American Socialism, American Capitalism posted by Richard Seymour

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has decided to send millions of liters of cheap oil to the US to offset the growing cost of home heating for low income families.

The oil will be sold to the US at an estimated 40 per cent below market price.

The crude will reportedly be shipped to Massachusetts by way of Citgo Petroleum, a US-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s own state-owned oil company. The 45 million liters of discount oil will be used by some 45,000 homes in the Boston area, according to one analyst who said Chavez’s intentions were both altruistic and an effort to upstage the US.

“What this does is hold a magnifying glass up to the situation in the US and show that some Americans are really suffering,” Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, told ISN Security Watch.

Massachusetts Democratic Congressman William Delahunt, who helped orchestrate the sale, called the deal “an expression of humanitarianism at its best”.

The House of Representatives passed a budget bill yesterday that changes eligibility requirements for the Food Stamp Program, cutting benefits for approximately 220,000 to 250,000 vulnerable people. The budget reconciliation bill aims to cut the Food Stamp Program by $675 million.