kinda like the mutt in the white hut...
Posted on 03/10/2013 7:47:36 AM PDT by lowbridge
1. Production quotas on all forms of food, including rice, the country’s primary food item.
2. Price controls on anything from cooking oil to sugar to coffee. Rice, for instance, was only allowed to be sold for 2.15 bolivars ($0.34USD), but cost 4.41 bolivars ($0.70USD) to produce.
3. Both of these policies led to extreme food shortages. For most families, especially the lower- and middle-classes, grocery shopping was a hit or miss. They would be lucky enough to grab a roll of toilet paper.
4. Prior to Chavez’s death, the oil-rich Latin American nation struggled with the worst food shortage in four years.
5. Grocery stores have limited the number of oil, corn meal, butter and rice products customers can buy.
6. Each day in cities across the country, there are massive line-ups at grocery stores in the hopes of purchasing chicken, pasta, rice and the ever important corn meal.
7. Restaurants in Caracas have scaled back on their menu offerings because of the massive food shortages.
8. Another important culprit of the food shortages is the bureaucratic hurdles that companies face when they import or export goods.
9. The government doesn’t value private property rights, especially since it nationalized most private businesses, such as food companies, cement makers, farms, steel mills, beer makers and many, many others.
10. Similar to the situation in Zimbabwe, people who are unaware of how to farm or run a hotel are doing so. This means the quality of goods and services will be dramatically deteriorated.
11. If property owners do not give up their lands peacefully, the government uses violence, coercion and threats of death to attain the property.
(Excerpt) Read more at economiccollapsenews.com ...
POSIWID — the Purpose of a Sysrtem is What It Does, not what any says it is.
The purpose of the Venezualan system was to make Chavez rich, powerful, famous, and loved by the Hollywood left (but I repeat myself).
It has nothing to do with improving the lot of the “people”.
[Once more, with fewer typos.]
POSIWID — the Purpose of a Sysrtem is What It Does, not what anyone says it is.
The purpose of the Venezuelan system was to make Chavez rich, powerful, famous, and loved by the Hollywood left (but I repeat myself).
It has nothing to do with improving the lot of the “people”.
One noteworthy consequence of his policies is that he died a billionaire.
kinda like the mutt in the white hut...
He died a billionaire.
The primary characteristic of an aspiring socialist leader is hubris. They believe that "in theory" socialism is a really great thing (as opposed to the individual crushing system is it) and since they're so much smarter than anyone else who's tried to implement it, they know that THEY'RE the one who will finally get it right.
The secondary characteristic is a combination of unbridled greed and being completely amoral, so you can justify anything, telling oneself that as you're getting rich and the people are living in squalor, you're actually helping them.
Sound like anyone we know? Certainly one who's assumed room temperature recently, but there are far too many others!
Mark
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