Venezuela president declares emergency, cites U.S., domestic 'threats'

[nyabingi]

40. Since all of our foreign policy decisions

are based on the desires and wishes of the economic elite and their corporations, we have no qualms doing business with any government on the face of the earth. The problem arises when that other country decides to use their own tax dollars and the proceeds from their trading for the benefit of the people in their own country.

Right-wing economic conservatives around the world have pretty much the same goal: Privatizing any publicly-owned institutions so that the money can go into private hands (or to the Cayman Islands). This is why the US invariably takes the side of the very rich and financial elite in any given country. We are not content with simply trading and doing business with Venezuela, we want our corporations to be in the position to potentially exploit the labor of their people (one of the goals of "trade deals" like NAFTA) and exploit their resources (in this case, oil) without having to worry about the proceeds going to fund the education and healthcare of poor Venezuelans.

We want people in charge of the country who will let us do what we want in their countries, and it is the right-wing of these countries who could care less about the poor and working people of their own countries.

Why so many self-styled "liberals" and "Democrats" seem to be OK with this is bewildering to me. I guess the simple fact that a Democratic president is in charge makes everything different somehow...