Court Freezes $12 billion in Venezuela assets

Hugo Chavez's seizure last year of a huge oil project in the name of the state has not come without costs. US oil giant Exxon has sued Venezuela to recover costs from the project and a judge has agreed to freeze Venezuelan national assets.

Making Chavez pay for his stealing is the only way to discourage this sort of thieving worldwide. If a country wants to switch to a socialist state where all the assets are owned by the government, that's fine - as long as they pay companies for what they built.

Meanwhile, Venezuela oil production continues to decline. But as long as prices stay high, Chavez should have plenty of cash to make his mischief in South America.

[the inevitable fate of socialist systems, where there're no consequences for failure - and why all such systems are unsustainable - just watch over the coming years...]

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