With the central government now directly controlling some 20-30% of staple food production, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is certainly striving to put other people’s money where his mouth is. According to CNBC:
Mountains of rotting food found at a government warehouse, soaring prices and soldiers raiding wholesalers accused of hoarding: Food supply is the latest battle in President Hugo Chavez’s socialist revolution.
Venezuelan army soldiers swept through the working class, pro-Chavez neighborhood of Catia in Caracas last week, seizing 120 tons of rice along with coffee and powdered milk that officials said was to be sold above regulated prices.
“The battle for food is a matter of national security,” said a red-shirted official from the Food Ministry, resting his arm on a pallet laden with bags of coffee.
Centrally planned economies fail because they can’t calculate. Venezuela is just another tragic example. No matter how many grocers Hugo Chavez terrorizes, he won’t be able to fix the flaws inherent in any command economy.
