Welcome to Venezuela

[gouchobob]

People will keep voting left because oddly enough poor people vote left.

And voting and voting and voting left and waiting for things to get better which for some reason never do. I guess this doesn't apply to Eastern Europe who had the benefits of socialism for many decades. I believe I am correct that since all these countries that overthrew their socialist governments none of these countries have voted to return to the former socialist paradises they were living in previously. The problem with the left in South America is that they correctly identify the problem as poverty, inequality, etc., but their solutions are as bad or worse then the disease and only end making the lives of the people they claim to be helping worse in the end. There are countries bordering Argentina where these problems are being addressed successfully. To bad people continue to hold on to these old ideas that should have been discredited decades ago. It's no wonder that the country is still in long term economic and social decline.

 

[ptolemy]

Venezuelanlysis.com is not exactly a fair and balanced news organization......

Yes, this is an understatement at best...On another note, if Argentines vote to be like Venezuela (via CFK,..) hey it's their business and they deserve what they want.

 

[gouchobob]

Agreed about Venezuelanlysis but if you google a little you'll see the stats have come directly from the Gallup website. Surprising (IMO) but true.

And anyway, we were talking about the Gallup International Wellbeing Poll, not the U.N. Human Development Index

Yes the Gallup poll is a telephone feel good interview. Doubt very many of the really poor in Venezuela have telephones, so I wonder how valid the survey is. The U.N. index is measuring the same thing and is a lot more comprehensive and objective.

 

[gouchobob]

Yes, this is an understatement at best...On another note, if Argentines vote to be like Venezuela (via CFK,..) hey it's their business and they deserve what they want.

I think you are saying that in a democracy the people get the government they deserve. I agree.

 

[ndcj]

Yes the Gallup poll is a telephone feel good interview. Doubt very many of the really poor in Venezuela have telephones, so I wonder how valid the survey is. The U.N. index is measuring the same thing and is a lot more comprehensive and objective.

It's actually telephone AND face-to-face. Gallup is, of course, a hot bed of communist sympathisers!

Here's the methodology, from the World Bank website (damn, more commies!):

The Gallup World Poll uses two primary methodological designs:
- A Random-Digit-Dial (RDD) telephone survey design is used in countries where 80% or more of the population has landline phones. This situation is typical in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, etc.
- In the developing world, including much of Latin America, the former Soviet Union countries, nearly all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, an area frame design is used for face-to-face interviewing.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/...-1237254959508/Gallup_World_Poll_Brochure.pdf

Venezuelanalysis.com is clearly not an unbiased news source, but at least the article in question seems to report the facts accurately, unlike your attack of the methodology without even bothering to check.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6149
But of course, it seems there's reds under every bed all looking to paint Chavez' Venezuela as the shining light of happiness.

 

[gouchobob]

It's actually telephone AND face-to-face. Gallup is, of course, a hot bed of communist sympathisers!

Here's the methodology, from the World Bank website (damn, more commies!):

The Gallup World Poll uses two primary methodological designs:
- A Random-Digit-Dial (RDD) telephone survey design is used in countries where 80% or more of the population has landline phones. This situation is typical in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, etc.
- In the developing world, including much of Latin America, the former Soviet Union countries, nearly all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, an area frame design is used for face-to-face interviewing.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/...-1237254959508/Gallup_World_Poll_Brochure.pdf

Venezuelanalysis.com is clearly not an unbiased news source, but at least the article in question seems to report the facts accurately, unlike your attack of the methodology without even bothering to check.

But of course, it seems there's reds under every bed all looking to paint Chavez' Venezuela as the shining light of happiness.

Ok then how do you explain the disparity between this and the U.N. index?
Perhaps in Venezuela people don't feel 100% free to express their true opinions? Perhaps they fear there might be consequences to answering the questions to honestly, or perhaps they really are just happy folks and the survey results are valid. Whatever is true the U.N. index is a lot more valid measurement of actual conditions. There aren't reds under every bed trying to paint a rosy picture but just a few people who because of their personal ideology tend to bend the facts to fit their bias. With Hugo quickly gutting what remains of personal freedoms and the economy there will be few illusions left in the near future.

 

[Liam3494]

Nothing wrong with the government having representative seats on teh boards of companies it has shares in, or has bailed out. Happens in Western Democracies all the time - Take a look at Ireland - We bailed out the banks with tax payers money, and as a result we appointed people (representatives) to sit on the boards - Is this wrong?

Is it right to plough Tax Payers money into failed capitalist companies (OK, I am deliberately using provocative language, but lets be honest, the banks that have failed in the US, Europe etc., were all Capitalist!), and then NOT be represented on the boards that oversee these businesses in the future ??

 

[marksoc]

One answer: venezuelan girls. If the price to become a first world country is to say goodbye to romanticism and hello to online dating and "Sex and the City" monsters, let me stay in my Thirld World forever.

 

[ndcj]

Ok then how do you explain the disparity between this and the U.N. index?

I don't. I'm just putting it out there. The UN Human Development Index rates the United States at number 4 -- this alone should be enough to question it as a measure of quality of life.

Perhaps in Venezuela people don't feel 100% free to express their true opinions? Perhaps they fear there might be consequences to answering the questions to honestly, or perhaps they really are just happy folks and the survey results are valid. Whatever is true the U.N. index is a lot more valid measurement of actual conditions.

The UN HDI uses purchasing power parity to form part of its index which skews its results towards developed western economies because of the difficulty of finding a suitable "basket of goods" for comparison throughout the world.

Also, between the 2009 and 2010 report the methodology was changed completely, so you really cannot argue that any country fell or rose in positions between the two reports.

You do make a good point though, that economic development and happiness aren't necessarily tied to one another. It's possible to have nothing and be happy or have everything and be miserable.

There aren't reds under every bed trying to paint a rosy picture but just a few people who because of their personal ideology tend to bend the facts to fit their bias. With Hugo quickly gutting what remains of personal freedoms and the economy there will be few illusions left in the near future.

I'm not sure you're in a position to throw stones at the glass house of pushing one's personal ideologies!

 

[Dudester]

Come on!! What the f#@k is going on in Argentina!! Goverment Ministers forcing themselves onto PRIVATE companies boards. Bankers...BANKERS who work 6 frickin hours a day are striking because they didn't get 35% salary increases, just 24%. Crazy Bitch President restricting land ownership for foreigners. Propaganda on the TV attacking companies the Gov doesn't like. Crazy Bitch President getting off with CRAZY psycho Union Thugs. Carne Para Todos! Computers Para Todos! Digital TV Para Todos! Money Para Todos! .

Jaredwb, Yo, my man, you still on 8 different High Blood Pressure pills or have you cut back a bit? Take a deep breath amigo.... awww, there you go.....