Maggie's Farm

Venice Is Doing Everything It Can to Stave Off Tourists. Day-trippers will soon have to book and pay admission to visit the main island


Correction: Venice Is Doing Everything It Can to Milk the Tourist Cash Cow...

Venice is making the assumption that the tourist cash cow will willingly accommodate whatever increased tax charges the government decides to make.

Unfortunately, there are limits to how much money a government can extract from a cash cow. Chavista Venezuela found that out. From the IMF Gross domestic product per capita, constant prices Purchasing power parity; 2017 international dollar. (constant 2017 dollars)

Compare Venezuela's economic record with neighboring Colombia, whose petroleum industry employs a fair number of Venezuelans fired after the PDVSA strike of 2002-03.


Chavez was elected in November 1998, and took office in February 1999. The 1998 figure shows what he inherited. Chavez died in 2013, when oil was selling for around $100/bbl. In 2014, the price of oil dropped to ~ $50/bbl, and has fluctuated since then. Venezuela's oil production kept dropping, but has increased somewhat since 2020.

Venezuela stopped providing economic data to the World Bank after 2014, which is why there is no post-2014 Venezuelan economic data at the World Bank data site.

Also, is Hamas/Palestine a $ scam? Yes.

When the time comes to reconstruct Gaza, there is an obvious funding source: the billions that the Gaza honchos living in Qatar and other places have squirreled away. Hamas leaders worth staggering $11B revel in luxury — while Gaza’s people suffer.

Wouldn't it be great if Mossad could figure out a way to 1) Kill the top Hamas guys living outside of Gaza (IIRC, some have left Qatar) and 2) get their hands on the $11 billion.

When it comes to solutions for Gaza, we are "between a rock and a hard place."
Polls indicate that Gazans overwhelmingly prefer the River to the Sea solution- judenrein Palestine. It ain't just the Hamas leadership. The Israelis have no desire whatsoever to accommodate the Palis by leaving- nor should they.

Perhaps the Palis will change their minds when - and if- Hamas is finally obliterated, but I doubt it. There is an article from 1961 in The Atlantic, written by Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway's ex. The Gazans were just as intransigent in 1961-and just as unwilling to accept responsibility for their actions- as they are today.

On the other hand, the attitudes of Germans changed after THEIR country got obliterated in WW2. Perhaps Gazans will change their attitudes. Perhaps.

Israelis have repeatedly shown their willingness to compromise, such as leaving Gaza in 2005. I see little to no willingness on the part of the Gazans to compromise. Consider all the times the Palis have rejected a two-state solution. Consider the recent hostage negotiations, where Hamas basically throws in a kitchen sink of demands.

Like it or not, it appears that it comes down to "your land or my land." Gazans (and West Bankers) are not willing to accept Jews in the River to the Sea area. Jews are not willing to leave- no should they. One or the other has to leave. With their land in rubble, and having lost a war, Gazans are the obvious party that should leave.

Unfortunately, very few are willing to accept Gazans. Egypt doesn't want them, as Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Palis wore out their welcome in Lebanon and in Kuwait. Jordan kicked out the PLO after Black September, though 2.1 million Palestinians are living in Jordan, most of whom have Jordanian citizenship. As Jordan also accepted some 2 million Syrian refugees, it would be justified in saying Jordan can't accept any more.

Given what the pro-Hamas protestors have done in the US, I have little or no desire to accept Gazans in the US.

Rock and a hard place.

A recently deceased friend had a grandson whom the IDF recently sent to Gaza- tank driver- and then to the Lebanese border. I also know a Palestinian Christian in the West Bank who got his STEM graduate degrees in the States. I knew a lot of his relatives in the US, but those in the US whom I knew are now deceased.