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The article is fixated on the economic benefits of default, as if economic decisions were only ever decided by economics! Maduro's government is authoritarian a

The article is fixated on the economic benefits of default, as if economic decisions were only ever decided by economics! Maduro's government is authoritarian and violently imposed. What internal political factors does this dictatorship think preclude the possibility of default? Would default be signaling weakness to competing forces within the country? Is humiliation on the international stage a threat to the ruling party's self image? Violent dictatorships are seldom rational. This article is also written with the tacit acceptance of neoliberal ideology: The only rational choice for an impoverished nation is to submit to foreign capital and governmental institutions and sell the country for the chance to become another dependent market that will bear the brunt of the next global credit crisis and coercive trade deal.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago
> Violent dictatorships are seldom rational. Well, they're often rational within their own framework (either an ideological framework or merely the framework of violence and power). That looks irrational to the rest of the world, but it has its own logic. > This article is also written with the tacit acceptance of neoliberal ideology: The only rational choice for an impoverished nation is to submit to foreign capital and governmental institutions and sell the country for the chance to become another dependent market that will bear the brunt of the next global credit crisis and coercive trade deal. Will submitting be better or worse than the current situation in Venezuela? If anyone claims that it will be worse, I'd like to see their justification for that statement.
- danharaj 10y ago
  > Will submitting be better or worse than the current situation in Venezuela? If anyone claims that it will be worse, I'd like to see their justification for that statement. The current situation is shit. Paths forward should be judged against their alternatives and their possibilities. Global powers love that they can coerce the impoverished into decades-long deals of economic servitude and their ideology pushes it as the only reasonable way forward. Dictatorship and submission to global capitalism aren't the only options.
  - AnimalMuppet 10y ago
    What's your better option?
    - danharaj 10y ago
      The state of Venezuela could not in any way be justly called representative of the people of Venezuela. I'm an anarchist, i would like to see the abolition of all states but i'm well aware that most people find that unreasonable. At the very least, no solution that involves negotiation between Maduro's dictatorship and their international creditors is a just representation of the interests of the people. Democratic economic self-determination is alternative possibility. It may work, it may not work, but it's an option that attempts to achieve justice.
      - AnimalMuppet 10y ago
        > The state of Venezuela could not in any way be justly called representative of the people of Venezuela. [snip] At the very least, no solution that involves negotiation between Maduro's dictatorship and their international creditors is a just representation of the interests of the people. Very, very true. Unfortunately, there's this group of thugs with guns who run Venezuela, and who aren't going to go away even though the people of Venezuela would like them to. Given that the Maduro "government" de facto exists, and refuses to quit, what should be done? > Democratic economic self-determination is alternative possibility. I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you mean letting the people of Venezuela vote on what should be done to rescue their economy? If so, you aren't going to get that, because step one of what needs done is getting the country out of the hands of Maduro and his crew, and Maduro isn't going to let anyone vote on whether that happens (or anything else about the management of the economy). So far as I can see, any path forward is going to have to coerce Maduro into doing something that is anathema to his ideology. If you've got an alternative that works with the existence of Maduro, I'd love to hear it.
- lucio 10y ago
  Having internal consistency or logic does not mean the framework is rational. If you're destroying your menas of living beyond repair, causing misery, you're irrational, even if there's internal consistency as in communist regimes
PantaloonFlames 10y ago
> to submit to foreign capital and governmental institutions Wat. Venezuela ALREADY taps the bond market for money. That's why they're sending billions of hard currency to bondholders. They're already submitting. That's the point.

AnimalMuppet 10y ago

> Violent dictatorships are seldom rational. Well, they're often rational within their own framework (either an ideological framework or merely the framework of violence and power). That looks irrational to the rest of the world, but it has its own logic. > This article is also written with the tacit acceptance of neoliberal ideology: The only rational choice for an impoverished nation is to submit to foreign capital and governmental institutions and sell the country for the chance to become another dependent market that will bear the brunt of the next global credit crisis and coercive trade deal. Will submitting be better or worse than the current situation in Venezuela? If anyone claims that it will be worse, I'd like to see their justification for that statement.

danharaj 10y ago
> Will submitting be better or worse than the current situation in Venezuela? If anyone claims that it will be worse, I'd like to see their justification for that statement. The current situation is shit. Paths forward should be judged against their alternatives and their possibilities. Global powers love that they can coerce the impoverished into decades-long deals of economic servitude and their ideology pushes it as the only reasonable way forward. Dictatorship and submission to global capitalism aren't the only options.
- AnimalMuppet 10y ago
  What's your better option?
  - danharaj 10y ago
    The state of Venezuela could not in any way be justly called representative of the people of Venezuela. I'm an anarchist, i would like to see the abolition of all states but i'm well aware that most people find that unreasonable. At the very least, no solution that involves negotiation between Maduro's dictatorship and their international creditors is a just representation of the interests of the people. Democratic economic self-determination is alternative possibility. It may work, it may not work, but it's an option that attempts to achieve justice.
    - AnimalMuppet 10y ago
      > The state of Venezuela could not in any way be justly called representative of the people of Venezuela. [snip] At the very least, no solution that involves negotiation between Maduro's dictatorship and their international creditors is a just representation of the interests of the people. Very, very true. Unfortunately, there's this group of thugs with guns who run Venezuela, and who aren't going to go away even though the people of Venezuela would like them to. Given that the Maduro "government" de facto exists, and refuses to quit, what should be done? > Democratic economic self-determination is alternative possibility. I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you mean letting the people of Venezuela vote on what should be done to rescue their economy? If so, you aren't going to get that, because step one of what needs done is getting the country out of the hands of Maduro and his crew, and Maduro isn't going to let anyone vote on whether that happens (or anything else about the management of the economy). So far as I can see, any path forward is going to have to coerce Maduro into doing something that is anathema to his ideology. If you've got an alternative that works with the existence of Maduro, I'd love to hear it.
lucio 10y ago
Having internal consistency or logic does not mean the framework is rational. If you're destroying your menas of living beyond repair, causing misery, you're irrational, even if there's internal consistency as in communist regimes

PantaloonFlames 10y ago

> to submit to foreign capital and governmental institutions Wat. Venezuela ALREADY taps the bond market for money. That's why they're sending billions of hard currency to bondholders. They're already submitting. That's the point.