Posted on 05/02/2012 8:27:24 PM PDT by grundle
a full hour and a half before the store would open, about two dozen people were already in line
shortages of staples like milk, meat and toilet paper are a chronic part of life here
The shortages affect both the poor and the well-off
“I’m wasting my day here standing in line to buy one chicken and some rice.”
Venezuela was long one of the most prosperous countries in the region, with sophisticated manufacturing, vibrant agriculture and strong businesses, making it hard for many residents to accept such widespread scarcities.
many economists call it a classic case of a government causing a problem rather than solving it. Prices are set so low, they say, that companies and producers cannot make a profit. So farmers grow less food, manufacturers cut back production and retailers stock less inventory. Moreover, some of the shortages are in industries, like dairy and coffee, where the government has seized private companies and is now running them, saying it is in the national interest.
powdered milk, a staple here, could not be found in 42 percent of the stores... liquid milk can be even harder to find.
Other products in short supply last month, according to Datanálisis, included beef, chicken, vegetable oil and sugar.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Aw, come on, give them a break. Running a food distribution network is hard, you can’t expect a government to do it efficiently. Now, running a health care system is a piece of cake! After all, it is so less complicated than food.
Its the truth, but doesn't matter. People will simply demand more government control to try to fix it. Same as here, there, and everywhere.
Marx to the rescue! Now EVERYONE faces poverty EQUALLY!
It’s not like this has ever happened before in the history of price controls, right? Usually, they work perfectly.
Are all the editors at the NYT on vacation this week? How did they let this article slip though?
A Communist system creating a food shortage? Gee what a surprise...
Anyone who doesn’t think this is our future is DELUSIONAL.
Once the credit spigot is closed, and our dollar crashes (probably just after Obama’s re-election), prices will also rise dramatically, and people will demand that government DO SOMETHING.
So they will - and we’ll have price controls...and we’ll immediately have shortages. I now stock 4 to 8 years worth of every non-perishible that I can think of, from clothing to paper products, to motor oil (and a decent supply of food too). I’ll let the people that think we can indefinitely spend well over a trillion dollars more than we take in stand in the lines, I’ll be just fine.
Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. Most of the people whining probably were duped into voting for chavez in the first place, under the premise of hope and change. Sound familiar?
socialism, nationalizations and price controls ALWAYS leads to shortages in most things and vast overproduction in other things (think Vodka and potatoes in Russia). ALWAYS.
Chavez passes money out to people to buy them! Ask the Uruguayan people....
How do you like him now?
Coming to America.
“I wonder how many of these gibbering idiots voted for Chavez.”
I used to work with a crazy Venezuelan guy from Rockwell. He told me that when Chavez first came on the scene that all of his younger college aged buddies were all for him (sound familiar). A few years later, they were not too pleased with him.
Coming to an economy near you.
If BHO gets a second term, expect this. It will start with gasoline. Next will be your doctor visit.
This nonsense is 3rd grade economics, but the marxists think they are way too smart for the rest of us.
“He told me that when Chavez first came on the scene that all of his younger college aged buddies were all for him (sound familiar). A few years later, they were not too pleased with him.”
My wife worked with a woman from Venezuela whose parents helped her get here as soon as he came to power; the upper class knew what he was, and the middle class has learned since. They’ve had a flight of talent similar to that of Cuba in the early 1960s.
Typical Marxist result: Scarce commodities & long lines.
When redistribution of wealth fails for lack of any more wealth, then Marxists are left with redistributing misery.
A vision of the US if Obama gets another four years.
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