Just a note on the issue of Price Controls on Food which has been much in the news recently.

I’ve been chatting with a friend who escaped Venezuela when the economy collapsed there and only slightly before the worst of the repression began.

The day Price Controls on Food were announced is considered by most Venezuelans to be the day that the collapse of the economy truly began. Within days food began to disappear from the grocery stores and marketplaces. Within a month the government tried to ban grocery stores from closing which was meaningless since they had nothing to sell. It cost more to purchase the items than they were allowed to charge for them.

Since then food is primarily a Black Market item. There has been some improvement but it is primarily in the major cities especially ones where tourists visit. In the rest of the country food is still scare and expensive.

Keep any eye on the issue. The day Price Controls on Food are announced run, don’t walk, to the nearest grocery stores. Take a trailer, an SUV or pickup truck. Load up on as many long term storable groceries as you can, canned goods, dried beans and rice, pasta and any other shelf stable things that you will eat. That is certainly what we intend to do.

Bit late in the season for gardening for most folks but most people can plant tomato plants in containers as well as herbs and spices to improve beans and rice.

I’m 73 and I never thought I’d live to see something like Price Controls on food in the U.S.  being seriously discussed much less promised. Like Forrest Gump said “You never know what you’re going to get.”

The Librarian