16 May 2010

VENEZUELA: Chavez Wants Tweeters To Inform On Speculators.

AP/GOOGLE NEWS/  After only recently embracing Twitter, President Hugo Chavez now wants citizens to send tweets identifying illegal traders, whom he calls "thieves" so they be punished for currency speculation. Chavez blames speculators for inflation. "My Twitter account is open for you to denounce them," Chavez said on TV and radio. "We're going to launch several raids. We've already launched some raids, thanks to the complaints from the people." Economists believe the measures will backfire. "It's a Draconian system," said analyst Asdrubal Oliveros. "Unfortunately this new scheme is going to end up increasing inflation, bringing about shortages of products and creating more distortions in the currency market."