My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
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Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#2I'm curious about the pictures of stores with "good selections at high prices". Is there split market like the former USSR where stores without price constraints are selling at higher prices but have a wider selection? One of the challenges there was that suppliers would divert their supplies to the "open price" stores because it made them more money, is that what is going on in Venezula?
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#3I'm curious about the pictures of stores with "good selections at high prices". Is there split market like the former USSR where stores without price constraints are selling at higher prices but have a wider selection? One of the challenges there was that suppliers would divert their supplies to the "open price" stores because it made them more money, is that what is going on in Venezula?
It probably has to do with stocking times would be my guess. (i.e. If you get one shipment a week, the day it arrives and ends up on the shelves you look full...by the end of the week, well, you've got almost nothing since you aren't able to get any reserves)
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matte...
> But despite the severe scarcity Venezuelans are not going hungry. The Food and Agriculture Organisation has said that the Latin American nation more than halved malnutrition indices to less than 5% since Chávez came to power. It gives partial credit to the government-run network of food distribution chains known as Mercal, which delivers subsidised food in shops across the country. And yet food has gone missing, and queues outside food shops often wrap around the block.
It also is probably the difference b/t government and non-government stores to a degree but the real culprit seems to be:
> For Oliveros, an additional cause for the shortage of basic food staples is the decrease in agricultural production resulting from seized companies and land expropriations. "More than 3m hectares were expropriated during 2004-2010. That and overvalued exchange rate destroyed agriculture. It's cheaper to import than it is to produce. That's a perverse model that kills off any productivity," he says.
They destroyed their agricultural system years ago and the government just can't afford to keep spending like they used to with the oil prices where they are now.
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#4I highly recommend reading Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng [0]. It's a factual, first-hand account of the China's Cultural Revolution and what living in a communist / socialist society is really like from an educated person's perspective. My inlaws escaped Saigon when it fell and say the picture is very accurate.
The socialist downfall of countries are all unique, but follow similar paths. I encourage people to understand the causes of them and how brutal and arbitrary these governments are.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_and_Death_in_Shanghai
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#5Sometimes I wonder if all of the online computers, internet, apps and other stuff makes any sense. We have complicated our lives unnecessarily and multiplied beyond the capacity of our plant to hold us meaningfully or have a life with any semblance of contemplation.
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#6I'm curious about the pictures of stores with "good selections at high prices". Is there split market like the former USSR where stores without price constraints are selling at higher prices but have a wider selection? One of the challenges there was that suppliers would divert their supplies to the "open price" stores because it made them more money, is that what is going on in Venezula?
One of the captions says:
Store shelves that are well-stocked, like those in this bakery near Zerpa’s house, are typically full of non-essential items set at sky-high prices
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#7Shouldn't rural farmers be making a killing in these conditions? (eg. give me USD or your old iPhone/car and I'll deliver you homemade milk and bread for X months)
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#8Socialism at its finest
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#9And Chavez's daughter is now reported to be the Richest person in Venezuela:
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/71424/20150812/maria-gabri...
Re: My Venezuela Nightmare: A 30-Day Hunt for Food in a Starving Land
#10Sometimes I wonder if all of the online computers, internet, apps and other stuff makes any sense. We have complicated our lives unnecessarily and multiplied beyond the capacity of our plant to hold us meaningfully or have a life with any semblance of contemplation.
What makes online computers & etc different? You could say that about many technologies, even about agriculture. Life was much simpler and sustainable when we were hunter-gatherers (I'm being sincere, not facetious).
In my opinion, whether they are "necessary" is irrelevant (by objective measures, most things aren't) and simplicity is not a meaningful goal in itself.