Hugo Chavez Certifiably Insane

The gift that keeps on giving, Hugo Chavez, has come out with another beauty to certify that he is insane.

Chavez calls for cheap oil plan

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has called on oil-rich nations to dramatically reduce what they charge poor countries for the commodity.
The poorest countries should only pay about $20 (£9.60) for a barrel of oil compared with current market prices of more than $90, Mr Chavez said.

And, of course, the socialist/MSM/left-wing (but I repeat myself) dream of wealth redistribution comes up.

The Venezuelan leader said OPEC members should discuss preferential pricing at their upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, describing such a policy as a "marvellous mechanism of redistribution of the world's wealth."

"I would sell oil to a rich country at $100 and to a poor country perhaps at $20," he said.

Here's how this would actually work in the real world.

If you take an item the market values at $100 a barrel and sell it at an artificially low price of $20 a barrel to a certain group of customers, those customers will then turn around and resell it at the market $100 price and pocket the $80 profit themselves.

So the reality is, the product will end up being sold at $100 a barrel; it's just a matter of who pocket the money. If Chavez is so worried about these poor countries, he should just write them a check and be done with it.

Socialists never quite grasp the reality that they can not rig the market value of an item.

Meanwhile, the crackpot communist is now threatening King Juan Carlos of Spain, demanding an apology after the King rightly told him to shut up.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez demanded on Tuesday Spain's king apologize for telling him to shut up, warning that Spanish investments could suffer in its former colony because of the spat.

Chavez, who railed against imperialism and capitalism, named banks Santander and BBVA as possible targets, saying the OPEC nation did not need Spanish business.

"The king lost it," Chavez said at a late-night political rally. "He should say, '... I, the king, confess, I was beside myself, I made a mistake.'"

Like I said, he's certifiable.