Obama loves socialism...
Forcing stores to sell their merchandise for a price that the owners say will put them out of business may sound like a bad idea, but President Nicola Maduro is not angling to improve the economy, Venezuelans say.
"This is going to help him and his party,'' says Alfredo Ramos , a political science professor at the University of the Andes in Merida.
Thousands of people have lined up in front of electronics stores and hardware stores that have been ordered by Maduro to empty their inventories at cut-rate prices.
Maria Davila felt like a winner after emerging from the Traki department store with clothes for herself and her husband, as well as toys for their four children.
Davila spent 14 hours in line to make her purchases after the store reduced prices by up to 70% on merchandise to comply with Maduro's crusade against the country's "parasitical bourgeoisie."
"It was well worth the wait," Davila, 42, says of her ordeal. "I saved so much money. I feel like I won the lottery."
Taking a page out of the late Hugo Chavez's populist playbook, Maduro is attacking the country's producers and businesses to boost his United Socialist Party of Venezuela for local elections Dec. 8.
His orders may be followed by more.
On Tuesday night, Venezuelan lawmakers gave Maduro the power to enact law without legislative approval.
Maduro said he will use the authority to create a new state body to oversee Venezuela's currency controls that have led to widespread inflation and shortage of basic goods.
He also said he will order that corporations slash their profit margins by up to 30%.
His party is hoping the moves will revive its chances in the upcoming elections for about 370 mayors and city council members.
The opposition has cast the vote as a referendum on Maduro and his policies, which have thus far been unable to prevent record inflation and a shortage in goods like food, cooking oil and even toilet paper.
Before Maduro's seizure of the Daka electronics chain 10 days ago and selling its inventory at a deep discount, the opposition had been poised to do well, capitalizing on the country's soaring inflation and widespread food shortages.
A survey by polling firm Datanalisis for Sept. 23-Oct. 2 showed that 54% of those polled rated Maduro's job performance as negative, compared with 41% who rated his job performance as positive.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/20/venezuela-store-seizures-price-drops/3649697/
