Hugo Chavez is taking Venezuela down a dark path towards economic and political hell (and calling it "socialist paradise", see here, here, and here).
In a Wall Street Journal piece today (sorry, sub needed but worth it) Mary Anastasia O'Grady reports that Chavez is continuing his brilliant economic plan to starve his people. And making sure they don't know about it:
The Venezuelan government will seize control of Radio Caracas Television on Sunday, finally making good on a threat to silence one of the country's most important independent news sources. It is no coincidence that this is happening at a time when Venezuelans are suffering a shortage of key foodstuffs . . . Having built his claim to legitimacy on the spurious assertion that he presides over a democracy, you can bet that Mr. Chávez would not have gone after RCTV unless he deemed control of TV news vital to his survival. It may indeed be. The reason is because the economy has been so mismanaged that a crisis now appears unavoidable. How it will end, in rationing and hunger or hyperinflationary madness, is hard to say. But when the whole thing comes a cropper, the last thing the president will want is TV images of popular protests that could be contagious. (Who does Chavez think he is, Jay Rockefeller?) Of course, the people will know they are hungry, but without opposition media to let them know they aren't the only disgruntled ones, they are more likely to suffer in silence. And suffer they are: And so it is that the Venezuelan egg is now a delicacy, the chicken an endangered species, toilet paper a luxury and meat an extravagance. White cheese, milk, tuna, sardines, sugar, corn oil, sunflower oil, carbonated drinks, beans, flour and rice are also in short supply. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I attributed Chavez's economic moves to being an idiot. O'Grady doesn't think so: Venezuelan policy makers can't be this dumb. The intention is not to feed the country but to destroy the private sector and any political power it might still have. In this environment survival independent of good relations with Mr. Chávez is nearly impossible. In the revolutionary handbook, capitalist producers and importers who buy things from the imperialists will be replaced by socialists living on cooperatives that will feed the country. But those aren't working either. I don't know if Chavez is an idiot, or his economic policies are designed to destroy the private sector, or both. All I know is that country is in for a hard time if the people don't rise up and throw this bum out. Soon!
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