I'm placing this blog post squarely at the feet of George Soros. The first reason I'm doing that is because I can. The second reason I'm doing it is because Mr. Soros will never read it. The third reason is because I have the ability to understand insurance actuary tables and I can read the writing on the wall.

Is anyone out there willing to take a guess at exactly why George Soros, Progressive Insurance (NYSE: PGR), and most of the rest of the auto insurance industry is so highly motivated to promote the green movement? Do you think it's because they want more trees available for the little birdies to sing in? Is it because someone said we're running a couple quarts low on oil? Could it be that they fear "green house gases" will soon choke us all? Nope, it's about none of those things. It all comes down to percentages, money, and control.

I'm just two generations removed from Germany and so is my wife. We still have "folks" of the Austrian and Bavarian persuasions so let's just say we have some mildly vested interest in this situation. UPI reports that violent protests have broken out last week in Germany amid massive peaceful assemblies that sought to derail the G8 summit in the city of Rostock. It seems that although many "leaders" of the demonstrations have attempted to quell the passions of their followers, those efforts have been at least temporarily futile.

It is no surprise to me that certain of the demonstrators have become majorly unglued. When one considers that the protest movement itself is so heavily left leaning, it's surprising to me that they have retained any order and control of themselves at all. Socialists, liberalists, anti-capitalists and anarchists, that's who most of these rioters are. I can almost hear them from here saying, "We don't like what we have so chaos is our last vestige of control."

I don't stand in the way of any person's right to protest, in fact, the democratic nations of the world have made provision for that. What I can't seem to bring myself to grips with is this wimp-like, face hiding, hood raised, pansy-assed style of rock throwing, car burning protest. What a bunch of puppies they are. They're all full of big words of hatred and world upheaval, but they choose to deliver their message from behind goofy masks. Back in my day, if you had a message to deliver to the establishment, you got right in a cop's face, close enough so he could smell your breath, you locked eyes with him and delivered your message firmly and in person within earshot of the press. If the cop was a man (or lady), they'd accept your message straight-faced and wait for you to move on. If the cop was an establishment fascist, you generally got grabbed by the collar, were given a set of stainless steel bracelets and spent the night in the tank. Either way, your message got through and there was no measurable property damage.

Protests can be the vehicles of change. Riots are just plain blatant stupidity. Anonymous rioters are criminals of the worst sort. Common sense and history dictate that peaceful demonstrations have the greatest effect over time. I have no other more effective solutions than that to offer.

Yesterday, there were numerous press reports stating that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez would nationalize the country's electrical and telecommunication companies, continuing to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

However, entering his third term, Chavez's plans may already be running into trouble. According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Venezuelan inflation is approaching 17% due to Chavez introducing his own version of socialism and unilateral redistribution of wealth policies. Additionally, Chavez has promised much of the windfall money from high oil prices to leaders of other countries in the region that are tempted to re-explore socialism as a way to govern.

The Journal article suggested that if oil drops below $50 per barrel, Chavez could run into trouble keeping up with all the promises he has made. In addition, oil below $50 per barrel might mean he cannot meet Venezuela's external financial obligations.

Before politicians can get in a frenzy about Mr. Chavez, the market may simply take care of him itself.