An article in the New York Times today recounts the economic collapse in Venezuela. Amid the chaos, local governments are overwhelmed and failing, such that, “armed gangs took control of entire towns.” Examples cited include looters who ransacked a hotel, “ripping out even window frames and cable wiring,” and gangs who “extort and rustle cattle from the surviving ranchers.” In summing up the effect of such violence, one rancher is quoted as saying, “You can’t produce if there’s no law.”
So production has all but stopped. But what cannot stop, of course, is consumption. Not if people are to live. Consumption must continue, even without production.
What, then, is the alternative to production, once it becomes impossible? Theft. Which is a situation that no people can endure for long.
If something positive can come from what is happening in that country, perhaps it will be the universal recognition of how precious is the process of production ― and how desperate is the need to protect it. That is, if peace and prosperity is the goal.
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