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Chavez hits Venezuela with devaluation

Professor Lee Salter is probably going to call this another example of BBC propaganda, but as every piece of news coming out of Chavez's Venezuela these days, what the world's media report is, generally, a closer approximation to reality than what Chavez or his dwindling list of sycophants care to admit.

After 11 years of receiving extraordinary levels of income due to spike in oil prices, Chavez has had to devalue the currency. The insatiable appetite of his utterly corrupt socialist regime just eats whatever funds the capitalist market generates. The crucial legislative elections are just down the road, and the caudillo needs to ensure that enough funds are at his unaccounted disposal, so that his representatives can 'win' enough seats in Congress.

As the WSJ puts it: "The devaluation is a humiliating setback for Chavez, who two years ago led with much fanfare the redenomination of the currency to bolivar "fuerte," or "strong" bolivar. The VEF2.15 rate, however, had become untenable as accumulated inflation for the last five years shot up to a whopping 160%." How's this achievement a show of 21st Century Socialism economic success?