Venezuela Runs Out of Toilet Paper, Achieves True Socialism

[Suzanimal]

In 1990 I went to a Cato Institute conference in what was then still the Soviet Union. We were told to bring our own toilet paper, which was in fact useful advice.

Now, after only 16 years of Chavista rule, Venezuela has demonstrated that “Socialism of the 21st Century” is pretty much like socialism in the 20th century. Fusion reports:

Venezuela’s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday….

“It’s an extreme situation,” says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. “For over a year we haven’t had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared.”…

Montilla says bigger hotels can circumvent product shortages by buying toilet paper and other basic supplies from black market smugglers who charge up to 6-times the regular price. But smaller, family-run hotels can’t always afford to pay such steep prices, which means that sometimes they have to make do without.

Camacho says she refuses to buy toilet paper from the black market on principle.

“In the black market you have to pay 110 bolivares [$0.50] for a roll of toilet paper that usually costs 17 bolivares [$ 0.08] in the supermarket,” Camacho told Fusion. “We don’t want to participate in the corruption of the black market, and I don’t have four hours a day to line up for toilet paper” at a supermarket….

Recently, Venezuelan officials have been stopping people from transporting essential goods across the country in an effort to stem the flow of contraband. So now Camacho’s guests could potentially have their toilet paper confiscated before they even make it to the hotel.
Shortages, queues, black markets, and official theft. And blaming the CIA. Yes, Venezuela has truly achieved socialism.

But what I never understood is this: Why toilet paper? How hard is it to make toilet paper? I can understand a socialist economy having trouble producing decent cars or computers. But toilet paper? Pantyhose? And soap? And matches?

Sure, it’s been said that if you tried communism in the Sahara, you’d get a shortage of sand. Still, a shortage of paper seems like a real achievement.

http://fee.org/blog/detail/venezuela...true-socialism

[The Gold Standard]

Camacho says she refuses to buy toilet paper from the black market on principle.

Then wipe your ass with a corn cob and quit crying. Or do they even have corn there?

[presence]

black market = free market

[Carlybee]

Venezuela reaches the final stage of socialism: no toilet paper

In 1990 I went to a Cato Institute conference in what was then still the Soviet Union. We were told to bring our own toilet paper, which was in fact useful advice.

Now, after only 16 years of Chavista rule, Venezuela has demonstrated that "Socialism of the 21st Century" is pretty much like socialism in the 20th century. Fusion reports:

Venezuela's product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday….
"It's an extreme situation," says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. "For over a year we haven't had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared."…
Montilla says bigger hotels can circumvent product shortages by buying toilet paper and other basic supplies from black market smugglers who charge up to 6-times the regular price. But smaller, family-run hotels can't always afford to pay such steep prices, which means that sometimes they have to make do without.


Read more: http://www.cato.org/blog/venezuela-r...#ixzz3Wm11dsXF

[2young2vote]

$.50 for a roll of toilet paper on the black market doesn't seem like very much, and $.08 is even cheaper than what I can get in the store (is this the government subsidized TP?). The market will always find a way.

[AngryCanadian]

Ah yes Cato Institute. The wonders of nature whom love wars and regime changes as long if you arent Pro American.

[fr33]

The socialists want you to turn off your lights, stop wiping your ass, and become extinct. That's environmentalism in a nutshell.

[Spikender]

There needs to be a way to get a mass of people who are so obviously oppressed to just rise up and dethrone their corrupt Statist rulers instead of leaving them to sit on their ass and complain about it.

That goes for any country, including mine. Cuz I'm guilty of it too. But when it's getting so bad you can't even clean out your asscrack, it's time for a revolt.

[osan]

http://fee.org/blog/detail/venezuela...true-socialism

This is absolutely wonderful news. We ought to pray that things become even more socialist in good old Venezuela. Let us have an example of how things go when a government, however "well" intentioned <wink> <nudge>, goes all the way against an unarmed populace.

It is something of a shame that this makes no headlines here. It would be most interesting to see what desperate measure the collectivist authoritarian apologists would take to spin this all purty. It appears to have become a hobby of sorts for me to seek out and amuse myself with the antics of these endlessly entertaining lowatt intellects. How far will they go? Is there any depth of contemptible transparency to which they will not stoop in their offerings of tortured fallacy and outright lies in their frenzied attempts to cling to the bankrupt and patently ridiculous beliefs to which they have wed themselves?

As an aside, when my two closest friends went there about 20 years ago, a 9 year old boy robbed them at the end of a 9mm pistol for... <drumroll>

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

Their shoe laces.

I kid you not. This was not but a few minutes after emerging from the airport.

Hey, he could have taken their money. Perhaps Chavism is onto something.

[Paul Or Nothing II]

Oh, the wonders of socialist controls!

black market = free market

+1

Yes, when socialist governments try to control markets, markets find a way to free themselves.

[Ronin Truth]

Not if the President has any TP.