Caracas on the Hudson
“Caracas on the Hudson” is similar to “Moscow on the Hudson” (the title of a 1984 movie starring Robin Williams). It means that the values of Caracas (the capital and largest city of Venezuela) have come to the Hudson River (that is, New York City).
In 2008-2009, both New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez were fighting against term limits that would have restricted their stays in political office. Bloomberg had term limits removed legislatively, without a popular vote. Chávez had term limits removed by popular vote.
Gotham Gazette’s blog “The Wonkster” used the headline “Caracas on the Hudson” on February 16, 2009. On March 3, 2009, a National Review Online blogger used “Caracas on the Hudson” to mean villages of dire poverty within New York City.
Wikipedia: Caracas
Caracas (pronounced [kaˈɾakas]) is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. It is located in the north of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range (Cordillera de la Costa). The valley’s temperatures are springlike. Terrain suitable for building on lies between 760 and 910 m (2,500 and 3,000 ft) above sea level. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2200 m (7400 ft) high mountain range, Cerro Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains.
Wikipedia: Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (pronounced [ˈuɰo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβ̞es ˈfɾias]) (born July 28, 1954) is the current President of Venezuela. As the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Chávez promotes a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation. He is also a critic of neoliberalism, globalization, and United States foreign policy.
Gotham Gazette - The Wonkster
Caracas on the Hudson
February 16th, 2009
So what’s the difference between a good term-limits law and a bad term-limits law? Ask the people who run the Times editorial page.
Last fall, as Michael Bloomberg ramped up his successful drive to change New York City’s law to give him a third term, the paper of record went on the record saying, “Term limits are seductive, promising relief from mediocre, self-perpetuating incumbents and gridlocked legislatures. They are also profoundly undemocratic.”
The paper then came back three weeks later to opine, “This page has always strongly opposed term limits, and we continue to oppose them.”
Well not quite always — or at least not everywhere. On Saturday the Times urged the voters of Venezuela (millions of whom, we are sure, read the editorial page every day) to keep term limits.
The Corner on National Review Online
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
The Sucker Wakes [John Derbyshire]
A friend in the finance biz:
I was talking to one of my Ph.D. coworkers this morning about competitive inflation of all paper currencies which will cause most currencies to remain more or less unchanged against each other, but will shatter their value against hard assets. We’re both convinced this is happening now and will continue for the foreseeable future.
Anyway, I was giving him my usual rap about Caracas on the Hudson, and how cardboard box cities will spring up in Miami, Houston and Los Angeles over the coming decade.