Coming Soon to America? Chavez Confiscates Food. . . .

Chavez Confiscates Food

According to Van Helsing at moonbattery.com:

If you can't wait to see what happens next under Hope & Change, just look to Venezuela, where Obama prototype Hugo Chavez is resolving food shortages by confiscating food:

Venezuela's National Guard seized roughly 120 tons of merchandise Thursday from the country's largest food company, the guard's commander said.

The "preventive confiscation" came after authorities say they detected inconsistencies in reports from the Empresas Polar conglomerate about the content of several warehouses in the western city of Barquisimeto, Gen. Luis Bohorquez Soto told state television.

He said the guard seized more than 91 tons of wheat flower, 12 tons of butter, five tons of rice and more than 5,000 liters (1,320 gallons) of cooking oil, among other products.

The operation was part of President Hugo Chavez's efforts "to protect the Venezuelan family" and avoid the phenomenon of empty shelves at grocery stores, the general said.

Venezuela suffers from periodic shortages of staples such as milk, wheat flour, beans and coffee. While the leftist Chavez government blames hoarding by merchants to drive up prices, business says the problem is lack of foreign currency to pay for imports.

Chavez imposed price controls on staple foods in 2003 as part of an effort to control inflation and Caracas continues to maintain currency controls.

Price controls, like most government intrusions into the business world, cannot help but produce shortages.

An added advantage to Chavez of confiscating Empresas Polar's food is all the people he can throw out of work and into the arms of government dependency, just as our Democrats have been doing as a prominent feature of their major initiatives.

Founded some 70 years ago, Empresas Polar has 30 processing plants and its products are sold in more than 150,000 locations. The firm says it employs around 30,000 people and that its operations generate an additional 180,000 jobs in supply, distribution and support services.

History buffs will recall that Joseph Stalin was also big on confiscating food. He found it an effective way to pacify resistance. Millions of Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death for the greater glory of collectivism during the Holodomor.

Yet despite failure after failure, horror after horror, our elitist ruling class tries again and again to impose socialism. This is because under socialism, the ruling class makes out fairly well (including corrupt crony capitalists like Goldman Sachs and GE). It's only everyone else who suffers.