On Jan 9, 8:15*pm, wrote:
On Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:00:01 -0800, Tim wrote:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Econo...6589473&page=1

Looks like due to low oil prices, Chavez is going to quit giving away
discount heating oil to low income people ,then after a couple days he
keeps the program running.

CUT 'N PASTE:

"He's just running out of money," said Mark Falcoff, a Latin America
expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington
think tank. "He needs that money to buy friends in Latin America as part
of his attempt to expand his influence. But as we Americans know better
than anybody, you can't really buy friends, you can only rent them." ....

"Obviously, he's a lot more magnanimous when oil prices are at $100 a
barrel than when it is at $40 a barrel," said Phil Flynn, a vice
president and analyst with Alaron Trading. "Chavez's entire reign and
popularity really has been built upon high oil prices and his using of
the country's oil profits to further his political agenda."

END CUT 'N PASTE

Some expert. *Chavez has been in power since 1998. *Want to guess what
oil prices were then? *You may not like him. *I don't particularly, but
he has won 3 elections. *Somebody must like him.

It's easy to win an election when your opponents are totally
powerless.

Or dead.