The world, it is trite to say, is unpredictable. Indeed so.
But there are exceptions to this rule. There is a sizable handful of predictions that I would bet my pension will prove accurate at least 99 out of 100 times. I predict, for example, that next year every football team that wins a big game will feature a gigantic lineman dumping the contents of a Gator Aid cooler over the happy head of the team’s Head Coach…. I predict that every American politician seeking office will claim to know what “the American people” want and that he or she is most trustworthy champion of that collective desire…. I predict that Paul Krugman’s next New York Times column will self-righteously accuse the Bush administration or “conservatives” of evil-intentions and evil-doings…. And I predict that every political strongman will blame “speculators” for many of the economic ills that befall the citizen-victims of their countries.
And lo! Lookie here!
Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.
President Hugo Chavez’s administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible.
The above is from this report filed today by an AP reporter in Caracas.
(Hat tip to Cafe commentor Aschkan.)
