Free Republic

Five years ago, Lois O’Neill found herself at a dead end. Her life had come down to a divorce, an unrewarding office job and three children to put through college. So, she took a small inheritance and bought a bread delivery route in Bergen County, New Jersey, for $18,000. She began going to work at 1:00 A.M., seven days a week, wearing a sweat suit rather than the high heels to which she was accustomed. It paid off. By dint of hard work, she increased her number of stops to 45 from 20, thereby raising her annual income to $80,000...

Hugo Chavez recently started a state-owned food distributorship. In the past three days, Venezuelan troops started stocking their warehouses with product. Unfortunately for Venezuela's private-sector distributor, the troops simply confiscated Alimentos Polar trucks and their shipments to do so: Venezuela's top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez's campaign to stem shortages. The leftist Chavez this week created a state food distributor and loosened some price controls, seeking to end months of shortages for staples like milk and eggs that have caused long lines...