The so-called “Socialist Paradise” of Venezuela is on the brink of economic collapse. Rampant price controls, falling oil prices, expanding money supplies and excessive government force have created a situation where the entire population is suffering, and there doesn’t appear to be any respite in sight.
On-the-ground reports and videos show Venezuelan consumers lining up blocks at a time to purchase the basic necessities: rice, baby diapers, toilet paper and bread. Sometimes, however, the lineups get too large that by the time the last person arrives to the front door of a supermarket either it is closed or the supplies have been eviscerated and they have to resort to starvation.
According to Reuters, there is a new profession being created across the Latin American country: standing in line.
It is reported that the job consists of standing in line at the brink of dawn and for hours at a time under the hot sun, while also trying to either bribe or avoid police. By the end of it all, the individual sells the much sought after spot at the front of the big shopping lines. There is very high demand for this newfound profession and the pay is quite good.
This is what happens when a government imposes price controls and subsidizes food. However, the video report didn’t lambast this type of government intervention but rather attempted to make it about income inequality.
Venezuela, which was also a beacon of crime for years, is now engulfed with robberies and crime sprees. The main target isn’t a bank or a jewelry store, but rather a grocery store. The government has ordered National Guard troops to protect supermarkets.
“It’s become a security problem to bring trucks to big supermarket stores,” said Arsenio Manzanares, who heads a Venezuelan truckers’ union, in an interview with the newswire. “This wasn’t a problem before, but now with these queues, people see a truck and they lunge for it.”
Due to the high rates of robbery, deliveries have been on the decline. Many drivers report to being robbed as many as five times. “I’m nervous. It’s more dangerous by the day, but I don’t have an alternative,” said one truck driver.
One way to combat food shortages has been to issue its citizens “ration cards.” As we reported last year:
“The government is now ordering a new electronic identification system for shoppers in order to guard against purchases of large quantities of food at government-set prices which are then sold in the underground economy.”
At the same time, the OPEC nation is experiencing price inflation of 60 percent.
The United States has seen first hand what happens when the government starts instituting price and wage controls: utter chaos.
“Maduro, Fidel Castro and Chavez murdered my country. Sooner or later, the poor will turn on Maduro completely and he’ll be hung from the Presidential palace gate.” (anonymous Venezuelan expat interviewed by Miami Herald)