NPR rapporterar:

Venezuela’s economy is in trouble despite the country’s huge oil reserves. Blackouts plague major cities. Its inflation rate is among the world’s highest. Private enterprise has been so hammered, the World Bank says, that Venezuela is forced to import almost everything it needs. (Min kursivering.)

Ett citat till:

Jose Guerra, a former Central Bank economist, says state intervention in private businesses is hitting the economy hard.

”The government is nationalizing, expropriating, or confiscating,” he says. ”They are not creating new wealth; this is wealth that was already created.”

The Weekly Standard rapporterar också om Venezuelas långsamma socialistiska självmord:

On April 21, the Latin Business Chronicle predicted that Venezuela would post the world’s highest inflation rate in 2010, ahead of even the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.

On May 5, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean reported that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Venezuela dropped from $349 million in 2008 to negative $3.1 billion last year, “mainly as a result of nationalizations.” In other words, the Bolivarian Republic experienced a net FDI outflow of $3.1 billion in 2009.

Och: ”Ordinary Venezuelans are mad about food and water shortages, power outages, and surging crime rates.”

Statlig styrning över ekonomin förstör inte bara ekonomin i Venezuela, det tar även på krafterna för den amerikanska ekonomin. För att få en bild av hur hårt reglerat bankväsendet är i USA vill jag citera The Street:

[T]he small community bank, the source of working capital for America’s small businesses, is being choked by the regulatory system.

Ask any CEO of a community financial institution who he/she works for — the answer won’t be the Board of Directors or the Shareholders — inevitably, the answer will be the regulator (FDIC, OCC, Fed, OTS).

En perfekt beskrivning av hur det förhåller sig i det amerikanska bankväsendet.