NPR: Chavez Has a Problem with Brain Power

Chavez Has a Problem with Brain Power

Give a man a boatload of fish, and you feed him for a day ... or a few. But most of it will rot before he can make use of it. Give the man a computer, and he'll find a buyer for the fish, then organize an entire fishing operation for his village, order new boats, start a wiki where other fishers can share tips on the best fishing spots, and order tickets to Paris for a vacation from Travelocity.

Or something like that. The point being that if you're going to use your raw product efficiently, you need brain power and technology. The author of the libertarian Coyote Blog makes this point about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his recent decision to nationalize several more oil fields. While I find the accompanying critique of socialism a little simplistic and not entirely accurate, his point that it's all well and good to have lots of oil, but you need brains and technology to get it out of the ground, is a very real problem for Chavez. From last Thursday's Jamaica Gleaner:

While the state takeover was planned well ahead of time, the oil companies remain locked in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the government. Chavez says the state is taking a minimum 60 per cent stake in the Orinoco operations, but he is urging foreign companies to stay and help develop the fields. They have until June 26 to negotiate the terms.
The companies have leverage with Chavez because experts agree that Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, cannot transform the Orinoco's tar-like crude into marketable oil without their investment and experience.

With all the media attention that Chavez generates with his state takeovers and blunt comments about U.S. President George Bush, these kinds of details often get lost in the world's reaction. Chavez is not going to be able to make his Simon Bolivar-like agenda for Latin and South America a reality without a lot of help from the very people he says he despises.

12:11 PM ET | 05- 7-2007 | permalink

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