Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, has already “nationalized” several of the oil facilities in the country that were owned and operated by the likes of ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Total.

Now, several months later, he’s at it again. This time it’s the cement makers. Because, after all, if only the government owned the cement companies, there would be more cheap homes built.

Right?

From the Wall Street Journal:

Venezuela said it will take majority stakes in the local units of Cemex SAB, Lafarge SA and Holcim Ltd. as it divulges the first details of a nationalization plan that will affect the world’s biggest cement producers.

The nationalization, announced last week, is designed to deflect criticism that the socialist government of Hugo Chávez isn’t delivering on its promises of new housing and other infrastructure projects, experts said.

“The Venezuelan state will take control of these companies. We told them all three will be subject to this [nationalization] measure,” Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on state television.

The plan announced by Mr. Ramirez mirrors Venezuela’s nationalization of the oil industry. Venezuela will purchase at least 60% of the local units of foreign cement companies operating in Venezuela.

No details were available on how much Venezuela intends to pay for the stakes — and how the cement companies will respond to any future offers.

In a statement Monday, Mexico-based Cemex expressed its willingness “to engage in a dialogue with the authorities to find a mutually satisfactory solution,” adding that the company was “confident that it has the support of authorities to guarantee the safety of its personnel and the integrity of its facilities” during negotiations.

Officials at the Venezuelan units of France’s Lafarge and Swiss-based Holcim didn’t return calls seeking comment.

If the nationalization of the oil companies are any indication, the cement companies will get pennies on the dollar for their “investment” in the country.

And what for Venezuela?

According to the Journal, since nationalizing the oil sector, oil production is actually down. Is anyone surprised? Did Chavez really think he could kick out highly skilled engineers and other oil personnel from, say, Exxon, and run the facilities as productively?

Of course not.

Less oil out of the ground means less money, in the long run, for Venezuela.

And so it will be the same with the cement manufacturers as well.

But it begs a bigger question: who will want to put ANY money into Venezuela now? Why would you open a factory there?

You wouldn’t.

International businesses are going to start taking a long look at Venezuela’s neighbors for expansion- including Columbia - which is booming. If the US trade agreement passes with Columbia- Bogota or Medellin might be the next place to be in Central America.

You heard it here first.

Did you go shopping this holiday weekend? I did. Apparently a lot of people did.

I was down on the Mag Mile in Chicago during a March snow storm (driving winds, heavy snow/ice.) It didn’t deter hundreds of people from hanging out at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue.

The wait to check out was about 10 minutes.

I thought I was in a twilight zone episode (given the snow outside and the lines) and that it was really Christmas and not Easter.

Nope.

There really were 20 people waiting to buy iPods, iPhones, computers and assorted other gadgets.

I thought we were in a recession? You couldn’t tell by that store.

But maybe it’s not a good indicator of the economy, given the location of the store (the most heavily touristed street in Chicago) and that I did hear some accents among the customers (foreign tourists stocking up on things to take home at a 50% discount.)

But it wasn’t all accents overheard in the line.

Barron’s acknowledged the trend in an article this week on Best Buy. It started the article off with a few antecdotes of young men (in their early 20s) who rushed to the store to buy flat screen tvs and other video gadgets and games with their tax refunds.

That’s the American way!

What will they do with their stimulus checks? Hopefully buy more tvs!

The lure of the gadget is strong.

Conversely, I was also in some women’s clothing stores over the weekend and it was pretty much dead in those stores. One told me that the entire store was 25% off as soon as I walked in- even though there was no sign posted.

It’s mixed signals out there.

But the gadget realm seemed alive and well to me over the weekend.

Today, I’m pleased to announce my first guest blogger. Please be kind to him with your comments. (And some of the, um, language has been “bleeped out” or cleaned up for your enjoyment.)

He asks important questions: what IS happening to our big flagship companies? Can they survive in a global economy?

And what do you do about a company that used to be “great” but now seems a shell of its former self? GM has not made money from its main product, its cars, in several years. How does a company sustain itself when it doesn’t make money off of what it produces?

This is what I have to say to GM; “Screw You.”
By: Dickie Pennyworth

I am raising my hand because I want to ask a question.

I would like to know exactly what the [bleeped out] is going on with the executive management at some of America’s most iconic companies. A growing number of these companies are being decimated by international competition, and it does not appear as if management has a read on the challenges confronting their prosperity.

Let’s take a look at the CFO of GM, Mr. Fredrick “Fritz” Henderson.

After enjoying years of growth and market dominance, GM has stumbled upon hard times. The company has been confronted with a lethal cocktail of calamities. Increased environmental regulations, sky-rocketing energy prices, draining materials costs and a weakened consumer environment. These are but a handful of the problems that led to the company’s disastrous fourth-quarter results.

In what is suspected to be the single largest one-year loss in the history of the auto industry, GM reported a total fiscal 2007 loss of over $38 billion, $750 million of that coming from this most recent quarter.

In comments to the press, Chief Financial Officer Fredrick “Fritz” Henderson, said U.S. auto sales were, “operating well below trend and below what we thought in 2005 when we conceived the turn-around plan.”

Hey Fritz, I appreciate the notion of a turn-around, but when you refer to trends and forecasts, where in the [bleeped out] are you getting your information?

When I take a quick glance at the trend in big domestic autos, here is what I come up with. It started in the late 80’s, when Japanese auto-makers took a big bite out of the domestic’s sales.

This market penetration by foreign competition was achieved through advanced technology, delivering a superior product that was more efficient and more reliable. Enter the mid-to-late 90’s, a renaissance of sorts for the domestics, built upon the SUV, but this trend was short lived, with the tech bubble bursting and these larger, gas guzzlers falling out of favor.

With energy prices a serious consumer consideration since our political engagements in the Middle East, this became the primary focus of the auto industry moving into the 2000’s. International auto makers poured massive amounts of energy and resources into developing even higher fuel efficiencies, producing cars that would appeal to a global audience that was sensitive to energy prices.

And how did the domestics respond to the new climate?

Well, in 2005, Ford came up with the brilliant idea of doing a “re-issue” on its old classic muscle car, the Mustang. Here is a car that hasn’t been popular for 20 years, but Ford management thinks it’s a good idea to attach itself to the brand to try and find a way to make a quick and easy buck.

This concept fails on so many levels that it is laughable. Let me see. How’s the gas mileage? Not good. How much does it cost to build? It’s expensive. And our target customer? Middle-Middle, sensitive to costs.

So when I see a trend that is in play here in this industry, Fritz, that is the trend that comes to mind. The 15-year trend of continued domestic market share depreciation and lowered volumes. A trend that is literally slapping you and your company across the face because it is begging to get noticed.

And what about the trend in both crude and gasoline prices, certainly an essential component of any auto-makers forecasting model?

A company the size and stature of GM needs to be built on a foundation of information. Acquiring key data about the most important and critical components of its core business.

And how significant do you think something like the cost of gasoline is to a company like GM? I cannot think of something that should or could be more important to GM than the trends in the energy markets. For GM to let this one slip by is absolutely unforgivable.

A highly detailed and comprehensive forecast in energy and consumer consumption patterns would enable the company to align its core values and directives with the priorities of the customers it favors. And yes, this absolutely does require a mega-cap like GM to showcase some agility.

But Fritz, this is F**KING GM! And you are making $10 million f**kin’ bucks this year, so give me a friggin’ break! I’m sorry, make a tough call, be unpopular, but for the love of God, the company just lost $38 billion in one year on YOUR watch!

Here is what you do tomorrow, Fritz.

Immediately shut down half of the company, because that at least gives GM the chance to sustain itself. (As opposed to eating itself from the inside out.)

Beyond that, you invest all of your resources into developing inexpensive autos that carry ridiculous mileage capabilities. Anything less than a totally radical and unprecedented paradigm change will fall short of enabling this company to move back into the green.

The f**king games are over. It is not pretty out there. Our great American companies are getting slaughtered by foreign invaders. And if they don’t get serious about stepping up their game and truly competing, these great companies will be chopped into tiny little pieces and carted off the battlefield by the new Global Power Players.

End—

I’ve talked about Hugo Chavez before. He’s a man who clearly doesn’t like to be told what to do.

So when ExxonMobil took Venezuela to court for illegally seizing its oil assets in the country and asking that some $12 billion be frozen, Chavez wasn’t happy (to put it mildly.) From the AP:

“If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we’re going to harm you,” Chavez said. “Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger.”

“The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us,” Chavez said, saying the Irving, Texas-based oil major acts in concert with “the imperialist government of the United States” and is part of corporate “worldwide mafias.”

You have to admit, the quotes make you chuckle.

“Mr. Danger”???

I doubt President Bush has been called that before.

But what if Chavez is crazy enough to really do it?

It wouldn’t make sense for his country, as we know. The US is Venezuela’s largest crude customer. We’re one of the few countries which can refine the less-refined type of crude.

For the US, Venezuela provides 15 percent of our imports.

Would Chavez really cut off its largest crude customer at a time when unemployment is skyrocketing in the country and inflation is running at over 10%?

Crazier things have been done, I’m afraid.

Stay tuned.