http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/us-venezuela-economy-idUSBREA3S14820140429
(Reuters) - Venezuela's largest private company, Empresas Polar, said on Tuesday it was halting production of pasta due to delays in foreign currency allocations from the government.
President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government is holding meetings with business leaders in efforts to boost productivity in the OPEC nation. But firms continue to complain of problems including currency restrictions.
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It goes on. This company Polar is the Venezuelan equivalent of what General Mills is here.
So, why is this important? Because it's exhibit No. 5,937 of what happens when the government tries to get involved in the private sector...it is a dead lock that it will result in a complete fuck-up.
Ever notice how the programs intended to help the poor usually end up hurting the poor the worst? First there was a rice shortage, then toilet paper shortage, then a beans shortage, now it's pasta...and I'm probably missing a few. If you've ever been broke (and who hasn't if they went to college?), you know pasta is a very inexpensive meal that can fill you up because of the carbs in it. If you didn't know a few dozen students on campus whose diet consisted of mac and cheese and beer, then you must have been doing something wrong. Anyway, what happens now that there is a pasta shortage? Well, the demand for food isn't going away anytime soon, so that puts pressure on the price of substitute products. What happens then? Those of you who have even a basic ability to reason already know. I'll let the rest of you try to chew on it for a while.
Check this out...and ask yourself why this couldn't happen in the US:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/us-venezuela-homeless-idUSBREA3S0DQ20140429
(Reuters) - Huge queues at supermarkets and shortages of basic products have become the norm in Venezuela over the last year - and the most needy are increasingly at the sharp edge.
Workers at soup kitchens for the homeless and hungry face an ever-more difficult task to find rice, lentils, flour and other staples to provide a free daily hot meal.
"I queue for hours every day because you can only get one thing one day, another the next," said Fernanda Bolivar, 54, who has worked for 11 years at the church-supported "Mother Teresa" soup kitchen in a back-street of downtown Caracas.
"The situation's got terrible in the last year," she said, in a dingy kitchen at the center named for the Roman Catholic nun who helped the poor and dying in India.
- - -
That goes on, too. And I'll bet you any amount you like that the vast majority of those people standing in lines waiting for food were huge Hugo Chavez supporters as recently as 5-10 years ago. Now, can someone give me one difference in policy between Chavez and the Stuttering Clusterfuck? You can't, because there isn't one. And the above scenario is exactly where this country is headed under this miserable administration's leadership.
(Reuters) - Venezuela's largest private company, Empresas Polar, said on Tuesday it was halting production of pasta due to delays in foreign currency allocations from the government.
President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government is holding meetings with business leaders in efforts to boost productivity in the OPEC nation. But firms continue to complain of problems including currency restrictions.
- - -
It goes on. This company Polar is the Venezuelan equivalent of what General Mills is here.
So, why is this important? Because it's exhibit No. 5,937 of what happens when the government tries to get involved in the private sector...it is a dead lock that it will result in a complete fuck-up.
Ever notice how the programs intended to help the poor usually end up hurting the poor the worst? First there was a rice shortage, then toilet paper shortage, then a beans shortage, now it's pasta...and I'm probably missing a few. If you've ever been broke (and who hasn't if they went to college?), you know pasta is a very inexpensive meal that can fill you up because of the carbs in it. If you didn't know a few dozen students on campus whose diet consisted of mac and cheese and beer, then you must have been doing something wrong. Anyway, what happens now that there is a pasta shortage? Well, the demand for food isn't going away anytime soon, so that puts pressure on the price of substitute products. What happens then? Those of you who have even a basic ability to reason already know. I'll let the rest of you try to chew on it for a while.
Check this out...and ask yourself why this couldn't happen in the US:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/29/us-venezuela-homeless-idUSBREA3S0DQ20140429
(Reuters) - Huge queues at supermarkets and shortages of basic products have become the norm in Venezuela over the last year - and the most needy are increasingly at the sharp edge.
Workers at soup kitchens for the homeless and hungry face an ever-more difficult task to find rice, lentils, flour and other staples to provide a free daily hot meal.
"I queue for hours every day because you can only get one thing one day, another the next," said Fernanda Bolivar, 54, who has worked for 11 years at the church-supported "Mother Teresa" soup kitchen in a back-street of downtown Caracas.
"The situation's got terrible in the last year," she said, in a dingy kitchen at the center named for the Roman Catholic nun who helped the poor and dying in India.
- - -
That goes on, too. And I'll bet you any amount you like that the vast majority of those people standing in lines waiting for food were huge Hugo Chavez supporters as recently as 5-10 years ago. Now, can someone give me one difference in policy between Chavez and the Stuttering Clusterfuck? You can't, because there isn't one. And the above scenario is exactly where this country is headed under this miserable administration's leadership.
hno:
