Defenders of markets usually speak in the language of economics, while defenders of socialism speak in the language of morality. The problem is that most defenders of markets–from Adam Smith to F. A. Hayek to Milton Friedman to my own mentor David Schmidtz–concede the moral high ground to socialism. They admit that the market is …
Blackouts in Venezuela
If you are a Venezuelan citizen, you might be forgiven for thinking that it's not even close to being 2014 for your country: Large parts of Venezuela, including the capital city, were plunged into darkness Monday night after a power outage, government officials said, in what appeared to be the latest failure of the nation's …
“This Is Legalized Looting”
When the Venezuelan regime gets in a hole, it keeps digging: The Venezuelan government has expanded the scope of a crackdown on soaring inflation after sending troops into appliance stores over the weekend to slash prices. Large, sometimes unruly crowds massed outside such chain stores, hoping to take advantage of huge markdowns mandated by the …
The Venezuelan Government Believes that Shooting Yourself In One Foot Is Not Enough
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro--who is Hugo Chávez without the charisma, and with an even more diminished intellect--believes (or would have Venezuelans believe) that the key to economic growth in Venezuela is to have the government occupy stores in the country with military forces, and then compel the stores to sell their products at below-the-center-of-the-earth prices. Apparently, he doesn't …
Speaking of Bad Health Care Policies . . .
Remember when countries like Venezuela and Cuba were said to be pioneers in health care reform? Boy, those were the days: Evelina Gonzalez was supposed to undergo cancer surgery in July following chemotherapy but wound up shuttling from hospital to hospital in search of an available operating table. On the crest of her left breast, …
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I Am Sure that This Is a Sign of a Thriving Society
Everything is going just fine in Venezuela. What could make anyone think otherwise? Oh. A Venezuelan state agency on Friday ordered the temporary takeover of a factory that produces toilet paper in what it called an effort to ensure consistent supplies after embarrassing shortages earlier this year. Critics of President Nicolas Maduro say the nagging …
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Of Venezuela and Toilet Paper
For those who think that all has gone swimmingly in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, I give you this.I'll spare you the obvious jokes that I could make about this situation; this is a family blog, after all, and one tries to keep things clean. I will note, however, that if the Venezuelan …
Pejman Yousefzadeh 