Something is rotten in Venezuela

even they used the terms interchangeably.

They knew the difference. Americans are the ones who use the terms interchangeably when talking about the Soviets.

even they used the terms interchangeably.

They knew the difference. Americans are the ones who use the terms interchangeably when talking about the Soviets.

Did they? If you look at their literature and so forth you do see occurrences of both. I don't even think they knew what they really wanted to be, other than authoritarian assholes.

USAAR

Union of Soviet Authoritarian Asshole Republics.

Lenin said that the goal of socialism was communism. Two different things. Communism == destination. Socialism == journey.

With each Soviet leader the utopian vision of communism seemed further away. Khruschev promised communism within his generation's lifetime. By the time of Andropov and Chernenko and Gorbachev, nobody talked like that any more.

And nobody would refer to Venezuela's government as communist. Although Rousseff in Brazil is a communist leader of a socialist government, a little closer to the Soviet thing.

Every Commie I've ever talked to in this country (yes, I know Commies...) always says the same thing - "Well, when we get a chance to implement it, we're gonna do it right!"

Statist idiots don't realize that the only way to prevent that corruption is to never grant that much power in the first place.

Duhhh, that's the point of communism, so all the wealth/power is not concentrated in a few people.

To paraphrase Milton Friedman, feel free to point out the benevolent angels who can organize that society for us.

The Soviets wanted to have a better standard of living than us by the 70s. That didn't happen, of course.

JMT is right. To all the supporters of socialism, and communism, please feel free to find the benevolent angels who will set all these things up.

Our mayor recently noted that stray dogs had all but disappeared from our neighborhood, and people are hunting pigeons in the main square.

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There is nothing for people to eat because of two specific socialist policies, not because Maduro and his friends ate all of the food.

1. The socialists want the people to be able to afford things, so they simply declare that the value of their currency is high. While expanding the money supply to pay for social programs.

2. The socialists want the people to be able to afford things, so they simply declare that the prices of things must be low.

Problem solved, right? It's kind of like a minimum wage hike: you want poor people to be able to eat, so you simply mandate that they should be paid more.

But policy #1 and policy #2 conflict with one another. Policy #1 of expanding the money supply causes the local currency to lose value. Importers have to spend more local currency to import food. Then importers have to charge their customers more in local currency.

But they can't do that because of policy #2. The prices are mandated by the benevolent socialist state, so that people can afford to buy things. Importers who charge market prices are accused of price gouging. Their businesses are expropriated by the state and sometimes they're arrested.

If you're an importer and you know that you have to spend more to buy food than you could sell it for after you import it, then why would you import the food in the first place?

That's why people are eating dogs and rats in Venezuela. Not because Maduro and his Chavismo friends ate all of the food. The problem the socialist policies that eliminated the financial incentives that keep an economy moving. It's not possible to steal enough money through corruption to wreck an entire country's economy on the level of Venezuela's.

Policy #1 of expanding the money supply causes the local currency to lose value. Importers have to spend more local currency to import food. Then importers have to charge their customers more in local currency.

But they can't do that because of policy #2. The prices are mandated by the benevolent socialist state, so that people can afford to buy things. Importers who charge market prices are accused of price gouging. Their businesses are expropriated by the state and sometimes they're arrested.

If you're an importer and you know that you have to spend more to buy food than you could sell it for after you import it, then why would you import the food in the first place?

A sugar shortage has forced Coca-Cola to stop producing soft drinks in Venezuela amid an escalating food and energy shortage.

Coke said that suppliers in Venezuela will "temporarily cease operations due to a lack of raw materials".

The announcement comes after the country's biggest brewer, Empresas Polar, closed plants due to a barley shortage.

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Sugarcane production has been falling due to price controls and rising production costs, as well as problems in obtaining fertiliser.

As a result, many smaller farmers have turned to other crops that are not price controlled and thus generate higher income.

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Did Coca Cola stop producing Coke in Venezuela because Maduro and his friends stole all of the sugar?

No. They stopped because failed socialist policies have eliminated the financial incentives to grow sugar. The socialist's monetary policy (#1) made fertilizer more expensive to import. And growers can't legally pass that cost on to their customers because of price controls. (#2) So they don't grow sugar because they would lose money if they did.

What does corruption have to do with that?

Last week, protests turned violent in parts of the country where demonstrators demanded empty supermarkets be resupplied

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/world ... .html?_r=0

With what? They don't have anything to resupply it with. I guess they think if the leaders would just wave their socialist wands around and sing about brotherhood and the workers, supermarkets will be resupplied. Like magic.

I want to know the explanation for how corruption caused those empty stores?

The stores are empty because the goods have to be imported, the international market doesn't value their currency at anywhere near the value that the socialist government decrees, and it's illegal to sell goods at a price that's based on the real cost.

But leftists here say no, no, socialism isn't the problem, the problem is corruption. So how does that work? Maduro ate all of the food? That's why he's so fat?

Venezuelans are storming supermarkets and attacking trucks as food supplies dwindle