Venezuela issues ID cards to curtail food hoarding

Associated Press ^ | 9:31 P.M.MARCH 31, 2014 | HANNAH DREIER

[Caipirabob]

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it.

President Nicolas Maduro's administration says the cards to track families' purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it's another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction.

[MrB]

Obama is the melanin-based criticism shield for the communists that back him to implement their policies and destroy America.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Caipirabob.

[null and void]

That be RACIS!

[Buckeye McFrog]

They should make the cards edible. Two birds.

hmmmm....does Venezuela have an edible underwear factory they could seize?

[Phillyred]

I am sure this social justice claptrap sounded soooooo cooooool and hip - Hope and changelike - 20 years ago.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I don’t even think Venezuela is still oil-rich, as far as actual production goes.

[Freelance Warrior]

Classic food cards and black market. Are they having a revolution or a war?

[Georgia Girl 2]

If we don’t stop the EPA and FDA we will be in the same boat here. Hoard up while the hoarding is good. :-)

[grundle]

Checkout workers at Abastos Bicentenario were taking down customers' cellphone numbers Monday, to ensure they couldn't return for eight days. Shoppers said employees also banned purchases by minors, to stop parents from using their children to engage in hoarding, which the government calls "nervous buying."

"People who go shopping every day hurt us all," he said, drawing approving nods from the friends he made over the course of his afternoon slowly snaking through the aisles with his oversized cart.

What nonsense. This is not the fault of the shoppers. Get rid of the price controls, and return the stores and farms back to the private sector, and these problems will go away.

[GeronL]

Now they will monitor how much food people are buying instead of repairing their broken system that caused the shortages

[GeronL]

Exactly

[greeneyes]

Grow your own food. Use heirloom seeds, and save them for next year. No purchase necessary. Might have to hide the garden from sight.

[SisterK]

And more: tracking purchases. Once your stock is up to a certain level, it might be prudent to pay cash, and to not belong to a store card club. Afterall, food hoarding laws are here, they just aren’t enforced. Yet.

[SisterK]

That’s right. We practiced this once, during WWII, with the ration card.