I shall perform a translation of a news article into, uh, more honest language.
The AP and USA Today:
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - President Evo Morales nationalized Bolivia's natural gas industry Monday, ordering foreign energy companies to send their supplies to a state company for sales and industrialization.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Evo Morales, who claims the agency of every Bolivian citizen to act in their name and as their representative, used the power of the Bolivian state to rob the natural gas industry of their property Monday, ordering foreign energy companies to send their supplies to a state company for sales and industrialization.
Speaking at the San Alberto gas and oil field in the south of the country, Morales said companies that reject the decree will have to leave Bolivia within six months.
Speaking at the San Alberto gas and oil field in the south of the country, Morales issued a deadline and threatened police violence against those companies that reject the decree.
"The time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources," Morales said from the facility, which is operated by Petrobras in association with Repsol.After the president spoke, a soldier unfurled a Bolivian flag from atop the installation.
"The time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which me and my ruling clique possesses absolute control of other people's property," Morales said from the facility, which is operated by Petrobras in association with Repsol.After the president spoke, the collective robbery's enabling idea was hammered home as a soldier unfurled a Bolivian flag from atop the installation.
Morales also said the state would retake control of Bolivian hydrocarbons companies that were privatized in the 1990s, with the state taking over shares in the hands of foreign companies and of semipublic Bolivian entities.He said all the companies must turn their production over to the state's Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, which was privatized in 1996 and 1997.
Morales also said his ruling clique would retake control of Bolivian hydrocarbons companies that were privatized in the 1990s, with his ruling clique stealing the shares in the hands of foreign companies and of semipublic Bolivian entities.He said all the companies must aid in the creation of a government monopoly and turn their production over to the state's Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, which was privatized in 1996 and 1997.
I now know better than to believe markets were not simply outlawed during that time. The prior process was superseded by creeping regulation. It became compartmentalized, specialized according to lobbying pressures from citizens and organized interests.
Still, it's a little numbing to hear about it these days in the form quoted above. The people living in that country are going to undergo an experiment in economics where they are the variables the government will attempt to control in order to assure a positive outcome. This experiment has failed in the past and it will fail in the future.
UPDATED 7:45pm
As if to be utterly clear on what's going on here...Bolivia Military Told to Occupy Gas Fields
President Evo Morales ordered soldiers to immediately occupy Bolivia's natural gas fields Monday and threatened to evict foreign companies unless they sign new contracts within six months giving Bolivia majority control over the entire chain of production.
Morales has repeatedly said the country's natural resources have been "looted" by foreign companies and must be nationalized so that Bolivians could benefit from the profits that were being sent overseas.But he has also said that nationalization will not mean a complete state takeover, because Bolivia lacks the ability to tap all its natural gas on its own.
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