Sex in South America or Screwed in Bolivia
Bolivia, that South American nation made famous in the '80's for it's contribution toward satiating Americans' lust for that flaky, yellow/white product of the coca plant, is trying its best to follow Venezuela down the path to communisim. While making alot of noise about getting screwed by foriegn nations taking oil and gas profits out of Bolivia, Bolivian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (try to say that 10 times real fast) pissed off the Spanish, Italians and Brazilians by nationalizing Bolivia's oil and gas fileds.
How did that piss off the aforementioned nations, you may ask? Well, they all had companies producing petro products in Bolivian fields. da Silva claimed they've been raping his nation for years by extracting precious petro products while providing Boliva with insufficient compensation. A major flaw in his theory is that Bolivia had neither the resources or expertise to develop it's own petro resources. Without the assistance of these foriegn companies, all that oil and gas would still be in the ground. Bolivia privatized it's oil and gas industry in 1996, and has since attracted over $3 billion in private investment. Nice ploy, Bolivia. First, privatize everything to attract outside investment and get the ball rolling. Next, totally screw all the investors you attracted by taking your bat and ball and going home, after the foriegners payed to build the staduim.
How does this affect you? Why should you care? Outside of the fact that it further complicates the oil and gas market, possibly leading to even high fuel prices (especially if you live in Brazil or Italy), it illustrates how you need to keep aneye on the political situations in countries where you have investments, lest they become worth less or worthless through national decree. If your portfolio, IRA or 401K includes any foriegn equities, keep a close eye on not only the markets, but the political situation in the appropriate countries. Oh, and it would be wise to steer clear of the Chavez, Castro, da Silva triumvirate as well.
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