After spending most of the first part of this week bemoaning the effect of AI on readin’ and ritin’ after viewing several videos on the subject — we ain’t got no information on no ’rithmetic — we decided to surrender to the machine (while reserving the right to criticize such dependency at such time as we are no longer pressed for time and can take the time to write something ourselves) and steal a summary one of the AI programs generated for a proposal the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ) put forward a number of years ago and dusted off in light of what we can euphemistically call “recent events.”
We stress the fact that this is based on an AI summary and — given that AI can (gasp) get things wrong, depending on what sort of information is floating around out there — we might have missed an error or misimpression or something else. So, what we have is a proposal (more or less) for “A New Model of Nation-Building for the Citizens of Venezuela: Toward a Citizens’ Petroleum Corporation” focusing on who owns and controls the country’s oil.
Clearly, Venezuela stands at a crossroads. Despite possessing the world’s largest known oil reserves, the nation’s citizens have seen their standard of living collapse. At the same time, the state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), has become a symbol of centralized control, inefficiency, and political volatility, a tool of the powers-that-be.
To restore economic stability and provide a foundation for true democracy, Venezuela must move beyond the socialist (by whatever name) model in which the state owns or controls capital and the citizens are dependents. CESJ proposes a fundamental shift in the ownership structure of Venezuela’s natural resource. This involves the transformation of PDVSA from a state-owned monopoly into a Citizens’ Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
Patterned after CESJ’s “Citizens’ Land Development Cooperative” model, CESJ’s proposal outlines a plan to vest equal ownership of Venezuela’s oil and gas assets directly in the hands of every Venezuelan man, woman, and child.
Currently, the Venezuelan government owns 100% of the oil industry. This concentration of power allows the state to use oil revenues for political patronage while insulating it from accountability to the people.
The CPC model reverses this. It recognizes that the natural resources of Venezuela belong to its people, not its government. By creating a private, citizen-owned corporation, the proposal would create a directly owned capital stake for every citizen. This would provide them with an independent source of income and a direct stake in the stability and success of the nation. Key features include:
· Equal Share Distribution: The CPC will be established as a legal entity holding the title to Venezuela’s oil and natural gas subsoil rights and the infrastructure of PDVSA. Upon its formation, every legal citizen of Venezuela will receive one equal, non-transferable “Founder’s Share” in the corporation.
· Direct Capital Ownership: To avoid the pitfalls of “voucher privatization” — where citizens often sell their shares for pennies to a small group of oligarchs — CPC shares will be held in individual Citizens’ Land Bank Accounts. These shares represent a lifetime right to a portion of the profits generated by the industry.
· Professional Management, Not Political Control: While ownership is universal, management must be professional. The CPC will be run by a board of directors elected by the citizen-shareholders, with strict transparency requirements and international auditing standards. The government’s role will shift from “owner-operator” to “regulator and tax collector.”
As for the key question to follow the key features, what about the money? Where does it come from? The transition from a failed state-run entity to a modern, citizen-owned corporation requires massive capital for infrastructure repair.
To avoid the now-standard redistributive approach, the proposal includes a “self-financing” feature. The CPC can use “future-savings” to finance growth. By using capital credit insurance and reinsurance instead of usually non-existent past-savings, the CPC can take out loans to modernize refineries and wells, repaying those loans out of the future earnings of the oil produced.
Once operating costs and capital debt repayments are met, remaining profits would be distributed as direct dividends to every citizen’s account. This would provide a basic income derived from capital ownership, not government handouts.
As for economic and social benefits, four in particular are of special note:
· Eliminating Corruption: Removing oil revenues from direct government control eliminates easy access to the money that fuels political corruption. Profits flow first to citizens, and the government must then sustain itself through transparent taxation approved by the people.
· Ending (Most) Inflation and Poverty: Direct dividend payments provide a basic ownership income for Venezuelans. These dividends provide a path to dignity and the ability to purchase food, medicine, and education in a market economy.
· Promoting Political Stability: When every citizen is a shareholder, every citizen has a vested interest in the rule of law and the protection of property rights. Sabotaging oil infrastructure or political coups become attacks on the personal wealth of every Venezuelan. this creates a powerful grassroots incentive for peace.
· Encouraging Foreign Investment: A transparent, citizen-owned CPC governed by law rather than whim or decree is a far more attractive partner for international technology and investment firms needed to rebuild the country.
In conclusion, democratization of Venezuela’s oil is more than an economic reform, it is a restoration of human rights. By vesting the nation’s wealth in its people through a Citizens’ Petroleum Corporation, Venezuela can transition from a state-dominated economy to a “Just Third Way” transcending both socialism and capitalism. Under this model, the sovereignty of Venezuela will finally reside where it belongs: every man, woman, and child, not in government.
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