Shortages, Inflation Threaten Venezuela Christmas

[Bacchus4.0]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/shortages-inflation-threaten-venezuela-christmas-26626919

Venezuela is stepping up efforts to combat shortages and rising prices so families can have a merry Christmas complete with 12-cent sacks of sugar and 50-cent chickens.

President Nicolas Maduro announced Friday that he is deploying hundreds of inspectors to enforce the government's price regulations, which set the cost of everything from milk to toothbrushes artificially low.

"Today we deploy, and in November and December you will see that we have guaranteed a happy Christmas for the people," he said during televised remarks.

The move is part of expanded effort to combat chronic shortages, smuggling, and runaway inflation that are putting great stress on consumers in the socialist Latin American country. The new initiatives come as Maduro's approval ratings have plunged into the low 30 percent range, and his party prepares for congressional elections next year.

[msongs]

1. and here I thought Xmas was a religious thing, not a consumer festival nt

[Bacchus4.0]

2. Maybe the government is trying to get the country to celebrate the true meaning of Xmas by

making goods unaffordable and unavailable.