OXFORD — An article by Adam Shell in USA Today’s Money section points out some angst on Wall Street over the prospect of either a Clinton or Trump presidency which, at this point, seems like what it’s going to be.
They fear Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump’s unpredictability and the prospect that his policies, whatever they turn out to be, could set off events disrupting the global economy.
And they fear Democrat Hillary Clinton’s agenda, similar to President Obama’s, and being pushed farther to the left by her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, an avowed Socialist.
What they expect, and probably hope for, is a scenario in which Clinton, a known entity, wins the race for president but Republicans retain control of the House and are able to block her efforts to increase business regulations and raise taxes on investments and capital gains.
“That’s the kind of gridlock markets could live with,” says Greg Valliere, chief strategist at Horizon Investments.
What most on Wall Street no doubt are thankful for is that Sanders appears to be out of the picture as a viable candidate, although he has not as of this writing withdrawn and perhaps will still exert tremendous influence on the Democrats’ platform.
The young folks and others who jumped on the Bernie bandwagon should salve their disappointment by paying attention to what’s going on in Venezuela, a country that actually put into effect some of the policies Sanders advocates, although in a totalitarian fashion that Sanders rejects.
You’re lucky to get a bottle of beer to drown your sorrows in Venezuela as breweries are shutting down because of the policies begun by the late Hugo Chavez and carried on by his successor since the dictator’s death.
Empresas Polar, which produces 80 percent of the beer brewed in the country, as well as various snacks and soft drinks, began shutting down breweries in July 2015 because of a shortage of barley. The company shut down its breweries entirely on April 29 after a request by the company for U.S. dollars needed to import barley was declined by President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist-led government. The government controls access to dollars, doling them out via a stringent currency exchange in which many companies find it hard to pay suppliers abroad.
Breweries shutting down means more than a beer shortage. Jobs are being lost.
Maduro has been under pressure since succeeding Chavez in April 2013, largely because of the country’s faltering economy and food shortages. Opposition lawmakers declared a “food emergency” in February due to a paucity of milk, meat, sugar, bread and other staples.
Maduro responded to this declaration by advising residents to cultivate “urban farms” to produce their own food. The ability to produce food at home, however, has been hindered by a shortage of seeds and medicine required to vaccinate farm animals.
Venezuela’s economy, like that of some local economies in the United States and elsewhere, has been hurt by weakness in the global oil industry. Oil has long been the engine of the country’s economy, and its oil reserves are considered to be the largest in the world.
But Venezuela’s economic problems are more related to Chavez’s failed Socialist revolution than the price of any one commodity. There should be a certain amount of regulation and taxes on business and commerce. But take too much away from those who produce wealth and put too many restrictions on them, and they stop producing it.
Dunagin, who lives in Oxford, is a retired longtime Mississippi newspaperman.
