Workers paradise of Venezuela is slowly circling the drain

Chavez may have started out with the best of intentions but as John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton once said: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. From The Jerusalem Post:

Chavez to block exports of Venezuela's largest steel maker
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists.

Chavez has criticized Sidor for selling the bulk of its production overseas and forcing local producers to import from elsewhere, saying Venezuelan industry should be given priority.

Sidor's parent company, Luxembourg-based Ternium SA, is controlled by conglomerate Techint Group of Argentina. Chavez said he has summoned Ternium chairman Paolo Rocca from Buenos Aires for talks.

"We're going to pass a law, Rocca. We're going to force you to supply, first and foremost, the Venezuelan domestic market before you take (the steel) to other countries," the Venezuelan leader said at a news conference.

"If you don't agree, give it to me. I'll grab your company. Give it to me, and I'll pay you what it's worth. I won't rob you," Chavez said.

And a bit more:

Chavez, who was recently granted special powers to decree laws,

And another bit:

Earlier Saturday - which Chavez noted coincided with Karl Marx's birthday - the Venezuelan leader drove a red Volkswagen bug to a poor Caracas slum where he officially registered with a movement to create a single, pro-Chavez ruling party: the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

And one last one:

"If any rich person wants to become a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, he will be welcome but he must begin by setting aside his wealth to the fight against misery," Chavez said as he repeatedly invoked the communist ideals of Marx and Leon Trotsky.

Circling the drain -- what once was a prosperous nation is being eaten up from within. The old Marxist trope of a 'fixed pool of capital that needs to be redistributed' is blatantly false. Scratch Venezuela off the list of cool places to visit (and spend our tourist dollars) for the next ten years or so...