Where Socialism Leads

As the Instapundit likes to remind us, "socialism means standing in line."  However, sometimes--think Cuba or Cambodia or North Korea--sometimes socialism means "citizens are required to work in the fields for harvest".  Add Venezuela to that list:

With the Venezuelan economy predicted to shrink 10% this year and an anticipated inflation rate of 700%, the government of President Nicolas Maduro has been ruling by executive decree.

The country is currently mired in a food crisis of unprecedented proportions. Severe shortages of basics like milk, eggs, and flour have driven tens of thousands of citizens across the border into Colombia searching for food. At the sight of shelves full of food, they weep.

The crisis goes beyond food shortages. CNN Money reports:

Venezuela is deep into a humanitarian crisis -- people are dying in ill-equipped hospitals and many live without basic food items. Venezuela can't pay to import goods because its government is desperately strapped for cash after years of mismanagement of its funds, heavy spending on poorly-run government programs, and lack of investment on its oil fields.

International humanitarian organizations have been mostly blocked from assisting because Maduro doesn't trust them. Instead, Maduro issued a decree recently ordering citizens to leave their jobs in the private sector to be put to work in the fields....

Socialism doesn't work, and the more extreme the socialism, the less it works.

I remember Hugo Chavez' "sulfur" and "devil" comments directed at President Bush when Chavez spoke at the United Nations a decade or so ago.  He was one banging shoe away from "We will bury you", but like Krushchev, he turned out to be wrong.