Speaking of economics, I notice that President-for-life Hugo Chavez in Venezuela has graciously granted his subjects a 30% cost of living wage increase to catch with VE's chronic inflation. Kind of reminds me of Mexico; rob the people blind for six years, then buy their votes with a bag of groceries at the polling place and start the cycle again. Hugo even has the help of the IMF.  

Since taking power in 1998, Hugo Chavez has presided over continued economic malaise and currency devaluation that has hurt that country's poor the hardest.  In this, he is basically like the last three governments in VE.  You can talk about "the people" all day long, but the currency and unemployment tells the story.  Even with global oil prices near all time highs, VE is still a basket case.

Despite his pretensions of revolutionary leadership, Chavez has done nothing -- yet -- to threaten U.S. access to VE oil, ensuring for him the favor of the Bush White House.  Some members of the right radical fringe in the U.S. try to portray Chavez as a dire threat, but the reality is that Hugo has studied his Lenin and knows that there are times to build broad fronts, times to strike and times to pocket some of those gringo dollars from PDVSA.   I wonder how much the Castro government is paying comrade Hugo under the table in "solidarity" for the below-market oil exports to Cuba?  Any thoughts?