The socialist dream crumbles in Venezuela

[Alan C.]

As socialist dream crumbles, Venezuelans find Nicolas Maduro 'a bad copy' of Chavez

 

The army has been sent into toilet paper factories, fights for basic foodstuffs have resulted in several deaths and new, multi-million dollar oil tankers are sitting idle in dock. And, despite sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela’s socialist government can’t quite manage to keep the lights on.

 

Now many in Venezuela are wondering how much longer President Nicolas Maduro, the anointed successor of the country’s firebrand Leftist leader Hugo Chavez, can keep hold of the reins of its crumbling socialist revolution.

 

Last week Mr Maduro was forced to turn to a well-worn answer for his country’s woes, blaming a US plot to “sabotage the electrical system and the Venezuelan economy” and kicking out Washington’s envoy to the South American country. “Out of Venezuela!” he railed on state television, adding in English: “Yankees go home!”

 

. . .

 

While Chavez’s revolution diverted the country’s vast oil wealth to fund social programmes - with considerable initial success - after almost 15 years many Venezuelans feel the country has not got nearly enough to show for oil and gas reserves that were in 2011 certified by OPEC as the world’s largest. By the time of Chavez’s death, economic mismanagement and corruption -

 

Venezuela is the most corrupt country in the Americas, according to Transparency International - had already crippled the socialist project he dreamed of. Under Mr Maduro, it has entered an advanced state of decay.

 

Official inflation has soared above 45 per cent - 55 per cent for groceries - basic product shortages leave entire families without food and widespread power outages are commonplace. Meanwhile the South American country is witnessing an average of 71 homicides every day, one of the highest murder rates in the world.

 

“This country is a thousand times worse than it was six months ago”, said Pedro Sosa, a Chavez supporter who voted for Mr Maduro but now regrets having done so. “Choosing Maduro as his successor was a mistake (by Chavez),”said Veronica Tapia, 22, a student at the Caracas Institute of Finance.

 

In one Kafka-esque example of state inefficiency, a Reuters investigation recently found that three new oil tankers unveiled with flags and confetti in the last 14 months were still sitting in their shipyards, never having set sail despite their multi-million dollar price tags.

 

Meanwhile supermarket shelves sit empty. In late September, the government ordered the army into the country’s largest toilet paper factory as supplies dried up. Mr Maduro blamed the shortage on Venezuelans “eating more”.

 

The desperate scramble for necessities is increasingly spilling over into violence. At the end of last month, a lorry driver was crushed to death by looters as they scrambled to steal his cargo on a Caracas motorway. In the eastern city of Ciudad Bolivar, a man died as a mob clamoured for a bottle of oil and a loaf of bread at a state-run supermarket.

 

“I have to go to four or five supermarkets to do a complete shop”, said Carmen Rodriguez, 49, a mother of three. “The queues are the biggest they’ve ever been. But if you don’t wait in line, you don’t feed your family”.

 

Mr Maduro has tried to capitalise on the almost cult-like devotion to his predecessor, declaring himself the “son of Chavez” and attempting to emulate his thundering rhetoric. He has related on national television how he often sleeps in the late president’s mausoleum. He has even, he claims, been visited by the spirit of Chavez in the form of a small bird.

 

But his excuses - he has in six months alleged 13 conspiracies against his government and four assassination plots against himself - are starting to ring hollow.

 

“Maduro uses the idea of economic war to blame others for his own shortcomings,” said Jesus Perez, the head of the Caracas School of Economics. “Actually, the war on Venezuela is being waged by our own government.”

 

“The government expropriates Venezuelan businesses which then don’t produce because the socialist state doesn’t run them effectively,” he added.

 

Viva la revolución!

 

Venezuela’s Maduro seeks to rule by decree

[FreedomPhilosophy]

 

Viva la revolución!

 

The communist utopia is imminent.

[Lians]

The communist utopia is imminent.

 

Just you wait! Quantum computing will bring about the true communist utopia. That and, eh, glow in the dark rats...

[ribuck]

Heh, the president's name is Spanish for "Mr. Mature".

[Alan C.]

Venezuela Government Creates Happiness Agency

 

President Nicolas Maduro says the new Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness will coordinate all the "mission" programs created by the late President Hugo Chavez to alleviate poverty.. . .Oil-rich Venezuela is chronically short of basic goods and medical supplies. Annual inflation is running officially at near 50 percent and the U.S. dollar now fetches more than seven times the official rate on the black market.In downtown Caracas, fruit vendor Victor Rey said he's now waiting for Maduro to create a vice ministry of beer."That would make me, and all the drunks, happy," he said.A TV journalist whose show was recently forced off the air after he refused to censor political opponents of the ruling socialists, Leopoldo Castillo, called Maduro's announcement an international embarrassment.Housewife Liliana Alfonzo, 31, said that instead of a Supreme Happiness agency she'd prefer being able to get milk and toilet paper, which disappear off store shelves minutes after arriving at stores."It's a Calvary getting the ingredients for any meal," she said.Maduro blames the shortages on speculation and hoarding, but merchants say they would go broke if they adhered to government price controls.Chavez spent billions on social programs, from benefits for single mothers to handouts of apartments and major appliances.

[wdiaz03]

Heh, the president's name is Spanish for "Mr. Mature".

or "Mr Ripe"

[Alan C.]

Doctors Say Venezuela's Health Care in Collapse

 

Doctors at the hospital sent home 300 cancer patients last month when supply shortages and overtaxed equipment made it impossible for them to perform non-emergency surgeries.

 

Driving the crisis in health care are the same forces that have left Venezuelans scrambling to find toilet paper, milk and automobile parts. Economists blame government mismanagement and currency controls set by the late President Hugo Chavez for inflation pushing 50 percent annually. The government controls the dollars needed to buy medical supplies and has simply not made enough available.

 

. . .

 

Doctors not allied with the government say many patients began dying from easily treatable illnesses when Venezuela's downward economic slide accelerated after Chavez's death from cancer in March. Doctors say it's impossible to know how many have died, and the government doesn't keep such numbers, just as it hasn't published health statistics since 2010.

 

Almost everything needed to mend and heal is in critically short supply: needles, syringes and paraffin used in biopsies to diagnose cancer; drugs to treat it; operating room equipment; X-ray film and imaging paper; blood and the reagents needed so it can be used for transfusions.

 

The rest of the article is worth reading.

[LanceD]

The obvious solution is just to replace Maduro with someone more capable. The problem couldn't possibly be too much government, just poorly run government.

[JoaoPMatos]

Impressive how we have learned nothing from the XX scentury!! And this "we just need a better government" is utter bullshit..strange coincidence that the bigger the state size the bigger the corruption rates. :ermm:Id like to know if the venezuelan intellectuals are sinking with the ship or fleeing the countryCheersJ

[Alan C.]

Venezuela to toughen price controls, set profits

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is extending price controls and will place limits on profits as he extends attempts to curb the galloping inflation that is eroding support for his rule.

 

Maduro made the announcement in a late-night television address Sunday in which he also vowed to step up inspections of businesses selling shoes, clothing, automobiles and other goods to make sure they aren't gouging consumers.

 

"We can't just close the businesses; the owners have to go to jail," Maduro said in an impassioned speech in which he cited Jewish, Muslim and Christian texts to harangue businessmen he accuses of usury. "We can't allow our hard currency to be used to rob people through the sale of these goods."

 

Huge crowds of government loyalists and opponents formed outside appliance stores over the weekend after Maduro ordered the military to occupy the Daka chain of electronic stores and slash by more than half prices for washing machines, televisions and other white goods.

 

While soldiers with assault rifles were deployed to keep bargain hunters in check, at least one Daka store, in the country's third largest city of Valencia, was looted by unruly crowds, according to photos and videos posted online.

 

Maduro Sunday night urged Venezuelans to remain calm, saying that he won't allow the "parasitic bourgeoisie" to overcharge consumers ever again.

 

To that end, he vowed to place percentage limits on profit margins if congress approves a bill granting him special powers.

 

Free-market economists say such a move would exacerbate shortages that reached a record in October, according to the central bank. They say that to stabilize the economy, and shore up a currency whose black market value is a ninth of the official rate, the government needs to lift capital controls put in place a decade ago by former President Hugo Chavez and devalue the bolivar.

 

That's a notion Maduro rejects.

 

The president argues that Venezuela's inflation, which is running at 54 percent, is the result of hoarding and speculation by his opponents in Venezuela and in the U.S., and that South America's biggest oil producer has more than enough dollars to pay for imports. If not for the "economic war" being waged by his opponents, inflation should be running around 16 to 18 percent, he said Sunday night.

 

Venezuelan military seizes major retail chain

 

Thousands of Venezuelans lined up outside the country's equivalent of Best Buy, a chain of electronics stores known as Daka, hoping for a bargain after the socialist government forced the company to charge customers "fair" prices.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela jails 100 'bourgeois' businessmen in crackdown

 

Venezuela's socialist government has arrested more than 100 "bourgeois" businessmen in a crackdown on alleged price-gouging at hundreds of shops and companies since the weekend, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday."They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites!" Maduro thundered in the latest of his lengthy daily speeches. "We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment."The successor to the late Hugo Chavez also said his government was preparing a law to limit Venezuelan businesses' profits to between 15 percent and 30 percent.. . .Since the weekend, soldiers and inspectors have gone into 1,400 shops, taken over operations at an electronics firm and a battery-making company, and rounded up a handful of looters.. . .Venezuela's official inflation, 54 percent annually, is the highest in the Americas.. . .An imported sandwich toaster, for example, that costs $34.99 in the United States, was selling at a fivefold markup of 1,100 bolivars ($175 at the official exchange rate) in state supermarket chain Bicentenario...

[JasonL]

Impressive how we have learned nothing from the XX scentury!! And this "we just need a better government" is utter bullshit..strange coincidence that the bigger the state size the bigger the corruption rates. :ermm:Id like to know if the venezuelan intellectuals are sinking with the ship or fleeing the countryCheersJ

Of course, socialism always drives good people out. I worked with a fellow in Russia on a project that had left in 2009 because of the nonsense. He was still tied somewhat as his mother was very old he was unable to take her out due to siblings that thought Chavez was a great guy. Of course, they were takers and he was one of the makers so he took his knowledge and left. Last time I heard from the guy he was starting a project in Kazakhstan and e-mailed to see if I might want to expatriate. Apparently taxes are quite low and there is a good expat community but I already fled Canada and moved to the US so while I will work nearly anywhere, I am not anxious to move again unless I can see real improvement. As much as I loathe the direction this nation is going, I don't see anything but other farms out there and having worked all over the world, I meet more liberty minded people here than anywhere else.

 

Socialism doesn't work and we shouldn't have to point to obvious evidence but the statists market it well and play it perfectly. Most people are not thinkers, they are followers. Like the notion that getting in shape is easy to know what to do but difficult to do, our message isn't sold well.

[Cosmin]

People robbing electronics store:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmUDvPRO7nA

[Alan C.]

"A churning mass of impoverished juveniles makes for easy tyranny." - Deirdre N. McCloskey

[Hugh Akston]

Soon after things collapses and descends into chaos our statist friends will have, in addition to Somalia, another example of a country where Anarchists can go if they so much believe in not having a government.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

These people are bat shit crazy, claiming that shop keepers rob people and then using the army to actually rob the shop keepers!

[FreedomPhilosophy]

[Alan C.]

Venezuela In Turmoil For Lack Of Flour, Milk And Diapers

 

As with everything in Venezuela, the reasons given for the food shortages depend on political affiliation. The government says it's the result of unscrupulous businessmen waging an economic war and hoarding by regular people afraid of shortages.

Those in the opposition blame a system that imposes price controls, the lack of money to buy imports and problems in the supply chain after the expropriation of farms and factories by the socialist government.

. . .

There are cereals, eggs and pastas and fancy jams, but the staples that are subject to price controls — black beans, butter, corn meal, the list goes on — are missing...

 

 

More pics of food lines here.

[corpus mentium]

More pics of food lines here.

 

From the comments: 

The United States isn't perfect but at least we never have to go through nightmares like this. Prayers go out to them

[domehouse]

As socialist dream crumbles, Venezuelans find Nicolas Maduro 'a bad copy' of Chavez

 

 

Viva la revolución!

 

Venezuela's Maduro seeks to rule by decree

 

 

 

Ven needs to open factories by the 100.  Get the population to work.  With a lot of lazy people whos central idea is the system owes me so I don't have to work you are in huge trouble. Capitalism it seems to me at least allows someone who works a lot to get more....however many problems there may be....

 

Factories can be decently paid jobs, and ro offer group benefits.....the best way to make poor productive is factories.

USA could use few 1000 itself in my opinion, esp unregulated ones protected from fimsy lawsuits.

[Alan C.]

Fistfights amid long bread lines in Venezuela

 

Shoppers in Venezuela know that shortages of staples like cornmeal, milk and chicken are a harsh reality of life, but now -- amid violent protests and strikes -- shortages have spread to that most basic of basics: bread.Lines are forming, and fights have broken out outside bakeries as politicians and business leaders point fingers.In recent days, people have had to wait in line for hours under the scorching sun.. . .Some financial analysts...say price regulation is at the heart of the problem. ...artificially low prices discourage production and, therefore, supply.. . .The Venezuelan government is now focusing on enforcement. This month, 22 merchants were detained and accused of hoarding products and not complying with price regulations.In February, President Nicolas Maduro called on all Venezuelans to reduce consumption to alleviate the shortages. "We need to stabilize consumption," he said, "as part of a new socially conscious behavior so that we avoid extreme consumerism made possible by the purchasing power the Venezuelan families now have."But the opposition says these measures are a smokescreen that hides the real problem: failed socialist economic policies that have discouraged production and drive away foreign investment.

[fractional slacker]

They are only a few rules and regulations away from fine tuning this experiment. If only the greedy capitalists would just stop hoarding stuff and chasing profits, it would all be good.

[TruthBeTold]

<s> Nah, obviously their problem is that the population is too high - just look at all those people standing in lines, that goes to prove it.  If they weren't such an excess of hungry people, things would be a lot easier to manage.

[Jeff W.]

But...but...they didn't do it right.

[Alan C.]

Amputations Skyrocket in Venezuela Due to Lack of Medical Equipment

 

Venezuela's hospitals are amputating limbs at an alarming pace, as economic shortages under Nicolás Maduro's socialist government have triggered a scarcity of medical equipment necessary for a number of procedures. Hospitals, a new report shows, are lacking everything from latex gloves and gowns to coronary stents.. . .While Venezuela averages 20 medical procedures per month to save limbs, that number has diminished to five, and the organization warns that more than 500 coronary angioplasties have been postponed due to lack of stents, leaving patients at risk of heart attacks.Another procedure barely possible in Venezuelan hospitals today, according to the report, is the insertion of cochlear implants--a small device that can help children born deaf fully acquire a sense of sound if done early enough in life. Venezuela has been unable to reliably import the devices for the procedures. Also missing in Venezuelan hospitals, newspaper El Nacional notes, are "resuscitation machines, cytology kits, radiographic equipment, reactive ingredients to diagnose syphilis/hepatitis/HIV ... gloves, hand-washing brushes, and hospital gowns." Of 239 essential items hospitals must have, Avadem warns 200 are "absolutely lacking."The Venezuelan government has dealt with the lack of equipment by asking patients not to seek the items elsewhere or discuss the lack of medical equipment publicly. According to Infobae, the Ministry of Health sent a letter in May to medical professionals stating that it was "terminally prohibited to solicit from patients and/or family members, medicine and/or medical surgical equipment to cover corresponding treatments; although there may not be the necessary equipment at the hospital, never divulge publicly these weaknesses or scarcities.". . .The Venezuelan healthcare system is fully controlled by the government and relies heavily on the Cuban government. Venezuela under Hugo Chávez negotiated with the Castro regime to trade much of the nation's oil reserves for imported doctors from Cuba to run the nation's healthcare system. That program has left many Venezuelans without adequate medical care, as Cuban doctors have fled from the professional exchange program en masse. According to Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald, almost 3,000 Cuban professionals--most of them doctors--deserted their exchange programs in Venezuela to escape the grasp of the communist regime, leaving Venezuela providing Cuba oil with little benefit.

[fractional slacker]

So it's true, they have impoted the Cuban medical system along with a few thousand mercenaries. Maybe that fat ass Michael Moore can go down there and show how great socialism is working out for the country with the world's largest oil reserves.

[Alan C.]

Blackout hits Venezuela, interrupts presidential broadcast

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday said authorities were seeking more information on a blackout that has cut electricity in various parts of the country, speaking in a live television broadcast that was twice interrupted by the problem.The OPEC nation has suffered an increasing incidence of power outages in recent years, which critics have attributed to low electricity tariffs and limited state investment following the 2007 nationalization of the power sector."It seems like there are some problems, we are going to investigate the problems we are having with electrical service in some parts of the country," Maduro in a live speech.Television screens froze for several seconds during the broadcast of the awards ceremony for a national journalism prize. The words "It looks like the power went out" were audible in the background.. . .State power company Corpoelec and the Electricity Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Venezuela blackout leaves commuters scrambling, silences president 

A blackout cut power to much of Venezuela on Friday, snarling traffic in the capital Caracas and other major cities as authorities scrambled to restore electricity after the outage, which twice interrupted a presidential broadcast.Pedestrians streamed into the streets of Caracas as the blackout shuttered the underground metro trains and left frustrated drivers honking in the chaos without stoplights.Government ministers in the late afternoon said they expected power would be restored shortly. It was the second nationwide major electricity outage in less than a year.. . .Critics call the power problems a symptom of 15 years of socialist policies that have left the country without a steady supply of energy despite having the world's largest oil reserves.

[omegaPRIME]

"This is John Galt speaking..."

 

Blackout hits Venezuela, interrupts presidential broadcast

 

 

Venezuela blackout leaves commuters scrambling, silences president 

[J-William]

"This is John Galt speaking..."

Venezuela sounds like Russia in 1925... They're busy blaming all the problem on the bourgeois 

or China in ... anytime from 48-76 when they were busy blaming the capitalist-roaders for everything.

 

Maduro is from the wrong century... I just hope he doesn't get too many more Venezuelans killed.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela Proposes Fingerprinting Shoppers

 

President Nicolas Maduro has announced a mandatory grocery fingerprinting system to combat food shortages.

 

He said late Wednesday the program will stop people from buying too much of a single item, but did not say when it would take effect.

 

The move was met with skepticism. Critics say the new system is tantamount to rationing, and constitutes a breach of privacy.

 

The socialist South American country has been grappling with shortages of basics like cooking oil and flour for more than a year.

[luxfelix]

Maybe Venezuela should try the Honduran ZEDEs method (or something similar)?

 

https://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/41466-elevator-city-honduras-private-own-towns/#entry379456

 

With enough of these freer cities, perhaps a power vacuum can be avoided when the government collapses?

[fractional slacker]

Occams Razor, which in this case highlights you can't defy basic economic law with more regulations and expect a better outcome, seems rather obvious. Why anyone other than the ruling class and their media lackeys would defend the unending quest for more power from Madurro is a testament to human ignorance and the corrupting power of public school/Marxism.

 

It's not hard to imagine an American version of this rubbish at some point: We need fingerprint scanners to fix the flaws of the free market, and/or to protect you from ____________________.

[luxfelix]

They say all the great swords have names; mine's "Occam's Razor". 

[FreedomPhilosophy]

Venezuela Proposes Fingerprinting Shoppers

I'd prefer to be identified by stool sample instead.

[J-William]

Venezuela Proposes Fingerprinting Shoppers

I think this is called "doubling down"