Stop the presses! Having turned the abundantly-blessed nation of Venezuela into a starving, oppressive, bankrupt basket case, the government is finally, reluctantly, sort of admitting that socialism doesn’t work.

The socialist leaders took over a lot of industries that they had no idea how to run except into the ground. So now, they’re backing off on the socialist utopia delusion by offering to let private investors run them in exchange for a share of the revenue or products to the government.

It appears to be a baby step in the right direction, but it’s still not a return to capitalism and private enterprise. It’s just a tacit admission that socialists can’t run anything but their mouths, but still want to control companies run by competent people (why am I reminded of David Hogg’s fantasy leftist pillow company?)

From the Bloomberg story:

“Dozens of chemical plants, coffee processors, grain silos and hotels confiscated over the past two decades have been transferred -- but not sold -- to private operators in so-called strategic alliances, nine people with knowledge of the matter said. Managers cover payroll and investments, and deliver products and a percentage of their income to the government.

‘We believe this is positive because it is the synchronization of the public sector with the private sector,’ said Ramon Lobo, a legislator with the ruling socialist party and former finance minister. ‘The state acts as a supervisor and receives compensation.’

To translate that into English: “We want competent people to run these businesses we stole and ruined, but we still want to wield unaccountable power over them and get huge kickbacks.”

So it’s no longer socialism. It’s “Democratic socialism.”

SUBSCRIBE TO MY FREE, POLITICAL NEWSLETTER HERE---->