Acting on his threats from last week, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has begun nationalizing retail stores that would not agree to his enforced "everything 50% off sale:"
President Hugo Chavez ordered Sunday the seizure of a French-owned retail chain on accusations that it raised prices after Venezuela devalued the currency by half....
Almacenes Exito saw some of its stores closed this week by government authorities on accusations that it was increasing prices regardless of Mr. Chavez's orders that retailers were not to adjust prices after he devalued the currency to 4.3 bolivars per dollar from the previous rate of 2.15 bolivars....
Separately, Mr. Chavez also ordered the nationalization of a large shopping-mall recently built in a downtown district in Caracas. The stores controlled by Exito and the shopping mall will be used to build up Comerso, a new government-run retail chain which seeks to sell its products at "socialist" prices, according to the president.
Today it's retail outlets, tomorrow it will be the poisonous video game industry. One can only hope that Chavez will be modeling the new line of government-approved socialist garments on his weekly TV-radio program.
