(03-19-2010 08:06 AM)kinderowl Wrote:  Rick,

I wasn't clear in my post about my sense of timing. My perception was that there were already very large wealth gaps in Venezuela as early as the late 70's. That's why there were already "revolutionaries" and such. It took some time for someone to really exploit that existing gap. Chavez did so pretty masterfully. I think I just place wealth gap earlier than you do in timing. I haven't seen any studies of the V economy to say i'm right. i'm just relying on my memory.

i can still remember my surprise at realizing the twinkling lights on the mountains between the airport and caracas were actually shanties. i'm too young to speak to the 60's, but i remember the 70's and 80's in Venezuela as if they had only just gone by.

it's a real shame that I have no comfort level for returning for a visit. things have changed very much for the worse since the nineties in V.

And for my part, I'm not trying to say that there weren't poor people in Venezuela prior to the 1990's.

I do believe the percentage of people who are middle class there has significantly decreased since the 1970's.

There are tipping points, and one was clearly reached when Chavez was elected in the late 1990's.

I think tipping points exist everywhere. Whether it has to do with the deficit/debt or the percentage of people under a certain income level.

Or even the point where the standard of living for a given demographic (middle class) ceases to increase and begins to decrease.

Inflection points - - life is nothing more than a series of differential equations - LOL - that was one of my best grades at Rice.

I'm not sure that the number of middle class in the U.S. is currently shrinking, as much as:

the number of people who are below middle class is increasing, and

the perceived standard of living of the middle class is already decreasing.

If the latter continues, the number of middle class will eventually decrease if it isn't currently decreasing.

And remember that fears can be as much about perception as reality.