Reply #56: Yes, and some government or quasi-government positions

[No Exit]

are not particularly competitive in the elections, or perhaps they are held by appointment. For example, zoning boards... of COURSE they are filled by realtors and builders. Often no one else is interested. (Big mistake!) And everyone knows zoning boards take bribes. Oh, well, I'm getting off the subject.

Regarding this very rich British peer, I guess Chavez is strongarming him, but somehow it just doesn't make me very sorry. I guess that's b/c to my eyes, this guy is just one embodiment of "agribusiness". And Lord Spam is a big boy, a sophisticated investor, etc., right? And we are constantly told that pure capitalism is the road to nirvana, right? And he gambled, as capitalists do, and he lost. (I'm sure he has plenty of other holdings unrelated to his Venezualan land.) Tough. Probably his first mistake was in not having his own "corporate" army... lol...

For some reason, this all reminds me of something I read about a company called "Delta Pine". It's allegedly owned by the royal family of England, and I read somewhere that it owns a large part of Mississippi... must look that up...