Socialist govt of Venezuela nationized U.S. oil companies, replaced competent workers. Result?

Reuters is another in a long, long line of pro-communist organizations masquerading as unbiased news outlets.  Their real job is to praise socialist regimes and write articles brutally critical of capitalist nations.  And it works beautifully for 'em.

In the latest example: Not too many years ago Venezuela produced 4 million barrels of oil per day.  Oil comprised 90 percent of that nation's hard-currency income.  But today Venezuela's oil establishment is barely functioning, producing just 1.5 million barrels per day.

If you're a young American you absolutely need to know what caused this huge drop.  Cuz Democrats want to bring the blessings of socialism here.

The reason is that 20 years ago a charismatic socialist--Hugo Chavez--ran for president.  He promised the people of Venezuela "free" everything.  Although educated people knew this wasn't possible--the money would have to come from somewhere--the poor and uneducated voted for the guy, and he won.

One of the first things Chavez did was "nationalize" the property of U.S. oil companies operating in Venezuela.  For students, "nationalization" means the government simply seizes a company and says "We've decided your company is worth X.  Take it or leave it."

Most socialist leaders are charismatic but not too smart.  Chavez was no exception.  Like many people, he had no idea how hard it is to drill an oil well and produce oil, so he began replacing the experienced company employees with political cronies who knew nothing about oil but were loyal to him.  The result was entirely predictable: With the experienced employees gone, no one knew how to maintain the equipment, and even if they had, Chavez spent all the oil money to subsidize basic commodities like sugar, corn meal and cooking oil, to maintain his popularity with voters.

So the problem was...socialism.  And now Reuters is determined to re-write the history to blame NOT the dumb socialists ruling Venezuela, but equally dumb military generals.  See, the trick here is that most people already believe generals aren't very smart, so this is a cover that most people readily believe.

Reuters quickly tells readers that drilling an oil well is simple, so the reason oil production has fallen to less than one-third of 20 years ago is NOT socialist policies, but instead that the generals are typical military people--dumb authoritarians who know nothing about drilling wells and won't listen to the few who do.  (And again, most people are inclined to believe both.)

But who appointed the generals to head the state oil company?  They sure as hell didn't appoint themselves, eh?  Reuters does finally get around to admitting that, but the late mention suggests they don't give that much credit.

In case you weren't sure, the only oil company in Venezuela today-- PDVSA--is owned by the government.  A year ago the president of that sad country--a former bus driver, Nicholas Maduro, hand-picked by Chavez as his vice-president--appointed Major General Manuel Quevedo to run that company.

Fortunately for Maduro and Venezuela, Quevedo has a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Oklahoma and spent ten years as a driller for Conoco.

Hahahahahahahahaha!  You didn't even remotely believe that, and for good reason:  That would be a choice made by a rational leader.  Maduro isn't even close.  Like all third-world socialists, Maduro's main criterion for appointing people is political loyalty, not expertise.  But see how cleverly Reuters shifts the blame from socialism (Maduro) to the failure by an unqualified general to run a complex company whose main job is incredibly complex.

Quevedo’s actions since have raised even more doubts that he and the other military brass now running the company have a viable plan to rescue it from crushing debt, an exodus of workers and withering production now at its lowest in almost seven decades. 

Oil industry experts, PDVSA employees and contractors say Quevedo's policies are pushing the once-profitable and respected company towards ruin.

Military chieftains, moonlighting in the private sector, are elbowing past other contractors for lucrative service and supply business with PDVSA. In a little-noted reversal of the Socialist government’s two-decade drive to nationalize the industry, the lack of expertise among military managers is leading PDVSA to hire outsiders to keep afloat even basic operations, like drilling and pumping oil. 

Yeah, cuz drilling oil wells is one of those "basic operations" that even someone like John Kerry or Hilliary Clinton could easily do.  Like making steel, or sending men to the moon.  Simple, comrade.

“What we are witnessing is a policy of destroying the oil industry,” said Jose Bodas, general secretary of the Oil Workers Federation, a national labor union. “The military officials don’t listen to workers. They want to give orders, but they don’t understand this complicated work.”

Maduro defends the military managers, arguing they are more in synch with his Socialist worldview than capitalist industry professionals who exploit the country for personal profit. “I want a Socialist PDVSA,” the president told allied legislators earlier this year. “An ethical, sovereign and productive PDVSA. We must break this model of the rentier oil company.”

At PDVSA, managers tried to keep the company running....Despite their efforts, decay led to dwindling production, deteriorating facilities and a progressive loss of skilled workers.  Now, critics say, military officials atop PDVSA have put aside any pretense of running it like a proper business, doing little to ...improve the company’s financial, operational and staffing problems.

That's because they have no idea what it take to run a business, or make a payroll or a profit.  The expertise of socialists is spending Other Peoples' Money and sucking up to Dear Leader.  This is an iron-clad pattern wherever socialism exists.

Also note how Reuters once again blames the problem on "military officials" running the company for any failures.  One wonders whether Reuters' editors actually believe the generals would take a single act without Maduro's approval.  It's hard to believe Reuters is that naive, but there ya go.  The generals have to know that if Maduro installed 'em, he can just as easily fire 'em if they don't do as he wants.

A decade ago Venezuela's oil exports earned $89 billion.  This year that number is expected to be $20.9 billion.  (PDVSA didn’t publish a report for 2017 and hasn’t released financial results in 2018.)