Surprise: Socialism In Bolivia Causes Bread Shortage

This has never happened in a Socialist Paradise, right?

(AP) Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government’s promise to import 50 million rolls.

After years of economic dysfunction, the country has gotten used to shortages of medicines and basic food items like milk and sugar but the scarcity of bathroom tissue has caused unusual alarm.

Oh, wait, sorry, that was Venezuela from 10 years ago

(11Alive) Farmer Luis Garcia has coped with many of the shortages that plague his economically distressed nation: toilet paper, shampoo, sugar. But the latest scarcity is more than Garcia can swallow. Beer.

Oops, also from Socialist Venezuela in 2016

Bolivia’s bread shortage highlights subsidy reform challenge

Shortages of Bolivia’s state-subsidized marraqueta bread roll are creating an early test for newly elected President Rodrigo Paz, as dwindling wheat ?supplies and rising costs squeeze bakers and frustrate consumers.

The frustration from bakers and buyers highlights the political ?risks for Paz, who aims to unwind the subsidy-heavy economic model of his socialist predecessors without angering a population accustomed to ?state support.

Bakers said delays in government-imported flour and other shortages make it difficult to meet demand for the iconic roll, whose price has been fixed for 17 years under the previous socialist government.

Bolivia imports about three-quarters of its wheat, mainly from Argentina.

Customers also complained that the marraqueta, which sells for the equivalent ?of 8 U.S. cents, ?has shrunk to 60 grams (2 ounces), down from 100 grams two years ago. Some shoppers queue for hours.

NYC should be fun under Mamdani, which imports pretty much everything, right? The bread lines should be illuminating.

Years of state-led policies and nationalization under the previous leftist government deterred ?foreign investment and strained public finances in Bolivia, a major producer of natural gas and grains, and the country is now facing one of its worst economic crises in decades.

State-run food agency EMAPA halted flour supplies in September because the government could not pay suppliers on time.

On the flip side, Bolivia is attempting to make moves away from their Socialist (hungry) Paradise, we’ll see if it makes a difference. It’s hard to do when your citizens have become dependent on the government for everything. Might have to simply tear that bandage, which has seen fibers become embedded in the wound (I had that happen with a bad knee scrape one time), right off.