Now that the shoe is on the other foot...

A lot of people point to what Obama is doing and calling it good. A lot of people are sympathetic with President Hugo Chavez and think that he is doing a good job for Venezuela. It will be interesting to see if this little news item gets any traction in the US Press -- from Breitbart/AFP:

Venezuela govt to nationalize 11 US-owned oil rigs
Venezuela's legislature has voted to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne.

The rigs, located in Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia states, will be taken over by state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the official news agency AVN said.

PDVSA had asked the legislature controlled by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez to take over the rigs after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract, unlike 32 other foreign firms.

The oil giant is South America's top oil producer.

Since 2007 Caracas has nationalized companies in industries from oil to utilities, to telecoms, cement, steel and banking.

I love the line: "after the US firm declined to negotiate a new service contract" They were probably negotiating very closely with Chavez -- they were just not offering the kind of deal that Chavez wanted. And where is Waldo our President? Shouldn't he be protecting American investments overseas -- this is one of the jobs the US Government actually has a Constitutional Mandate to do. As for Chavez's abilities at running the businesses after they are "Nationalized". I know that the electrical grid is in a shambles, I can only imagine what the telecom is like. With the government owning a majority share in General Motors and running a ham-handed takeover of our healthcare system as well as actively developing an underclass of voters who do not pay taxes who are dependent on the government dole, we are heading to a workers paradise like Venezuela a lot faster than we should be. It is funny that at the G20 conference, Obama was urging the other nations to ramp up government spending while everyone else was telling Obama that they had been there, they stood on the edge of the Abyss and looked down and they decided to back away while they still had money left.