Milk and corruption

Corruption is rampant i Venezuela. And it has not mainly to do with people bribing officials. It is something deeper, that sips through every pore of society and distort the way it works. Take the milk. Due to the price regulations of president Chavez the producers and shops are not allowed to charge more than half a dollar for a litre of milk. Since producers can no longer make profits on milk on that level, the make less milk and make cheese or other products instead. And after a while there is not enough milk in the shops. The little milk that comes to the shops a couple of times a week (and irregularly) first of all is taken by the shop-owners, their families and relatives. The rest disappears after the neighbours around the shops realize there is milk and the gossip travel quickly - and two hours after the delivery all milk is gone. Shopkeepers keeps some litres and hand them over to contacts, friends and people they like or want to give favours to. I was standing at the counter yesterday and two litres were handled to a friend of the shop-owner. Since I saw he had milk I explained that I had two small daughters and begged him to sell me a litre or two. He agreed to let me have one. This is one case how corruption works, and how Mr Chavez so called "socialism of the 21st century" works in Venezuela. In one way this could truly be called socialism, since it takes away the purchasing power of money, and makes the social capital (friends, family, dependencies) the main value for the goods. It is both inefficient, and unjustly discriminatory against those who do not have the social networks. A simple eastern european/wartime rationing system would be more just. However after a while you learn how to make those contacts and connections. That is your step into the world of corruption. Favours and counterfavours between connected, no other rules apply. We now know a venezuelan-norwegian couple in a neighbouring town, who has found a shop who has milk certain mornings. They bring us some litres when they get the chance.