> (By the way, Venezuela could have done much better, if it hadn't been
> for their very orthodox reaction to the 2007-2008 crisis in the U.S. As a
> testimonial of how the old ways are ingrained, Chavez slashed the
> public budget unnecessarily. Mark Weisbrot wrote a sharp critique of
> this knee-jerk response, and gradually they came to their senses. Not
> saying because of Weisbrot's critique, perhaps coincidentally so.)
Actually, maybe they didn't come to their senses, but their shift was simply the result of oil prices bouncing up, largely driven by China's energy demands. Yeah, maybe they used the same old model, it's just that with the oil price parameter re-calibrated, their fiscal plan came out bigger. CEPAL's latest report is not very flattering of the economic situation in Venezuela. God knows we wish them well: