Nobrainer’s Think Tank

Chavez is en route to destroying his country. That pretty much sucks for low class Venezuelans, but it is great news for me and all Americans.

• He loves to hear himself speak
• He provides great sound bites
• He convinces a large number of Americans that his ideas are good
• Meanwhile his policy of redistribution fails miserably and creates a very visible representation of why Americans don’t really want socialism

Now he’s apparently moving quickly with conceptual plans for “social, or collective, property.” The goal is to seize private property, redistribute it, and form collectives to be “managed by workers who share profits.”

It reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

It also reminds of Zimbabwe, where “Wonderful Bobby” Mugabe took the land away from people who knew how to grow things like food — I call them “farmers” — and distributed the land to poor desperate souls who didn’t have much of a clue how to grow things. That is always a winning plan for creating an abundant food crop.

In addition to land, Chavez also nationalized the “telecommunications company and the electricity sector, and imposing greater state control over the oil and natural gas industries,” but you already knew that. He’s also planning to increase luxury taxes and do away with those silly presidential term limits.

Of course a few realistic folks are questioning the results of his oh-so-good-intentions:

“If Mr. Chavez really wants to help Venezuela’s poor farmers, he must offer them technical assistance and sufficient financing because land doesn’t become productive without investment,” said opposition leader Alfonzo Marquina. “We’re only seeing increasing shortages and more expensive products.” [emphasis mine]

But hey, despite severe restrictions of the press, “[s]upporters say Venezuela’s democracy is as healthy as ever.” Admittedly, I’m not sure what the benchmark for Venezuelan democracy is. The supporters also really appreciate Chavez’s initiatives.

Oh well, as long as the people of Venezuela are content with waiting for Chavez’s initiatives to work and/or for him to die, it’s really none of my business.