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August 24, 2007
Venezuela Under Chavez: Totalitarianism Meets Anarchy
Posted by Dave Blount at August 24, 2007 7:13 AM
An irony of moonbattery is the close relationship between totalitarianism (ubiqitous government) and anarchy (absence of government), polar opposites that bleed into each other. For example, the sort of unwashed hooligans who stage riots at WTO meetings often refer to themselves as anarchists — yet to the extent they have any coherent ideology, it most closely resembles Stalinism. Another example is the authoritarian regime of Hugo Chavez. The more he tightens his grip on power, the more Venezuela dissolves into anarchy.
The streets of Venezuela are out of control — and according to the Financial Times, the economy may soon be as well:
President Hugo Chávez's tightening grip over Venezuela's economy is generating distortions that economists fear could, paradoxically, eventually lead to a loss of control.
Price controls, currency controls and negative real interest rates are just some of the elements that have contributed to one of the highest rates of inflation in the world and a substantially overvalued exchange rate.
The economy is ever more dependent on the high price of oil. If that falls, so will Venezuela — into economic chaos.
If things get bad enough, they could always try freedom. It works for America,
