Chavez And Clinton: Birds of a Feather

While the Clintons are not reknowned for their honesty, I am willing to take Mrs. Clinton for her word, that she personally wants to to take all oil company profits.

That is what socialists do and that is what Mrs. Clinton is.  Socialists should be taken at their word when they say theyh intend to take private property for their own use.   Hugo Chavez said he would national Venezula’s oil industry.  Natalie Obiko Pearson, Associated Press::

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez ordered by decree on Monday the takeover of oil projects run by foreign oil companies in Venezuela’s Orinoco River region. 

Chavez had previously announced the government’s intention to take a majority stake by May 1 in four heavy oil-upgrading projects run by British Petroleum PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., Total SA and Statoil ASA.

When it come to personal greed, Hugo Chavez proved himself to be a man of his word.    I suggest the same be said of Mrs. Clinton, when it comes to her personal greed, she too can be taken at her word.

Ed Morrissey, Captain Quarters, seems to be suggesting that Chavez is smarter than Mrs. Clinton:

Interestingly and not surprisingly, the Venezuelan strongman didn’t mention how he planned to compensate these companies for 60% shares of their projects. Instead, he told them that he didn’t want them to leave, and take all of their expertise and technology with them. Chavez wants them to accept the fact that they would do all the work while he gets most of the profits.

Chavez is dangling the carrot that he will let the oil producers keep forty percent of the profits.   In effect, Chavez is proposing a sixty percent tax on oil revenues, quite unlike Mrs. Clinton’s one hundred percent tax.   Chavez is hedging his bets by gambling that the oil producers in Venezula will prefer forty percent of something rather than nothing.   Then of course, if the oil producers call Chavez, Hugo could end up owing a hundred percent of nothing.

Of course Chavez is not smart enough to realize that he give oil producers sixty percent less reason to make any future investment in Venezula.  That still leaves Hugo forty percent ahead of Mrs. Clinton, who would provide utterly no incentive for future investment.