A Day of Tears After Chavez Death in Venezuela

[Catherina]

9. Here's more for you. Protecting the poor

February 2007

President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.

Major private supermarkets suspended sales of beef earlier this week after one chain was shut down for 48 hours for pricing meat above government-set levels, but an agreement reached with the government on Wednesday night promises to return meat to empty refrigerator shelves.

Shortages have sporadically appeared with items from milk to coffee since early 2003, when Chavez began regulating prices for 400 basic products as a way to counter inflation and protect the poor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020801240.html

I think you already know I'm as left as they come. I don't believe middlemen should be able to speculate and profit on necessities for basic needs of life such as food, shelter, water, health. A huge turning point in my life was when someone asked me "Where does the profit come from?". When you keep that question in mind and look at all the homeless and hungry, it helps you see how obscene and exploitative our capitalist model is. I finally got my answer, not from books, but from traveling and watching and reading- the profit comes on the backs of the poor.