True enough. I remember reading about the Russian people when they first got their first taste of capitalism. They would take an eternity to make a decision with something as seeming simple as which cheese to buy at the local super market. They must have been surprised that there was an alternative to government cheese.
People in Venezuela today know what they are losing and are too sheep-like to do anything about it.
This rationing is not because of the lack of rainfall, many of the turbines in that dam are broken. There is no money to fix them, or the transmission lines or the distribution system.
All of that money to be spent on upgrading the system was taken and spent elsewhere for a decade, where are the new power plants in this gas/oil rich nation?
Now there will be blackouts, without notices. This means the businesses that are left will face unpredictable power outages, product will spoil, workers stay home, prices increases. Costs increase, prices must stay the same by law.
Soon the only business will be government owned Hugo Marts, with heavy military presence checking ration cards for whatever food happens to be in stock, which will also be unpredictable and sporadic. Like everything else Hugo Chavez touches.
I read a blog from Vebezuela that says a newscaster or someone got on TV and begged for them not to black out the baseball games.
Circuses, with or without the bread.
I heard a first hand account of this. An old boss of mine was at a cocktail party back in the 1990s and a woman pulled her aside. It was laundry soap she asked about. She simply could not figure out what to purchase. There was never a choice before she said. You went to the state store and you bought THE laundry soap (when they had it), what were the differences. My boss said she was honestly at her wit’s end over it .
I had a friend who went to Med school in Poland in the late 1970’s early 80’s. Met a girl and brought her back as his wife. The first time she went to the grocery store in Chicago she took one look at the meat counter and burst into tears, just overcome by the volume and availability.