To the Point

Oil Revenues and Political Instability in Venezuela

Venezuela-s elected President Hugo Chavez was overthrown by a military coup two years ago-only to get back in power just two days later. Early this year, a strike aimed at Chavez shut down the country-s oil industry for two months. Now, after months of sometimes violent wrangling, enough signatures have been certified for a recall election, and Chavez has agreed to let the voting take place even though the nationwide vote could kick him out of office. Warren Olney speaks with journalists in Caracas, economists, and foreign and current officials of the Venezuelan government about this tense, utterly polarized county at risk of degenerating into widespread violence, and the impact that could have gasoline prices in the United States. Making News: Preview of the 2004 G8 Summit As the UN Security Council prepared to vote on the latest Iraq resolution, President Bush has already voiced pleasure at the likelihood of a unanimous vote that will insure a peaceful, democratic Iraq. The President was speaking in Sea Island, Georgia, where the G8 Summit is under way. Ron Scherer, who is there for the Christian Science Monitor, previews the summit, which will include several representatives from the Middle East. Reporter's Notebook: Assessing Reaganomics Even George H.W. Bush, who later became his vice president, accused Ronald Reagan of -voodoo economics.- Now, his supporters claim that -Reaganomics- produced the biggest economic expansion -in the history of the western world.- So, what about the deficit? We get both sides of an argument that-s by no means over, from the Cato Institute's Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, and Harvard economist Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor during the first Clinton administration.