I'm sorry this is no longer fun for me, readers, and I apologize for my lack of interest in what the Globe is shoveling at me this days. It's just not what I want anymore, and I can here you saying, "Well, what do you want?" I don't know what I want, but I do know that I don't want them. That's all I can say. I'm increasingly finding the pages irritating with nothing but shallow and superficial slop loaded with half-truths if any truth (and, let's face it, half-truths are nothing but a fancy way of saying lies).
"In socialist Venezuela, Barbie for the masses" Associated Press November 12, 2014
CARACAS — Socialism has embraced Barbie, just in time for Christmas.
Mothers, grandmothers, and beaming little girls are grabbing armfuls of the dolls in toy stores across Caracas, taking advantage of the government’s order that large chains sell the plastic figurines at fire-sale prices during the holiday shopping season.
No sooner had saleswoman Crystal Casanova begun mounting a display of gleaming pink boxes on a recent weekday than a horde of women descended.
Within minutes, the entire stock was gone.
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Venezuela’s socialist government has long imposed price caps on essential products, and threatened merchants who hoard goods or sell them at unfairly high margins with jail time.
Now President Nicolas Maduro is making the doll a highlight of this year’s ‘‘Operation Merry Christmas,’’ which he presented as an effort to prevent speculators from ruining the holidays.
The toy isn’t the only product affected by the initiative. Across town, the government is selling big-ticket products directly to shoppers at a fraction of what they usually cost.
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You can decide for yourself if U.S.-sponsored efforts to destabilize Venezuela are getting proper coverage by the Globe for I am current.
