I gather Ed Miliband wishes to fix energy prices "while the oligopoly is sort out" or some such. And reintroduce socialism. Here's why this is stupid:
Flights out of Venezuela to anywhere are 100% sold out, months in advance. Yet many planes are flying half-empty. Why? The official exchange rate is 6.3 bolivars per dollar but the black market rate is more like 42 bolivars to the dollar. Few people are allowed to convert bolivars to dollars at the official rate but there is an exception for people with a valid airline ticket. As a result people with an airline ticket can convert bolivars to dollars at the official rate and then sell the dollars at the much higher black market rate.
Socialism was stupid when the Russians did it. Stupid when the Cubans did it. Stupid when Labour tried in in the 1970s. Oh, and always corrupt - the elite do fine (look at that Venezuelan story - the latest from the country where toilet paper is impounded, its production nationalised because the boss can't wipe his arse). It's the poor that suffer - they get the queues, the black outs, the rationing.
That is socialism. It is evil. And stupid.
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