Socialism working its magic again...

Have you been keeping up with the ongoing socialist experiment on human beings in Venezuela?  Like all such experiments, it has headed down all the old familiar tracks, arriving now at a sever shortage of staple foods and medicines and an increasing aggressiveness to control it.

Latest news:

• Over the last year there have been long queues at supermarkets because of widespread shortages of basic goods.
• Last month the owners of several chains of supermarkets and drugstores were arrested for allegedly artificially creating long queues by not opening enough tills.
• The lack of staple foods and medicines has contributed to discontent and to frequent large, often violent anti-government demonstrations.

Today, the government announced its latest measures to repair the disaster.

Will they be releasing the price controls on basic goods that has been causing their shortages? Of course not. Will they be freeing up producers of basic goods so they can supply them without fear of their businesses and supply chains being destroyed by government action? Will they hell.

No, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has announced instead is they will “begin installing about 20,000 fingerprint scanners at supermarkets across the country.”

This, he says, will stop what he claims is the primary cause of shortages: Colombian food smugglers.

It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. And so goddamned predictable.

Cartoon by Cox and Forkum. Cover image from ‘Free Radical’ magazine.