Chavez to exit IMF, World Bank.

[Sapiens]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6610333.stm

Venezuela is to take control of the massive Orinoco Belt oil projects as part of President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive.
Many of the world's biggest oil companies have agreed to transfer operational control to the government.

The May Day takeover comes one year after Bolivian President Evo Morales seized his country's gas fields.

Mr Chavez has also said he wants to pull Venezuela out of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The president said he had ordered Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas to begin formal proceedings to withdraw from the two international bodies.

President Chavez has spoken of his ambition to set up what he calls a Bank of the South, backed by Venezuelan oil revenues, which would finance projects in South America.

Compensation not guaranteed

The four projects to be taken over in the Orinoco Belt can refine about 600,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

Mr Chavez said he would take control of at least 60% of the projects, which were previously owned by ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, BP, Statoil and Total.

Negotiations are continuing about ongoing shareholdings and the possibility of compensation for the refineries.

Venezuela has only considered agreements based on the book value of the projects rather than their much larger current net worth.

Oil minister Rafael Ramirez has said that there may not be compensation at all in some cases.

More surprises

There will be more surprises from Bolivian President Evo Morales in his May Day address, one year after he shocked international investors by seizing control of the energy industry.

"It's going to be series of surprise measures, and if we were to announce them the day before it'd no longer be a surprise," Interior Minister Alfredo Rada said.

Local media reports have suggested that the measures could involve nationalising the mining industry.

The government had hoped to finish nationalising the telecoms industry by May Day, but talks with Telecom Italia - which owns half of the biggest telecoms company - are currently stalled.

Telecom Italia said last week that it was considering seeking international arbitration over the sale of Entel after Bolivia issued two decrees aimed at renationalising the company.

[Tet]

Re: Chavez to exit IMF, World Bank.

Latest income statement from IMF, if the IMF loses Turkey they're toast. Could explain Turkey's recent market collapse as all the pirates, looters and murderers realize that Turkey is getting ready to tell the IMF to piss-off. This month's election in Turkey or lack of election if there's a coup should give some indication as to what to expect.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2007/pr0782.htm
IMF reporting a $165 million loss up from a forcasted $107 million for a quick 54% miscalcualtion. So far what do we know, Russia told the IMF/World Bank/Paris Club to piss off, Argentina and Brazil did the same. Indonesia, Serbia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Phillipines told the IMF to piss-off as well. Nicaragua & Haiti would like to as well. China is handing out much more favorable loans to Africa than banksters are ever going to match.

What country in the world has the IMF/World Bank ever helped? Any? I can't think of any that weren't in worse shape shortly after the IMF offered assistance.

This is why the M3 is no longer reported, because certainly if the world isn't borrowing d0llars the money supply certainly isn't expanding. Interesting times we find ourselves living in.

[Finster]

Chavez Sets Example For Bush

Chavez to exit IMF, World Bank

Finally, he's done something right. If only the US would follow his lead.

[Sapiens]

Re: Chavez to exit IMF, World Bank.

This is why the M3 is no longer reported, because certainly if the world isn't borrowing d0llars the money supply certainly isn't expanding.

Bingo! Exactly!

Interesting times we find ourselves living in.

Yes indeed, yes indeed. And knowing all this, I have a difficult time keeping my greed demons caged. LOL, life is good!

-Sapiens

[Tet]

Re: Chavez to exit IMF, World Bank.

Yes indeed, yes indeed. And knowing all this, I have a difficult time keeping my greed demons caged. LOL, life is good!

-Sapiens

It's your duty as a humanbeing to steal as much as possible from these bloodsuckers. Make sure you have something big enough to haul off all the loot. Repatriation should get interesting, so prepare for some bumps along the way. Lots and lots of misdirection to get caught up in and who knows maybe the IMF can prevent Turkey from leaving the fold. Very, very doubtful though, those sneaky Chinese bastards have tons and tons of real cash to hand out not just promises. This is Putin's last year, I get the feeling he'd like to go out with a bang. I have a feeling Putin would like to dish out a little revenge for all those children who died at Beslan and Putin certainly knows who financed that job. Certainly Putin knows who financed the rape, looting and murder of Mother Russia. Good luck.

[World Traveler]

Ghana: I saw IMF/ WB ruin real people's lives

In a recent article on the World Bank/ IMF written by Naomi Klein, she mentioned:
"...The truth is that the bank's credibility was fatally compromised when it forced school fees on students in Ghana in exchange for a loan; when it demanded that Tanzania privatize its water system..."

In 2000, I spent 2 weeks travelling all over Ghana with a non-profit and spent 2 weeks interacting with Ghanains, from government oficials to poor villagers and market traders. I can personally attest re: damage IMF and World Bank do in really poor countries based on what I saw and was told.

I met one night with a trader-women's cooperative (they sell fish from stalls in local market), one of their biggest worries was earning enough money to pay their children's PRIMARY school fees - no money and the kids could not attend school and become literate. These people are poor but also smart- they saw education as a way to improve their children's lives. I allso visited a junior high, where many of the 7th graders were 17-18 years old. Why?? Because they had to drop in and out a lot, due to school fees their familes could not afford at times.

I also visited "the bone lady' "'s compound, an illiterate village woman who was good at setting broken bones. She had an enclosure of 7 little wooden huts where the "patients" stayed. One "patient" was a 17 year old boy, with a broken leg swollen to double its normal size (infected). Another "patient" was not a poor local fisherman/farmer as were most, but was a taxi driver from a bigger town, who spoke some English. He told me he was there, because like many Ghanains, he could no longer afford western-type medical care. He said the government used to subsidize medical care, but most subsidies had been removed and now many Ghanains could no longer see doctors or buy pharma-type drugs. (IMF/ WB forces 3rd world government to reduce health care spending for the populace, so WB/ IMF loans can be re-paid).

Finally, in Keta, on Atlantic coast, we visited a project to reclaim land back from the sea (reverse coastal erosion). It was contracted out to a Canadian company, machine-intensive, looked like some serious capital was involved. I had been in Ghana 1 week by that time, and had seen some major needs that were not being met. I just remember thinking...Why reclaim land from the sea at a second tier city? (At time, I did not understand IMF/ WB model, most of loans are used to award contracts to 1st world corporations and that's where most of the loan money ends up, back in the 1st world, with little or no benefit to the locals who are stuck with the debts).

I say, hooray for Chavez, Argentina, and all the countries thumbing their noses at WB and IMF. Since the '80's, they've been a 1st world banker's racket to bleed the 3rd world.