sustainable.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: This South America in general, Scott, it offers us a
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: complete and total example of collectivism, socialism, communism versus capitalism
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and free market principles, does it not?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Oh? Yes? And as an EBB and flow we've seen
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: in a lot of South American countries. You know, we're
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: seeing it in Argentina, which you know went through a
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: lot of socialists to type individuals and then then really
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: kind of on the other side. Now Chile is another
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: example that has gone back and forth, but it seems
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: like every time that they break away from the socialism
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: and go the free market way, they prosper. But then
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: it only takes a little while for someone to say, well,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: something's going to be better and they move the other way,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and then things deteriorate. So it's a classic example. As
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: you mentioned, it's almost like a laboratory of the failures
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: of socialism.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Well, Venezuela used to be, if I if I remember
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: your piece correctly, it was it was, and what I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: remember in myself is it was the wealthiest nation in
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: South America. Now it's not. And Chile was at the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: bottom and now it's at the top.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Exactly. You know, I knew someone I had a friend
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: a number of years ago there was a country manager
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: in Venezuela, and you know, just raved about the life
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: that they had there and loved living there and the
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: resources they've got, the beauty of the country and just
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: all destroyed.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: We're seeing in the news, Scott that just because Maduro
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: and his wife are out it doesn't change anything. They
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: still have entrenched corruption and they have a system that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: is a failed system. So what are your expectations. What
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: do you think the glide slope is for Venezuela to
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: turn things and get back to a path of being
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: able to sustain itself as a nation.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Well. As difficult as it was to go in to
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Venezuela in that raid that they did, and how bold
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: that was to go in and fetch you know, Maduro
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: out of the country with his wife and get out
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: and bring him to New York City to stand trial,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: that's nothing compared to what the challenge is to move
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Venezuela forward with the potential leadership vacuum that they have.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: So yeah, as they're wrote in the blog, I'm reminded
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: of all the late General Colin Palell citing the pottery
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: barn rule before the two thousand and three Iraq War.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: You know, you break it, you own it, and so therefore,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: you know, how do you move forward? And I think
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: they have learned some lessons from the past. And I
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: think even though it could be disheartening to think, well,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: why do we have some of the same people the
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: inner circle, why are they still around? And I think
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: the answer to that is the reality is you need
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: some stability in order the country doesn't go into complete chaos.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: And I think President Trump and Secretary of Rubio are
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: planning to hopefully work with some of the people that
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: have been in that inner circle for a period of
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: time for a transition and then their will, if you will,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: to the United States interest and try to keep some
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: stability there while moving to democratic elections over time. Now,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: as I cited in the blog post, you know that's
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: going to require a lot of patients. I think by
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the Venezuelan people, I'm sure they want change immediately. They
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: don't like the fact that they've had to live under
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: the conditions they've lived for over the last twenty five years.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: But it's going to take a while to get to
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that next step, and that's not going to be easy.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: But one of the things that you have to like
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: about Donald Trump, I mentioned this in the blog as well,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: is to be great first, you have to not be
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: afraid to be great. And that's that's quite an attribute
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: just to have that. And one thing I'm sure about
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Trump is that he's not afraid to be great. You know,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: many presidents in the past over the last twenty five
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: years talked about Venezuela, but nobody did anything about it.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And he took the action and if he successful, you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: he's changed the geopolitical calculus for the entire world because
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: this was the just Venezuela and the United States. This
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: directly affects what's going on in Russia, what's going on
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: in China, the effects it has in Cuba, and what
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: we're seeing in Iran right now. I mean, do you
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: think the people would be riding in the streets right
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: now if they didn't see what is going on in
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Venezuela and giving them hope. So the stakes are huge,
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: and I wish I knew how it's going to work out,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: but I know you couldn't have a possibility that we
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: have today without taking the steps that President Trump took
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and taking Ma Duro out.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I have, I have shared with it just
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: a handful of people, you know that have been critical
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: about not installing you know, the right person, whoever that is,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: like you can determine that immediately. Well, if you don't
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: have the military on your side, it doesn't matter. You're
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: gonna You're gonna create another firestorm of a problem. So
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I think I agree with you. I think he's wise
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to work with what's there. Hope that they're learning some lessons.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Early indications are they're learning some lessons about what the
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: capabilities of the country are. And I think that you're right.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I think that this is not just a message to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: China and Russia and Iran. It's a it's a message
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: to Cuba, it's a message to the hemisphere, and that
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: it's going to be in everyone's best interest for us
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to all get along on our side of the of
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the globe.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. The love thing I would like to see
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: and I haven't seen it mentioned, you know. I would
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: like to see a major effort by the United States
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: to bring food into Venezuela. And we've seen some of
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: the farmers with the tariff situation, some countries have cut
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: us off and din the or whatever. I would like
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: to see a massive outreach the Venezuela with food and
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: very clearly showing a tangible thing that the United States
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: is on the side of the Venezuelan people and that's
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: something we could do very easily. It would help our farmers,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: would also help the people of Venezuela. I would really
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: like to see that take place soon.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Do you see that as a barter we get some oil,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: they get some food.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't do it at a barter situation. Yeah, I
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: would do it as a humanitarian situation and really to
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: show we're with you. Yep, you know we're with you.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: And yeah, the the oil is aside you. A lot
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: of people want to make that this is a grab
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: for oil, et cetera. Really, the oil is the venice
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the whale as people. I mean, certainly we can collaborate
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: them with refinery capabilities and cut off the flow that
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: was going to Cuba and Iran and sign a Russia
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the bad actors to our own benefit. But you know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: really they deserve they deserve.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: That oil on they had, just like they used to.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Scott, thanks as always. I appreciate all the data that
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you pull together and present in such a tidy fashion.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it very much, and thanks for making time
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: for us.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Always enjoy at President, and again, happy new Year to
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: you and all your listeners.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Scott Beacon with us this morning,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and again, subscribe, it costs you nothing. Sign up get
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: his newsletters. You will be a much better informed person
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: on all the things he writes about. Bline blogger dot blogspot,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: dot com,