No consequences?

Chavez Reaches Out with 'Bolivarian Missions', we get a positive, almost worshipful view on how Chavez is spending his government's money on programs for the poor, with little analysis of the possible negative consequences, most notably how he will be able to keep doing it.

Update I
OK, a later report was a little better. Still, ya wonder at some of these reporters. With Chávez, Some Venezuelan Entrepreneurs See Opportunity was better:

"The data continues to shine, but behind it in our opinion are serious problems of sustainability, and of the possibility of stagnation," said [Tamara Herrera, an economist with LatinSource, a New York-based group of Latin American economists and] also chief economist of Sintesis Financiera, a consulting firm in Caracas. "Behind these numbers are a huge dependence on oil, more than we've ever seen."..

Capitalism, though, along with Venezuela's state spending, seems to have been very good to a new class of entrepreneurs in Venezuela who have either allied themselves with the government or found a way to have a cordial relationship. Many of them have secured lucrative government contracts, and the opposition has dubbed them the Boliburguesia, short for the Bolivarian bourgeoisie...

Alberto Vollmer, 38, who runs Santa Teresa Rum, a distiller that is one of Venezuela's most storied companies, is among those who is admittedly from the traditional upper class. He lost a third of the 7,400 acres that made up his farm to land invaders, but he did not lash back.

He instead started working closely with the government to implement social programs in the poor barrios nearby. "There are mistakes this government has made and is making, but if you don't have a constructive attitude, you won't get anything done," he said. Vollmer has, to be sure, drawn the ire of some entrepreneurs for working with the government.

"For some of my friends, it's very hard to understand that I get along with Chávez," he said. "It doesn't mean I agree with 100 percent of their ideas."

Vollmer is far from being a confidant of the president. He rattles off deep concerns, such as that Venezuela is repeating a disastrous error from the 1970s -- spending oil revenue wildly without creating a climate for solid non-oil investment.

Many economists agree. Domingo Maza Zavala, a director of the Venezuelan Central Bank, said the economy needs to create 1.5 million jobs but cannot do so without huge private investments. "Private investment needs a stable climate, a climate of tranquility, a climate of institutional security," he said.

The government, though, appears intent on spending -- and confident that the price of oil will remain high.

Update II
NPR had another report a week later, when reporter Juan Forero concluded, "With Venezuela so dependent on one sector, oil, what's unclear is how long the good times will last."

Update III