An Atlas Shrugged Moment For Venezuela

By Author: Rob Thomas
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In Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the productive members of society are crowded out by bureaucrats and politicians until finally the national rail system becomes unsafe to travel upon due to a lack of skilled maintenance personnel. The politicos whine and scream for the system to be fixed, but they don't have the technical know-how to understand what needs to be done. More importantly, they don't have the respect for intelligence, hard work, and technology. They just assume that they can get whatever they want by bullying people with knowledge and skills.

Venezuela is heading towards an Any Rand moment, not in their rails system, but in their electricity system. The country, which possesses huge oil reserves, uses hydroelectric power to provide 73% of the countries electricity. In effect, the Chavez regime is living off the hard work of the people who built the Guri Dam. Unfortunately for Chavez and the people of Venezuela, the dam doesn't provide an unlimited supply of power. Growing requirements for electricity and low rainfalls could mean that the turbines will fail this Spring, leaving much of Venezuela without ...
... electricity.

Chavez's response has been typical for a petty dictator. He has imposed rationing measures and penalty fees for those who use more energy than the government feels they deserve. He has also partially shut down government-run aluminum and steel plants. He has also forces most stores to stay closed except during the approves 11am to 9pm business hours. Most amusingly, he has decreed that government workers will now only have to work from 8am to 1pm.

The effects of these restrictions will obviously be to reduce productivity. People are being forced to take time off from work do their shopping during rush hour. Factories which are closed cannot produce wealth for the struggling Venezuelan economy. In a nation where almost nothing can be done without filling out forms and getting government approval, reducing the government workday to five hours grinds the economy to a halt.

While most of the country may be without electricity as soon as April, the Chavez regime is investing in small power plants to service politically connected neighborhoods. The normal capacity of the three hydroelectric powerplants fed by the Guri Dam total 15,300 megawatts. Chavez is trying to force through repairs on two older thermoelectric plants which should provide 700 megawatts of power. It is also installing about a dozen 12 megawatt power plants. These small plants will do very little for the country overall, but they will keep the lights on in the presidential palace and in the offices and homes of Chavez's important backers.

Venezuela's power problems are classic symptoms of the failures of bureaucratic centralization and government regulation. Before we in the United States feel too smug though, we should remember that this is the future for which we voted in 2008. Venezuela is only a few short years ahead of us on the descent into socialism.
About Author:
Rob Thomas maintains the Quotes on Socialism for Popular Quotes.