Rick Lowe
You might remember this post from July 2010 bemoaning the fact that price conols should be abolished.
Well on Sunday, one of my favourite blogs, Carpe Diem, by Dr. Mark J. Perry, reported on the chronic food shortages Venezuela is having due to government price controls.
He points to this April article in the New York Times about the problems, from which I quote:
"Venezuela is one of the world’s top oil producers at a time of soaring energy prices, yet shortages of staples like milk, meat and toilet paper are a chronic part of life here, often turning grocery shopping into a hit or miss proposition."
The shelves at a downtown Caracas grocery store were almost stripped bare of Harina Pan, a popular brand of flour.Credit: Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
"At the heart of the debate is President Hugo Chávez’s socialist-inspired government, which imposes strict price controls that are intended to make a range of foods and other goods more affordable for the poor. They are often the very products that are the hardest to find."
So the people of Venezuela are faced with the same issue with food as the people of the US faced in the 1970's when price controls were implemented on gasoline - long lines and limited product.
Shortages caused by price controls have been ongoing for 4,000 years. You would think we would have learned by now?
