Cry for Venezuela

For discussion of secret combinations (political, economic, spiritual, religious, etc.) (Ether 8:18-25.)
Silver
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Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

Cry and find a way to be charitable.

Venezuela is just about done as a country. The government has declared all its employees will only work on Tuesday and Wednesday because there is not enough electricity to keep the government offices operating. There is not enough electricity because there is not enough rain to go through the hydroelectric dam which provides power for about 75% of the country. (I think that statistic is right.)

And now Venezuela doesn't even have enough money to buy their money. They can't afford to pay for the paper that their worthless money is printed on. (Bernie! Hey, Bernie! Are you paying attention?)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-2 ... -new-money" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyway, first Hugo Chavez and now Maduro have ruined the country with their communistic top-down approach.

All of the above is leading to my desire to issue a challenge. Does anybody know a true and faithful charitable organization that is focused on Venezuela? Wouldn't it be cool to help out those who are suffering? If there are none, I would suggest the Church's charity arm.

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Different
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Different »

I guess you reap what you sow.... we are heading that way..

Spaced_Out
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Spaced_Out »

Yip saw those articles, the dominoes are staring to fall - it will soon be a flood of failures.

Matchmaker
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Matchmaker »

I noticed that power will not be turned off in the capital city or within government buildings (like the President's palace, I imagine). It seems that those in power always provide for their own while the little guy goes hungry. It's sort of like when the CEO's on Wall Street get bonuses and the little guy loses his house.

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Robin Hood
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Robin Hood »

Only work Tuesday and Wednesday?
Every cloud has a silver lining!

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Jason
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Jason »

Robin Hood wrote:Only work Tuesday and Wednesday?
Every cloud has a silver lining!
LOL....unless you have 16 days worth of debt those 2 days have to cover...not to mention the 5 days for food and necessities. Also those two days are subject to 4 hour rolling blackouts...so it's likely less than 1 day of real production to attempt to live on...

Not even getting into the realities of cities going dark for periods (traffic lights, hospitals, etc)...and trying to hang on to that less than one days production with many other wildly desperate people hoping to get their hands on it...

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Robin Hood
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Robin Hood »

But if everyone is in the boat, so to speak, it's fine.
If not, then there is a problem.

They probably ought to start a L.E.T.S. scheme.

Silver
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Posts: 5247

Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

Robin Hood wrote:But if everyone is in the boat, so to speak, it's fine.
If not, then there is a problem.

They probably ought to start a L.E.T.S. scheme.
Not only is everyone NOT in the same boat, but Maduro is Admiral of the fancy yacht while the peasants are relegated to a leaky dinghy.

What is L.E.T.S.?

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Robin Hood
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Robin Hood »

Silver wrote:
Robin Hood wrote:



What is L.E.T.S.?
Local Exchange Trading System.
It was invented in Canada when north Atlantic fish stocks collapsed and the fishing fleet were unable to work. A whole town was reliant on the fishing industry, and it closed down over night.
However, a local man realized that nothing had really changed in the sense that people still needed services. So he invented a new currency which he called "Green Dollars". This became the medium of exchange in the town and pretty soon things were starting to work again. People were using their green dollars to pay for hair cuts, baby sitting, car washing, gardening etc. The system worked well.

Since that time it has been copied all over the world. I am a member of a LETS scheme here. Our currency is "Coasters" (we're on the coast). I have a Coasters cheque book and can use it to buy and sell a number of services.
It doesn't completely replace legal currency (ie. the Ponzi scheme we call money), but it helps a lot.

In some towns the schemes have grown quite large. In fact, in one English town (Slough I think) the local government will even accept partial payment of local taxes using LETS.

Silver
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

Cool. Thanks for sharing. As long as the schemes stay relatively small and localized, I think they will be allowed. If they start to compete with the ponzi operators, watch out. The Slough government accepting LETS for taxes is admirable. They could turn around and buy services to government buildings from, say, plumbing companies or cleaning services. Works for me.

In your Coasters scheme, is there a centralized entity that "profits" from the printing or creation of the units of currency? Also, who bears the burden of the cost/time of printing?

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Robin Hood
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Robin Hood »

Silver wrote:Cool. Thanks for sharing. As long as the schemes stay relatively small and localized, I think they will be allowed. If they start to compete with the ponzi operators, watch out. The Slough government accepting LETS for taxes is admirable. They could turn around and buy services to government buildings from, say, plumbing companies or cleaning services. Works for me.

In your Coasters scheme, is there a centralized entity that "profits" from the printing or creation of the units of currency? Also, who bears the burden of the cost/time of printing?
No profits are made in the LETS scheme.
When I joined I had to pay £5 (about $7 I think) and this covered the admin and cheque book printing costs. This is a bi-annual payment.
After that the scheme pretty well runs itself.
There is a committee that oversees the scheme to make sure all is ok and there are no abuses. The committee members are volunteers.
I've been a member for a few years now and have no complaints.

Some local businesses will also accept part payment in LETS. For example, a plumber may need to purchase materials using money, and this cost has to be passed on to the customer in the form of money. But his time can be charged in LETS. You would simply pay him the agreed LETS fee by writing out a cheque, and he would be able to spend that paying his gardener etc. so long as the gardener has something to spent it on; and so on and so forth.

Like I said, it works quite well if there are a good number of members who have various services to offer.

Your comment about it not getting too big is a valid one. That is one reason whey they are organized locally and kept that way. I can use my Coasters in the next town because they have a LETS scheme too and the two schemes have agreed to work together. Any larger than that and it would start to attract attention.

Having said that, the scheme in Slough did come under the UK Governments spotlight a few years ago. They were looking at ways of taxing it (now there's a surprise!). However, they concluded it couldn't be done without spending considerably more collecting tax than they would have realized in tax revenues, if they got anything at all. The main problem was determining the value of a LETS exchange. A Coaster doesn't have an equivalent £sterling value. We decide the value when we make the exchange. It's almost like bartering in that sense.

Anyway, it works well for those who participate.

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David13
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by David13 »

Sorry Robin Hood, the IRS storm troopers would shut down anything like that here. With their extensive military equipment.
They would release violent criminals from the jails to put the leaders in jail for tax evasion.
dc

Silver
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

David13 wrote:Sorry Robin Hood, the IRS storm troopers would shut down anything like that here. With their extensive military equipment.
They would release violent criminals from the jails to put the leaders in jail for tax evasion.
dc
Dear David13, we here at the NSA appreciate your comment about the IRS, but we would like to inform you that they are rank amateurs when it comes to military operations. Trust me, the NSA has off-balance sheet resources and capabilities beyond your imagination.
Sincerely,
Bubba "Butch" Powers

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Jason
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Jason »

Robin Hood wrote:But if everyone is in the boat, so to speak, it's fine.
If not, then there is a problem.

They probably ought to start a L.E.T.S. scheme.
For everyone to be in the boat....the world would need to undergo some serious changes...

Competition for food and products and services is now global...

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Jason
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Jason »

There is no way to sugar-coat it, Venezuela is close to disaster. Earlier this year, the International Crisis Group, a think tank that focuses on early warning systems for possible violence, placed an alert for Venezuela calling for “regional organizations and the wider international community to act.” The country is facing food and medicine shortages, skyrocketing inflation and high murder and crime rates. TIME magazine has called the situation “catastrophic.” The Guardian, among other media, has a series of articles that progressively show the deteriorating conditions for everyday Venezuelans. Mass protests and looting are a daily occurrence in the streets of Caracas.

The almost inevitable collapse poses challenges well beyond Venezuela’s border — even as far as Canada. Just this week, Citizenship and Immigration Services in the U.S. reported that in March, Venezuelans took second place for asylum seekers in the country.

Officials here in Canada — and across the region — would now be wise to prepare for a influx of refugees and the impacts of further instability.
https://www.opencanada.org/features/wha ... venezuela/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...then Brazil? then Mexico?

Germany's Lufthansa suspends flights to cash-strapped Venezuela
http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-lufthansa ... a-19338574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lootings soar in Venezuela amid food scarcity
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/l ... 25927.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Maria Arias slipped her notebooks into her backpack, scrounged for a banana to share with her brother and sister, and set off for high school through narrow streets so violent taxis will not come here for any price. She hoped at least one of her teachers would show up.

But her 7 a.m. art class was canceled when the instructor called in sick. History class was suspended. There was no gym class because the coach had been shot dead weeks earlier. And in the afternoon, her Spanish teacher collected homework and then sent the students home to meet a gang-imposed curfew.

"It's a trap," the slight 14-year-old with pink lipstick complained as she sat in the shade of a picked-over mango tree at the school's entrance. "You risk your life to be here and end up waiting around for hours doing nothing. But you have to keep coming because it's the only way out."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/05ca9b54 ... la-schools" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Venezuelan asylum claims in the US soar as economic crisis deepens
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... is-deepens" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Venezuelan coastal city of Cumaná is under a de facto curfew after an outbreaking of mass looting this week left at least 20 shops ransacked and 400 people arrested. Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of people – mostly men – raiding a supermarket and carrying away everything from cooking oil to boxes of beer.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... ing-cumana" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CARACAS, Venezuela — Vandals have desecrated the tomb of Romulo Gallegos, a former president and the country’s most-beloved novelist, his family said. The apparent ransacking of Gallegos’ grave in a Caracas cemetery is the latest and most-shocking case of grave robbery in the increasingly lawless nation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/th ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Food is becoming increasingly scarce in Venezuela, where citizens are digging through trash, relying on tropical fruits falling from the trees, and in some cases rioting or looting in search of their next meal. More than 600 political and food-related protests took place nationwide in May alone. Thursday, more than 400 people were arrested for rioting and looting due to the shortages.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas ... harp-pinch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The crucial point is how the country will manage to re-finance its existing debt at the current yield levels. Over the past years, China emerged as the country’s salvation as it had loaned over USD50 billion to Venezuela under the financing arrangement created by late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2007, in which a portion of its crude and fuel sales to the world's second-biggest economy are used to pay down loans. Here again the country is struggling to meet its obligations and in fact the country is in talks with China to obtain a grace period on the said loans which would improve their capacity to make the upcoming bond payments.

It seems that Venezuela is trying to negotiate the possibility of solely paying interest on loans, while it receives cash payments for the shipments of oil which are currently used to pay principal. The change would improve PDVSA's 2016 cash flow by USD3 billion.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi ... ing.615756" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The OAS will decide on June 23rd whether to sustain Mr Almagro’s initiative. He looks likely to fall short of the 18 votes he needs. Even Mr Kerry said he would not support Venezuela’s suspension. The hope is that Mr Almagro’s proposal will force Mr Maduro into a real dialogue, one based on respecting his own constitution. If not, the OAS will merely have demonstrated that Latin America’s commitment to collective action to uphold democracy is a dead letter.
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/ ... zuela-test" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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gclayjr
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by gclayjr »

Robin Hood,
But if everyone is in the boat, so to speak, it's fine.
If not, then there is a problem.

They probably ought to start a L.E.T.S. scheme.
Stuff (and wealth) doesn't just exist, it must be created. That is an important point that most of you Socialists miss. There is only so much that can be gained by trading the stuff that's there. If Venezuela, (Or any other country) wants to truly get out of the hole, they need to Make stuff, and I know these are foul words with you, but it requires the investment of Capital, and a profit potential to make the work and risk worthwhile.

I know many of you redistributionists, think that wealth and stuff just magically appears. There are many different ideas of how much everybody would get if you "took from the rich and gave to the poor". However, say for example you would get $10,000 or even let's go crazy and say $100,000. How long could you live on either or these sums of money. A year, 10 years, 20 years? You socialist never think this through. Or you believe that magically the rich will have rebuilt their fortune in a year or so, so that the poor masses can take away again after they spent what they took before.

Venezuela, has killed the golden goose, and everybody enjoying almost no work, (2 day week), or any bartering systems will not overcome this basic problem.

This is only like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Regards,

George Clay

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Jason
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Jason »

gclayjr wrote:Robin Hood,
But if everyone is in the boat, so to speak, it's fine.
If not, then there is a problem.

They probably ought to start a L.E.T.S. scheme.
Stuff (and wealth) doesn't just exist, it must be created. That is an important point that most of you Socialists miss. There is only so much that can be gained by trading the stuff that's there. If Venezuela, (Or any other country) wants to truly get out of the hole, they need to Make stuff, and I know these are foul words with you, but it requires the investment of Capital, and a profit potential to make the work and risk worthwhile.

I know many of you redistributionists, think that wealth and stuff just magically appears. There are many different ideas of how much everybody would get if you "took from the rich and gave to the poor". However, say for example you would get $10,000 or even let's go crazy and say $100,000. How long could you live on either or these sums of money. A year, 10 years, 20 years? You socialist never think this through. Or you believe that magically the rich will have rebuilt their fortune in a year or so, so that the poor masses can take away again after they spent what they took before.

Venezuela, has killed the golden goose, and everybody enjoying almost no work, (2 day week), or any bartering systems will not overcome this basic problem.

This is only like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Regards,

George Clay
just government employees on the 2 day work weeks...but your main point regarding production is most appreciated and spot on. What ails Venezuela is lack of production.

Rolling 4 hour blackouts wipe out production. Theft wipes out production. Immorality wipes out production. Government price controls wipe out production. And on and on....

Rest of the world is struggling with this concept as well....not a whole lot of producers left in this global shindig...

dauser
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by dauser »

Good points from the above!
but your main point regarding production is most appreciated and spot on. What ails Venezuela is lack of production.

Rolling 4 hour blackouts wipe out production. Theft wipes out production. Immorality wipes out production. Government price controls wipe out production. And on and on....

Rest of the world is struggling with this concept as well....not a whole lot of producers left in this global shindig...
After the Jewish bankers suck all the wealth out of VENEZUELA INC. and hunger and despair stalks that land, and say The CORPORATION OF THE PRESIDENT INC. does a corporate takeover and buys out Venezuela's corporate shareholders... and redeems VENEZUELA INC. from the international debt collectors...

What would The Church do on the federal level to get the people back to work to start feeding themselves again?

Create a faithful money system backed by wheat?
Build a shopping mall by the Caracas Temple?
Establish a Welfare Square near the Temple?
Turn some farms into church farms?
Open the borders for Helping Hands volunteers?
Finance some stadiums?
Build chapels and temples and missionary training centers?
Establish Deseret Industries?
Establish Deseret Schools?
Put in a BYU Venezuela?
Send back the proselytizing and service missionaries?
Establish a Perpetual Education Fund for the worthy?
Dig wells?
Abolish socialism: public schools, free lunch, free housing, licencing and allow the people freedom to establish and keep any fruits of their own efforts?
Allow the people to spend their own money?
Establish a just court system of lower and higher laws and judges (Aaronic & Melchizedek)?
Get the local members to Just Serve on the road crews, water crews, city management?
Set up Family History Centers?
Ship in tons of non GMO seeds for distribution?
Turn the church buildings into universities of learning and community centers?
Establish church dances throughout the land?
Have the Deacons collect fast offerings throughout the land?
Have the Priests see that their is no iniquity in the land?
Establish micro-loans for the ambitious?
Put KBYU TV in every living room to watch the Cougars play ball?
Remove government enforced monopolies of doctorcraft, lawyercraft, priestcraft, teachercraft and allow the people to choose for themselves the services they want?

To move from third world status to a first world status, it would take at least several months.

Silver
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-1 ... annibalism" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Juan Carlos Herrara told local media his son, Juan Carlos Herrera Jr, was stabbed, hanged, dismembered and then eaten at the Táchira Detention Center.

According to reports, 350 men had been crammed into the detention centre, which has a capacity of 120.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, after a visit to the prison three days after the mutiny had subsided, Mr Herrara said: “One of those who was with him when he was murdered saw everything that happened.

"My son and two others were taken by 40 people, stabbed, hanged to bleed, and then Dorancel butchered them to feed all detainees,” referring to the notorious Dorancel “people-eater” Vargas - jailed in 1999 for cannibalism.

"The [inmate] with whom I spoke to told me that he was beaten with a hammer [in order] to force him to eat the remains of the two boys.

"I beg you to give me at least one bone so we can bury him and relieve some of this pain."

"They cut them up and fed them to several [of the fellow inmates], they made the bones disappear. Dorancel cut the flesh.""

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8924 ... ath-spiral" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EmmaLee
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by EmmaLee »

I have long thought cannibalism was the last straw before Old Testament-level destruction begins. Not sure how wide-spread it will become beforehand. Just sickening.

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/9.8?lang=eng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

7 And now I write somewhat concerning the sufferings of this people. For according to the knowledge which I have received from Amoron, behold, the Lamanites have many prisoners, which they took from the tower of Sherrizah; and there were men, women, and children.

8 And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have slain; and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands, and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; and no water, save a little, do they give unto them.

Silver
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

It's been almost exactly a year since I started this thread. Frankly, I'm surprised Venezuela has lasted this long. Or rather, I'm surprised the people have not risen up sooner to eject the Marxist Maduro and his gang. Conditions continue to deteriorate there so I will post another zerohedge article (with a graph you need to see at the link). However, more importantly, has anyone over the past year figured out a way to put money directly into the hands of bishops or stake presidents in Venezuela?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-2 ... record-low

Venezuela, a country with only $10 billion left in reserves to run on, is in trouble. As the currency hyperinflates to new record lows against the dollar...

James Holbrooks points out that the people are starving. The government has gone full-on authoritarian, and now desperate human beings are dying in the streets. From an Associated Press report on Friday:

“Authorities in Venezuela say 12 people were killed overnight following looting and violence in the South American nation’s capital amid a spiraling political crisis.”

Continuing, the report further highlighted the gravity of the situation:

“Most of the deaths took place in El Valle, where opposition leaders say 13 people were hit with an electrical current while trying to loot a bakery protected by an electric fence.”
These are people without options, forced to turn to thievery to stay alive. And they died because of it.

On April 6, The Economist reported that over the past year, 74 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 20 pounds. Venezuela, incidentally, has topped Bloomberg’s Economic Misery Index for the past three years.

The country began its slide downward into chaos with the election of President Nicolas Maduro, who immediately began implementing socialist programs and has since taken extreme measures to secure his position.

At the end of March, for instance, Maduro effectively shut down Venezuela’s congress — his primary political opposition — and gave those legislative duties to his puppet Supreme Court.

The latest news coming out of the South American nation — aside from the deaths of people trying to steal bread to live — is that General Motors, whose Venezuelan production facility was overtaken by local authorities, has now ceased all operations in the country.

To put that in perspective, consider that in 2016, only 3,000 vehicles were sold in Venezuela, a country of 30 million people.

The U.S. Southern Command has floated the idea of using the United States’ military to contain unrest in Venezuela, though historically American intervention in South America is both widely unpopular in the region and wildly unsuccessful.

As we look on at the continuing horrors in the Middle East and what seems, at the moment, to be the makings of World War III in Asia, let’s not lose sight of the fact that right now, the people of Venezuela are in pain.

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gclayjr
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by gclayjr »

Silver,

Amen!

I follow Venezuela pretty closely, not only because it is a Socialist horror story in our own backyard that just goes on, and on, but because I used to work in Venezuela in the early to mid 80s. It makes it kind of personal.

I once noted on this board, that I could not find anything on the LDS Church website related to welfare programs in Venezuela. Somebody, here at LDS Freedom Forum, I don't remember who, took the initiative to call the Welfare Office in Salt Lake and reported that they said that the government was blocking any financial aid. They said that the Church was mostly helping Venezuelans to be more self sufficient, grow gardens, raise chickens etc. I do Weep for Venezuela.

I have also said that we should pay closer attention to Venezuela, because we may be seeing a foreshadowing of that which may be in store for us.

One lesson that just jumps out at me, is that once those Socialist dictators get control, and drive you into starving misery, they don't let go, and it may be a long road back. Unfortunately after 18 years, Venezuela's starving suffering people still don't see the light at the end of their tunnel!

Regards,

George Clay

Silver
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Posts: 5247

Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by Silver »

gclayjr wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 4:55 pm Silver,

Amen!

I follow Venezuela pretty closely, not only because it is a Socialist horror story in our own backyard that just goes on, and on, but because I used to work in Venezuela in the early to mid 80s. It makes it kind of personal.

I once noted on this board, that I could not find anything on the LDS Church website related to welfare programs in Venezuela. Somebody, here at LDS Freedom Forum, I don't remember who, took the initiative to call the Welfare Office in Salt Lake and reported that they said that the government was blocking any financial aid. They said that the Church was mostly helping Venezuelans to be more self sufficient, grow gardens, raise chickens etc. I do Weep for Venezuela.

I have also said that we should pay closer attention to Venezuela, because we may be seeing a foreshadowing of that which may be in store for us.

One lesson that just jumps out at me, is that once those Socialist dictators get control, and drive you into starving misery, they don't let go, and it may be a long road back. Unfortunately after 18 years, Venezuela's starving suffering people still don't see the light at the end of their tunnel!

Regards,

George Clay
That was me that called Church HQ, but I don't know where that post is at the moment. I'm thinking about calling again tomorrow. However, now that things are so bad, I don't even know if a stake president, for example, could withdraw any funds I sent him. They're paying for bread with paper money by weight now.

Does everyone reading this post get that?! They don't even bother to look at how many zeroes are on the paper money. They just lump it all together and weigh it. It's madness. And people here mock at the idea of owning precious metals as a financial reserve.

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David13
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Location: Utah

Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by David13 »

Silver wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 5:04 pm
gclayjr wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 4:55 pm Silver,

Amen!

I follow Venezuela pretty closely, not only because it is a Socialist horror story in our own backyard that just goes on, and on, but because I used to work in Venezuela in the early to mid 80s. It makes it kind of personal.

I once noted on this board, that I could not find anything on the LDS Church website related to welfare programs in Venezuela. Somebody, here at LDS Freedom Forum, I don't remember who, took the initiative to call the Welfare Office in Salt Lake and reported that they said that the government was blocking any financial aid. They said that the Church was mostly helping Venezuelans to be more self sufficient, grow gardens, raise chickens etc. I do Weep for Venezuela.

I have also said that we should pay closer attention to Venezuela, because we may be seeing a foreshadowing of that which may be in store for us.

One lesson that just jumps out at me, is that once those Socialist dictators get control, and drive you into starving misery, they don't let go, and it may be a long road back. Unfortunately after 18 years, Venezuela's starving suffering people still don't see the light at the end of their tunnel!

Regards,

George Clay
That was me that called Church HQ, but I don't know where that post is at the moment. I'm thinking about calling again tomorrow. However, now that things are so bad, I don't even know if a stake president, for example, could withdraw any funds I sent him. They're paying for bread with paper money by weight now.

Does everyone reading this post get that?! They don't even bother to look at how many zeroes are on the paper money. They just lump it all together and weigh it. It's madness. And people here mock at the idea of owning precious metals as a financial reserve.

Reminds me of an animated cartoon I saw as a youth, many years ago.
They found the world's most delicious hamburgers on some tropical south Pacific island. Poi burgers or something, they were called. However, the seller only had a balance scale to weigh the sales transaction and the buyers (Americans?) only had dollars. So the burgers were something like $350 each, for equal weight of burger, but they were very delicious.

I think the usual buyer paid in shells so, for them the burgers were reasonably priced.
dc

I guess I should add that the situation in Venezuela is far from humorous, but instead sickening. But more sickening is the fact that there are insane sick people here who want to accomplish the same thing here.

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David13
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Re: Cry for Venezuela

Post by David13 »

Silver wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 5:04 pm
gclayjr wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 4:55 pm Silver,

Amen!

I follow Venezuela pretty closely, not only because it is a Socialist horror story in our own backyard that just goes on, and on, but because I used to work in Venezuela in the early to mid 80s. It makes it kind of personal.

I once noted on this board, that I could not find anything on the LDS Church website related to welfare programs in Venezuela. Somebody, here at LDS Freedom Forum, I don't remember who, took the initiative to call the Welfare Office in Salt Lake and reported that they said that the government was blocking any financial aid. They said that the Church was mostly helping Venezuelans to be more self sufficient, grow gardens, raise chickens etc. I do Weep for Venezuela.

I have also said that we should pay closer attention to Venezuela, because we may be seeing a foreshadowing of that which may be in store for us.

One lesson that just jumps out at me, is that once those Socialist dictators get control, and drive you into starving misery, they don't let go, and it may be a long road back. Unfortunately after 18 years, Venezuela's starving suffering people still don't see the light at the end of their tunnel!

Regards,

George Clay
That was me that called Church HQ, but I don't know where that post is at the moment. I'm thinking about calling again tomorrow. However, now that things are so bad, I don't even know if a stake president, for example, could withdraw any funds I sent him. They're paying for bread with paper money by weight now.

Does everyone reading this post get that?! They don't even bother to look at how many zeroes are on the paper money. They just lump it all together and weigh it. It's madness. And people here mock at the idea of owning precious metals as a financial reserve.


I've got to wonder too, if you were able to get any donations into the country, would any of it ever get to the needy souls, or would it all be stolen/confiscated by the corrupt "authorities"?
dc

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