Trojan horse

Here is the result of the latest foray by a politician using the populist approach. Chavez took over with the promise to take all the money from the oil companies and redistribute it to the poor people. His family walked off with a small fortune but the rest of the country didn’t make out as well, If you ever had a desire to invest in oil rich Venezuela, you may want to hold your money. The government, first under the self-proclaimed revolutionary government of President Hugo Chávez and now under his handpicked successor Nicolás Maduro, has managed to squander one of the longest, greatest oil booms in history, not just misspending the oil windfall that at one point reached $133 per barrel, but also destroying the country's domestic economy. As a result, Venezuela teeters on the edge of default on its debt. There is an old adage from the time of the Trojan horse that says, “beware of Greeks bearing gifts”. Populism is a Trojan horse. They fell for this ruse in ancient Greece and people have been falling for it ever since.