How do we know that it would be at a loss?

It may be that they charge poor people in certain neighborhoods a premium because they have fewer options.

I.E. Los Barrio San Salvador only has one major food outlet; therefore the outlet charges a premium that places an unfair Burdon on the people who are less equipped to pay it.

Um, that's the most confusing article I've read in quite a while.

"The bigger you are, the more you have to take care of Chávez. If there is need to take over and nationalize you, just wait for some hours until the law is enacted and released in the Official Gazette. I will keep a watchful eye then. Give me the first excuse to nationalize the first warehouse, the first large outlet and make it available for the people," Chávez boasted.

Someone fire the translator for El Universal. Unless Chávez actually speaks in broken english for some reason, and this is just a transcript. In that case, I better start taking care of Chávez, 'cause I'm pretty big, if you know what I mean.

How do we know that it would be at a loss?

the government is setting the price of meat at a price lower than the market price. the result will be a shortage of that product.

setting a retail price never works unless government controls every facet of the product, from growing the corn to feeding the cattle to delivering and selling the meat.

Oh the hugomanity.

albo [TotalFark]

the government is setting the price of meat at a price lower than the market price. the result will be a shortage of that product.

We still don't know that the price creates a loss for the seller.

We don't use price controls on things like milk?

Viva Socialism!

-begin snip-

Gonzalo Asuaje, president of the meat-processors association Afrigo, said that costs and demand have surged but in four years the government has barely raised the price of beef, which now stands at $1.82 per pound. Simply getting beef to retailers now costs $2.41 per pound without including any markup, he said.

"They want to sell it at the same price the cattle breeder gets for his cow," he said. "It's impossible."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003563939_venez09.html

- end snip -

this whole Chávez thing.. this will not end well.... no.. it will not...

Pete and Repeat walk into a bar....

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2611530

(sorry, no poppy, html skillz no pay the billz)

albo
setting a retail price never works unless government controls every facet of the product, from growing the corn to feeding the cattle to delivering and selling the meat.

Even with this method, it doesn't work very well...

Chavez is making all the right moves. These scumbag, price-gouging grocers are finally getting their come-uppance.

mysticcat: Its not communism, its Chavism

I hate Venezuelan Chavist Pigs.

The government partially bearing cost of my butter? Great! I am moving to Venezuala on the next flight.

Chavez is a hero for the poor, who approx make up about 97% of country. Socialism is closer to christianity, just wish those greedy southerners would understand that instead pwning the most of the country. The question of equity and social nets were raised in the other threads so I won't bring them up again.

nrdgrl

The world covered this yesterday, viz. Soviet Union. The Left keeps thinking that it will work this time.

B-b-b-b-but Jimmy Carter!

We don't use price controls on things like milk?

it's the opposite. the northeast dairy compact and similar ones basically set a higher price to ensure dairy farmers make money, because there's too much milk being produced and that would drive down the market price. we make milk more expensive for the consumer, not less, as chavez is doing with meat.

Also, call me crazy, but isn't this pretty much a repeat of this thread from yesterday?

Prediction:

Commie 1: Why do Americans always stick their noses in other countries.

Commie 2: Bush is the devil.

Commie 3: Chavez is a good man who is helping the poor *cites random pro socialism source*

Redneck 1: Screw all you libtards, socialism never works. *cites random right wing source*

Commie 3: But but but Norway is socialist and is much better than the US

Redneck 2: The US rules lol @ mexicans
...

and so forth

Hillary is taking note...

It's always good to have a Chavez flamewar.

OK, what's the options here? Meat out of the price range of ordinary consumers, or no meat at all?

Free market worshippers, what do you suggest, or do you suggest that the poor just starve?

Meh. America banging the drum for war against (coincidentally oil-rich) Venezuela now, is it? The thought of poor people getting subsidised food and medical care seems to genuinely fill you with horror. Maybe the giant corporations which run your country for their benefit are worried that he's setting a bad example.

Again? Did he just do this ... yesterday too? Talk about an overachiever ...

ChairmanKaga: We don't use price controls on things like milk?

The U.S. has a price floor on milk and it is illegal to sell milk below the cartel price, illegal in the sense you can lose your milk selling license. This creates a surplus if the floor is above the market clearing price. See also minimum wage.

Chavez has created a price ceiling which creates shortages if the ceiling is below the market clearing price.

Hugowned

No, you throw out the State which is disrupting the natural price scheme. Or are you saying that the poor have a right to meat, the same way that they have a right to health care, or haircuts, or cable TV? Oh wait, they don't.

Good for Chavez...stick it to the USA and Dumbya.

Free market worshippers, what do you suggest, or do you suggest that the poor just starve?

you let the market work. if the prices are high, farmers will respond by raising more cattle, boosting supply and thus lowering prices.

the solution is no chavez socialism. and that's a huge DUH

Lord Summerisle

Maybe the giant corporations which run your country for their benefit are worried that he's setting a bad example.

God yes, I remember thinking last time I was in Caracas "Man, I wish those big evil corporations weren't holding us back from this"

ive always found it perplexing how chavez makes the neocons froth at the mouth, but yet they are glad to import his oil.

howcome the people so put off by chavez aren't calling for a boycott of venezuelan oil?

ANSWER: because they're greedy hypocritcal whores.

The entire thing doesn't seem to make much sense... Chavez is trying to enforce a price hike, and at the same time trying to prevent price speculation which would send prices even higher?

I think maybe what they're trying to say is that they have increased the wholesale price to vendors and at the same time imposed a retail price cap for vendors, that would mean a loss (or decreased profit) for vendors.

Dhimmi Carter blames Bush for the shortages in 3...2...1...

Next he will nationalize the farms.

lilplatinum

I don't know if you're interested in facts about this, but Norway is an oil producing country and is not directly comparable to non oil producing countries. If that seems strange or arbitrary consider that one wouldn't reasonably say that Dubai is more efficient/productive than the UK because its per capita income is higher. Most notable because as (huge but nonetheless finite) oil wealth runs out, the previously rich country suddenly becomes a much poorer country.

That aside, I don't know what 'better' means, but if you exclude oil producing countries and postage stamp city states that are just office space for rich guys (luxembourg et al) the US is, was, and apparently will continue to be the richest country on earth for quite some time.

Lastly, Norway while wildly overestimated for the reasons discussed above is primarily a distributive social welfare state rather than a central command economy. Social welfare states may not be shown to have prospered as much as states with more open economic incentives... but these are not in the same category with command economy states - which always go in the toilet almost immediately.

If I were a cow, I would stop producing milk.

America banging the drum for war against (coincidentally oil-rich) Venezuela now, is it?

Yes! No!

Huh?

...grumbled Ana Diaz, 70, a housewife who after eight hours had managed to fill her bag...

Even the Soviets managed to last longer than a decade before the x-hour lines for food started.

Lord Summerisle

If anybody is 'banging the drum for war', it's Chavez. He acts like a spoiled child who's forced to sit at the kid's table at Thanksgiving and spends the whole evening yelling "pay attention to meeeeeeeee!!!" (while the adults just roll their eyes and ignore him).

moops
"...boycott of venezuelan oil?"

Its grassroots, dont go to CITGO.

I think I'm gonna go to Venezuela and buy a ton of fillet mignon.

albo

you let the market work. if the prices are high, farmers will respond by raising more cattle, boosting supply and thus lowering prices.


Obviously you havent taken Eco 210

stpickrell

the problem is that supply and demand works the same way in communist societies. When you set the price artificially low (as chavez has done) those who get to the store first buy all they can, supply goes down...
no one wants to sell anymore so supply goes down...

it's ok that the ordinary consumers don't have enough for meat, because there isn't any.

BlindMan

I was just pulled that out of my ass as one of the things people randomly bring up in the Chavez thread.

daddy tell me the story again of how the evil communist indios were going to pollute the country with their politics if we didnt disappear them.

Meat is so 'bourgeoisie' anyway.

What are the people going to do when Chávez's policies prevent them from having what they want? Who can they go to then? This Chávez guy is not going to be for the people when he decides they need to grow up and quit complaining.

He will run that country into the ground. These people are pushing the bread line concept.

and I skipped grammar class