The New American Socialist Republic

Van Helsing looks into our future via Venezuela:

You don't need a crystal ball to see our government-run future — just a ticket to Venezuela, where Obama prototype Hugo Chavez is several years ahead of us in replacing the free market with coercive moonbattery. His latest misadventure is a new series of stores:

President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday announced a new chain of government-run, cut-rate retail stores that will sell everything from food to cars to clothing from places such as China, Argentina and Bolivia.

"We're creating Comerso, meaning Socialist Corporation of Markets," Chavez said at the opening of a "socialist" fast-food location for traditional Venezuelan arepas (cornbread).

"They'll see what's good. We'll show them what a real market is all about, not those speculative, money-grubbing markets, but a market for the people," said Chavez in his drive to change Venezuela from a market-based economy to a socialist one.

"Money-grubbing" refers to the phenomenon of supply and demand, which allows the market to spontaneously supply a sufficient quantity of what people actually want. But of course, our socialist rulers know what we ought to want, which is much more important.
Another aspect of economics loathed by leftists is free trade, which increases the wealth for everyone, thus making people less dependent on Big Government. Here's how Chavez battles it:

In his effort to break Venezuela's dependency on foreign goods, Chavez in May launched the Movilnet cell phone company that makes the "Vergatario," a locally made [from Chinese parts] mobile that sells for 13.95 dollars but that few stores have in stock.

More on the Vergatario, from last May:

It is perhaps the world's cheapest mobile phone. It is the latest offering from Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution. And its name is derived from a slang word for penis. Behold the Vergatorio. …

Priced just $15 (nearly £10), the phone has a camera, WAP internet access, FM radio and MP3 and MP4 players for music and videos.

Wow, what a deal. It's the magic of moonbat economics in action.

A government subsidy which cut the retail price to a quarter of the manufacturing cost is likely to make the Vergatario an immediate hit.

If you understand why few stores have any in stock, you are officially too intelligent to qualify as a liberal.