CRISISBOOM

economicpolicyjournal

President Hugo Chávez says he plans to take over Venezuela’s largely underdeveloped gold mining industry in an attempt to boost international reserves, reports WSJ.

Chávez has already nationalized banks, telecommunications, oil fields, the power sector, and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland.

Speaking on state television via telephone,  Chávez said he would introduce a new decree in the coming days to put exploration and extraction of gold into the government’s hands. It will be “a decree to take the gold sector,” which still remains in the hands of a “mafia and smugglers,” he said.

Good luck with that Hugo. Nationalization of an industry tends to lower production. Nationalizing gold mining that is already underdeveloped will take a magic act for any serious new supply to develop.

Chavez has recently been undergoing treatment for what many suspect is cancer. Talk in certain parts of D.C. is that the CIA has slowly exposed him to very toxic, cancer causing materials.

If you want to bet on this one, bet that Chavez is a dead man before he produces even an ounce of gold.