Venezuela Bans Lines Outside of Bakeries

[jonno99]

Somebody - please help me understand the logic of this...
https://panampost.com/sabrina-martin/2016/08/19/venezuela-bans-lines-outside-of-bakeries-that-spread-anxiety/

[Warpy]

1. No lines, no photographs of lines

It looks bad, you know. So instead of working hard to increase the supplies of bread and the items to make it, Maduro has just decided to make the lines go away. I suppose people will line up down the street. A line outside a beauty salon down the street won't look as bad.

Things should be looking up by now, the price of oil has risen enough to put the price of a gallon of gas here in NM over two bucks. It's come up considerably since last winter. Venezuela should be seeing a better trade balance by now.

[FBaggins]

2. Without any specific knowledge... I can probably guess what's going on

Bread (as a staple item) is almost certainly price-controlled - likely at prices so low that the bakery loses money on each loaf.

Cookies/pies and similar baked goods probably aren't price-controlled - so that's where the flour is going.

This simple econ 101 example that would, of course, be called capitalist manipulation by bourgeois industrialists (almost certainly at the command of the CIA).

It's as predictable as water flowing downhill... yet they think that they can influence gravity by fiat.

[Warpy]

3. The price of flour is controlled. The price of bread isn't.

The problem is that Venezuela has always imported most of its food, the high price of petroleum supporting it.

Most of the land reforms of the Chavez era were dedicated to getting fallow land away from the big colonial landowners and turning it over to people who would put it into production. That reform was plagued by bureaucratic stalling and the reluctance of banks to lend money to new farmers who didn't have clear title due to bureaucratic stalling. Perhaps in another 10 years or so, those reforms will have worked well enough that the country will be growing at least some of its own food. Unfortunately, the price of petroleum crashed before that had a chance to happen.

Wealthier Venezuelans have turned to black market goods from Colombia, especially, but with the economy continuing to sour, those goods have become increasingly unaffordable.

Most people stand in multiple lines for hours and hours every day, trying to find that elusive roll of toilet paper, enough milk for the kids, and occasional piece of meat. Most come up empty as less and less of these rationed items can be found, mostly thanks to the crash in oil prices.

[Marksman_91]

4. Venezuela's shortages and problems started before the oil price drop

If you're blaming oil price drops for Venezuela's problems, you haven't really been paying attention to it.

Ps. I'm a Venezuelan who was born and raised in Caracas