Land Grab

While reading this article, I started thinking, this sounds a lot like what's been happening in this country with the abuse of 'eminent domain'. The only difference I see, it's the city councils who are behaving like dictators, not the head of the country and his cronies.

Backed by a land law passed in 2003, the Chavez government has targeted 4 million acres of farmland for seizure and redistribution this year to poor farm cooperatives. The moves are part of a broader social agenda to move the poor out of the cities and onto small farms.

This type of "Robin Hood" action doesn't really work in the long run. Being poor sucks, I know, been there, done that. However, the opportunity to improve your own life, through education and hard work is a whole lot more important than being given a new apartment. Yes, having a decent roof over your heads is a high priority, however, earning that roof with your own hard work is a benefit the socialist types just don't understand. If it doesn't actually belong to you, are you going to care as much about the upkeep? Odds are, no, as we've seen in the many "projects" throughout our own country. Sometimes, circumstances beyond our control have a profound effect on our lives, but it's what we learn from those experiences helps create the person we become, good or bad.

Backed by a land law passed in 2003, the Chavez government has targeted 4 million acres of farmland for seizure and redistribution this year to poor farm cooperatives. The moves are part of a broader social agenda to move the poor out of the cities and onto small farms.

When a government takes control of private industry, even a country club, the results are pretty much the same as when it was in private hands, only it's the government officials who are getting rich, and the poor are still poor. The inequities grow even more. Communism does not work! There will be no utopia created by stealing private property "for the greater good".

Fear of squatter seizures has brought new apartment construction to a virtual halt in the capital and other Venezuelan cities, creating an acute shortage of units and inflating rents.

So, the more land and property the dictatorship of Venezuela seizes, the less construction actually occurs. Who is this helping? Not the workers, who are trying to provide the aforementioned roof for their families, or the renters, who will have to fork over even more money to their landlords. The simple principle of "supply and demand" seems to be completely lost on the socialist mindset. I will repeat it, COMMUNISM DOES NOT WORK! Perhaps this is a good time for Cindy Sheehan to go make nice with her favorite dictator, especially since she'd rather live in a country run by Chavez, than by George W. Bush.