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Failing the "Success as measured in skyscrapers" test

I'm catching up on my RSS feed after traveling and getting to the coverage of Chavez' death. And everyone is noting this paragraph from the AP:

Chavez invested Venezuela's oil wealth into social programs including state-run food markets, cash benefits for poor families, free health clinics and education programs. But those gains were meager compared with the spectacular construction projects that oil riches spurred in glittering Middle Eastern cities, including the world's tallest building in Dubai and plans for branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi.

Just to be clear, whatever you think of Chavez (and he certainly became nuttier the longer he was in office, but of course when everyone is out to get you...), here's what he did accomplish:

...proportion of Venezuelans living on less than $2 a day falling from 35 percent to 13 percent over three years.

Yeah, that sucks.

More from Yglesias, Lawyers, Guns and Money, and FAIR.

By fnord12 | March 11, 2013, 2:10 PM | Liberal Outrage