Posted on 02/15/2016 6:01:16 AM PST by HomerBohn
Venezuela is out of food.
After several years of long lines, rationing, and shortages, the socialist country does not have enough food to feed its population, and the opposition government has declared a "nutritional emergency." This is just the most recent nail in the beleaguered country's slow, painful economic collapse.
Many people expect an economic collapse to be shocking, instant, and dramatic but, really, it's far more gradual than that. It looks like empty shelves, long lines, desperate government officials trying to cover their tushes, and hungry people. For the past two years, I've been following the situation in Venezuela as each shocking event has unfolded. Americans who feel that our country would be better served by a socialist government would be wise to take note of this timeline of the collapse.
A quick review: Why Venezuela Is Out of Food
In 2013, many began to suspect that the outlook for Venezuela was grim when prepping became illegal. The Attorney General of Venezuela, Luisa Ortega DÃaz, called on prosecutors to target people who are "hoarding" basic staples with serious sanctions.
Shortly thereafter, grocery stores instituted a fingerprint registry to purchase food and supplies. Families had to register and were allotted a certain amount of supplies to prevent "hoarding."
Then, just over a year ago, it became even more apparent that the country was falling when long lines for basic necessities such as laundry soap, diapers, and food became the norm rather than the exception. Thousands of people were standing in line for 5-6 hours in the hopes that they would be able to purchase a few much-needed items.
Shortly after the story broke to the rest of the world, the propaganda machine shifted into high gear. As the government began to ration electricity, it was announced that this was not due to economic reasons at all, but instead was a measure of their great concern for the environment.
As the situation continued to devolve, farmers in Venezuela were forced to hand over their crops last summer. They assumed control of essential goods like food, and began putting retail outlets out of business. Then, once they had control of the sales outlets, they began forcing farmers and food manufacturers to sell anywhere from 30-100% of their products to the state at the price the state opted to pay, as opposed to stores and supermarkets.
But that wasn't enough to keep the population fed. (Isn't it astonishing how much less motivated people are to produce food and supplies when they are no longer allowed to benefit from their hard work? Historically, collectivism and farming have never gone successfully hand in hand.) This January, the government told citizens that they would need to produce their own food. The Ministry of Urban Farming was created to oversee this. While self-reliance sounds great, it isn't so great in Venezuela. Just so the urban farmers don't get too self-reliant, a registry of the crops and livestock will be required. (And obviously, they've already proven that they have no issue forcing farmers to hand over what they've produced.)
Now, it looks like all of the socialist measures and forced food production haven't been enough to keep the people of Venezuela fed. The country is in so much trouble now that it isn't possible to cover it up with propaganda.
According to Breitbart.com, lawmakers have learned nothing.
Socialist legislators are hoping to manipulate the initiative in the other direction, and use it to expand government control of private food enterprises. Legislator Héctor RodrÃguez has insisted that the economic emergency "does absolutely nothing," and the government should impose itself on private enterprises. Another socialist legislator, Ricardo Molina, is calling for the government to expropriate Polar, Venezuela's largest private food corporation: "we have to intervene on private sector enterprises."
Venezuela previously forced a Polar food distribution center in Caracas to shut down in July, putting 12,000 tons of food, six million liters of soft drinks, and 2,000 jobs at risk.
And now, the announcement of the "nutritional emergency" makes it official. Venezuela is out of food, and it's only a matter of time before Venezuelans are quite literally starving due to a long series of terrible decisions by their leaders.
Prep before it happens
Not to worry. Congress has given him ample time to complete the destruction of America.
But Bernie Sanders assures us that this time Socialism will work!
The net result for the morons who want to “Feel the Bern”...
What a Bernie Sanders ad.
It seems to work here because the prisoners of the food deserts can shop outside the perimeter (with money provided by those outside the deserts). Venezuela is now the largest leftist food desert in the world...
Bernie Sanders' socialist dream for Amerika.
The ONLY good thing about an outcome like this is that if it happened here, we wouldn't have to argue to term limits because the incumbents would be on the run or in hiding.
Wow, I truly feel for the people going hungry, especially children. I hope the Venezuelan people can find the strength to rise up and throw off the yoke of socialism. This serves as a warning for us, no wonder there’s not a peep from the MSM.
It’s always good to have a running example of socialism in action to provide a lesson to the rest of the world
Venezuela (prior to Socialism) was a huge exporter of food.
As someone who had my children many years ago I’m always astonished when I see mention of “long lines for diapers”
How lazy can people be?
.
Hungry people are easier to control.
If by some chance Sanders gets the nomination, the Republican nominee has a mountain of material to take advantage of.
They will flee to America.
Socialism/communism is just some people promising the moon and spreading misery and killing people so that they get to ride in the government limousines and live in the presidential palace.
Time to contact Bob Geldof and round up “Band Aid” - that’ll do the trick! (We all know how well leftist rock musicians did in defeating socialist poverty and starvation in Ethiopia).
Ya had to say “Big Mac”! You know Laz reads these threads, right?
Socialism/communism always fails, but socialists/communists always justify it, saying that they weren’t socialist/communist enough.
Then they take the socialism/communism up a notch, and that fails too, prompting them to say that they weren’t socialist/communist enough.
And the cycle continues without end.
In Venezuela the takers far outnumber the producers. We don't quite have that here...yet.
The numbers of takers is ever growing, and the Dems want to flood us with more of them.
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