The price of oil will never go down as long as the whackos in oil producing countries continue to act irrational.

April 5, 2008

MEXICO CITY -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is planning a government takeover of his country's cement industry, his latest effort to impose state control over key sectors of an economy battered by shortages and inflation.

Chavez made the declaration during a televised cabinet meeting late Thursday. He has long accused foreign cement companies of keeping prices high and supplies tight by exporting their products to other countries while Venezuela is suffering a housing shortage.

Critics blame the Chavez administration for woes at the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela. Known as PDVSA, the firm has struggled to maintain production since 2003, when Chavez fired thousands of oil workers and executives after a strike.

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