Venezuelan Communist President Hugo Chavez, enemy of GWB and 'bro to the stars is apparently ramping up the rhetoric against our current President.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he expects oil prices to keep climbing and predicts they could reach $200 a barrel.
It isn't the first time the Venezuelan leader has mentioned that benchmark-- though he hasn't said when it might be reached.
Chavez reiterated the prediction after the price of light, sweet crude continued to rise on the New York Mercantile Exchange and settled at $136.38 a barrel Wednesday.
Chavez said in a televised speech Wednesday that oil should be $100 a barrel, but could keep rising to $200.
He blamed the falling U.S. dollar, U.S. ``threats'' against Iran, and what he called ``bad management'' of the U.S. economy for driving rising prices.
Venezuela is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the U.S.
Chavez is, of course an expert on economic management as this story shows:
Mirina Kakalanos has been forced to double prices at her family's shoe store in the last year. Customers turn away after browsing the pumps and sandals, but Kakalanos says she has no choice.
“There is less money coming in, and more costs to cover,” said the 40-year-old mother of three, whose Greek immigrant father opened the shop after moving to Venezuela in search of a better life. Now she barely makes enough to get by.
Boom times are waning in oil-rich Venezuela, even as world crude prices soar. Inflation is nearing 30 percent, the highest in Latin America, and annual economic growth slowed to 4.8 percent in the first quarter, a four-year low.
Analysts say President Hugo Chavez's economic policies are hindering private investment and growth just as he hopes to boost support ahead of November's regional elections. Many point to the economy as his Achilles' heel.
Already complaining of inflation and food shortages, voters last December rejected constitutional changes that would have allowed Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely – his first blow at the ballot box, where he had enjoyed four straight electoral and referendum wins.
Inflation has been a familiar problem, but a newly slowing growth rate is making it a more urgent concern.
As prospective Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has shown great interest in a very similar economic agenda it is only left to be wondered how much he will be involved in the upcoming campaign.
When asked just that question, long-time Chavez pal, actor Sean Penn said,
"Bush is a f...king b..stard and murdering sc..bag. I hope his f..king .ss gets..."
Well, you get the point.
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