Via The Devil’s Excrement.

Only yesterday the Minister of Feeding Rafael Oropeza was blaming the milk shortages on the private sector as the Government’s Mercal supermarkets were not capable of satisfying the gigantic demand for milk as lines formed all day and many had to be turned away without the now precious liquid. The Minister criticized that milk producers were not investing to produce more milk and even worse, were using a large fraction of the milk to make cheese. Why? Easy, because milk prices are regulated, but not all cheeses are, thus milk producers choose to make what gives them the higher return.

A couple of years ago, the reaction by the Chavez administration may have been to simply regulate all cheese prices in that perverse thinking that has dominated Chavismo for the last nine years.

But today, in a decision that I praise and that completely and absolutely surprises me, the Chavez administration recognize the importance of market forces and rather than keep tinkering with the system, it announced the absolute and total deregulation of the UHT milk in Venezuela.

Vejo com alegria que Chávez se rendeu ao mercado (esse mecanismo tão poderoso), mesmo que a sua administração venha agora dizer o contrário do que andaram a defender nos últimos nove anos. É certo que ter perdido o recente referendo provavelmente ajudou mas a decisão é de salutar, principalmente pelas repercussões no povo da Venezuela. Espero estar enganado, mas infelizmente duvido que este acto seja prenúncio de um novo caminho a seguir por Chávez. Mas se o tempo provar que errei cá estarei alegremente a reconhecê-lo.