October 2, 2006 issue of of Time magazine contains an article written by Tim Padgett. As I mentioned in a previous post of Time, the picture of Hugo Chavez is one which is favorable to Chavez. It makes him appear strong and real for lack of better adjectives. See the capture below.

This article was written from of the attention garnered by Chavez when he called President Bush "the devil" during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week. The calm firestorm which came from the many Americans was one of disgust as Mr. Padgett informs Hugo Chavez in the interview. "He seemed genuinely surprised when I informed him that rebukes were pouring in from liberals in the US Congress over the way he insulted Bush on US soil," writes Padgett. "Bush has called me worse," Chavez said, with a shrug.. continues Padgett.

Chavez then refers to the names he accused Bush of using, "Tyrant, populist dictator, drug trafficker." I don't know whether Chavez are these are not. Regardless of these he has no inhabitions about socializing the economy. The government owns the oil, brings in all the revenue and distributes it somehow. Billions. Per the Time article it may be about $40 Billion this year. This figure has more than tripled in the last 10 years. All this wealth and Chavez has to show, medical clinics in the barrios, 7 Eleven canceling Citgo's contract and an economy which had promise when he took office and is now failing in true 3rd world standards.