[Marxism] Does Anyone Here Have a WSJ Subscription?

["M. Junaid Alam" <mjunaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

/Sorry for this, trying to access the article Mahajan mentions below, in
his blog entry:

/


According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111395272375611363,00.html?mod=todays_us_page_one>,
Venezuela will be raising its tax rate on private oil firms, which
produce 40% of Venezuel's oil, from 34% to the standard income tax rate
of 50%.

Last year, the government increased the royalty rate on several heavy
oil projects conducted by ExxonMobil in the Orinoco belt from 1% (an
ultralow rate to get ExxonMobil to do the major upfront investment
needed) to 16.6% (a pretty typical royalty rate in the early days of
colonial oil concessions and in the post-nationalization days of
neocolonial oil concessions). ExxonMobil is paying the new rate under
protest <http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/03/22/ap1900551.html>.

According to the Journal, "Venezuela is seeking to increase revenue to
fund social programs ranging from adult-literacy and job-training
programs to subsidized food prices at a state-run grocery chain, now the
country's largest."

Just as Chavez is distinguished from Castro by maintenance of electoral
democracy, freedom of speech, and virtually complete absence of state
repression, he is distinguished from reformers like Allende by the
realization that he can never rest on his laurels -- you have to keep
moving and build systematic transformation or all your achievements
remain vulnerable to reaction.

The moderate success of the Iraqi resistance in tying down the Bush
administration is helping to create space for him to do this (and the
high oil prices aren't hurting him either), just as it helped Argentina
last month to restructure over $100 billion of external debt by offering
creditors a mere 30 cents on the dollar.  About 80% of creditors
accepted the deal, and the Bush administration didn't even fight.

When the Vietnamese finally pushed U.S. forces out, their country was
half-ruined (and then subjected to further ills, like a Chinese invasion
and a U.S. embargo). But their fight kept the United States from
intervening directly in Central America in the 1980's.

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