The WaPo has a fatuous sounding article on Hugo Chávez’s “state-does-it-all philosophy” (don’t we have another word for “state-does-it-all philosophy”?):

A chemical engineer with 32 years of experience in oil, Herrera is working at Los Andes Dairy, which was recently acquired by the state oil company. He is responsible for running a venerable firm with two pasteurization plants, 52 distributorships and 3,000 employees. His instructions are to boost production and ease Venezuela’s dairy shortages.

In a country that has seen the state increasingly inject itself into the economy, nationalizing companies, applying currency controls and setting prices, the acquisition of Los Andes in this western city embodies Chávez’s state-does-it-all philosophy.

The approach has largely discouraged private investment in Venezuela, while making some foods scarce. But since Chávez first won office in 1998, he has wrested control of oil from multinational energy firms and nationalized the phone company, electric utilities and, more recently, an Argentine-controlled steel producer.

Shifting away from the production of yogurt and oatmeal — products Herrera dismissively says the former owners churned out to generate profits — Los Andes has ramped up milk production eightfold in a bid to achieve what the government calls “nutritional sovereignty.”

Although economists blame the food shortages here in part on rising demand, the president has said unbridled capitalism, unscrupulous speculators and hoarding by political opponents are to blame. He has also characterized the struggle to increase food production as part of an epic battle between his revolution and imperialist forces. “We’re going to have good nutrition for a people who deserve it,” he said. “We’re going to defeat the imperialist plan.”…

A recent poll by Datanalisis, a Caracas polling firm, showed that Venezuelans have been concerned about the president’s approach. More than 70 percent of respondents disapproved of how the government has handled food supplies…

We note that the author of the piece, Juan Forero, is reporting from Venezuela, which may well have a lot to do with the piece’s ridiculous, overly delicate tone, and its absurd turn of phrase, “state-does-it-all.” More of the play nice in dictatorships attitude of the MSM that we have seen so much of in recent years?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed under MSM, business, radical chic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.