Coffeeless Communism

Hugo Chavez, the "good" socialist, was somehow able to cause a shortage of coffee in Venezuela - a country that exports coffee:

An attempt by Venezuela's left wing president, Hugo Chávez, to double the price that coffee producers pay farmers for a sack of beans has led to empty shelves in supermarkets throughout the country and fears of shortages of other basic foodstuffs.
President Chávez, who maintains price controls on basic foodstuffs, raised the price of coffee beans by 100% last month after weeks of protests by coffee farmers..... Some owners of street cafes in Caracas said they would run out of coffee within days if the government and coffee producers did not reach an agreement. Venezuelans love their morning cup of coffee and there was growing unease among office workers yesterday that their daily shot of espresso or cappuccino might soon be unavailable.
"I come here every day on the way to work," said Julio Vivas, who works in a bank. "The way things are going with the milk, sugar and coffee shortages, it's only a matter of time before we can say goodbye to our milk coffee with sugar." (AdamSmithBlog)

Liberals and free marketeers saw this coming. Apparently, Chavez wants to give one more try at a system that has been proven not to work a dozen times before. In fact, socialism is so heinous that even a small country of Guyana can't swallow it. The left and their fellow socialists will try to hide these issues and other bad news from Venezuela and keep hailing Chavez for his poor attempts to run a country.

Economy isn't the only area where Hugo is screwing the system. Hugo is actively bringing down democracy and liberalism in Venezuela. Check this excellent article in Foreign Policy magazine.

Aiheesta kirjoitti myös Pikkupoika.

Another noteworthy news item is an article in The American Enterprise (another one from the same issue here), a neoconservative magazine, on America's growing public spending during the "small government" Republicans. The negative effects of this exaggerated and ineffective public spending are already apparent. Check this small Reason article on public education in America.