"I agree money talks, - and time will tell.

But VZ running out of money and social programs failing – No Way.

I have been reading that in papers, usually opinion pieces, since 2000, and each year it turns out to be wishful thinking.

 Anyone looking at the numbers know since 2003, after the oil strike, the VZ economy has been growing very well."

This may well be true, but our own economy in the US has grow too, right along with the 6 trillion dollars in debt it tacked on since Bush took office. If you finance with debt and don't pay it back, then eventually you WILL go bankrupt regardless of how inflated your economy is in that timeframe. Maybe the people will wake up and realize what Chavez is doing and will demand that they increase their production(gold wouln't be a bad start) and become more cooperative with other countries. Otherwise they need to cut back on programs. Wow, this really sounds like the US.