Venezuela now scans your thumbprint to make sure you don't buy too many groceries

It's been eight months or so since the unrest in Venezuela was headline news, but don't take that to mean things have gotten better in the workers' paradise. In addition to the fact that they are not yet live-streaming Winter League baseball (communism ruins everything!), the shortages of basic goods have become so severe that they're using forced rationing.

The good news, if you want to call it that, is that they're not lacking the technology to make the effort as creepily oppressive as possible:

On a recent, muggy morning, Maria Varge stood in line outside a Centro 99 grocery store, ready to scour the shelves for scarce items like cooking oil and milk. But before entering, Ms. Varge had to scan her fingerprint to ensure she wouldn’t buy more than her share. Despite its technological twist on the old allotment booklet, Venezuela’s new program of rationing is infuriating consumers who say it creates tiresome waits, doesn’t relieve shortages and overlooks the far-reaching economic overhauls the country needs to resolve the problem.

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“These machines make longer lines,” said Ms. Varge, 50, as she was jostled by people in line, “but you get inside, and they still don’t have what you want.” The government rolled out the system last month across 36 supermarkets in this western border state, Zulia, whose capital is Maracaibo, with a recent expansion into a select number of state-owned markets in Caracas. Venezuela is turning to rationing because of shortages caused by what economists call a toxic mix of unproductive local industry—hamstrung by nationalizations and government intervention—and a complex currency regime that is unable to provide the dollars importers need to pay for basics.

By the way, the socialist government blames smugglers for the shortages - smugglers being the quintessential capitalists in the eyes of a committed leftist, I guess. About the thumbprint business, though: I suppose it's no more ominous than making someone input their Social Security number, although it has that Brave New World sort of feel to it (and who is OK with either one happening in a fricking grocery store?). The technology to do this sort of thing is here whether we like it or not, but the real abuse is in the use of government power to a) take over the means of both production and distribution; and then b) limit people's right to buy what they want when the system inevitably fails to produce enough to meet everyone's demand. So why the photo of Obama shaking hands with Chavez, with Chavez is dead and Obama can't be blamed for Nicolas Maduro's policies? Because if there's one thing you can say about Obama, it's that you can tell from the look in his eyes how he feels about the company he's in. Obama went through the motions of opposing Venezuela's anti-American bluster, but the truth is he saw Chavez as a brother in arms and probably sees Maduro the same way. The only problem, of course, is that centrally planned economy is imploding and that has the potential to embarrass leftists who want to try it on bigger stages. But it's inevitable. When the state decides that certain things cost too much, or that producers are profiting too much, and consequently uses the force of law to limit both prices and profits, the results are inevitable. Deprive producers of the means to produce at a profit, they will not produce, and voila, you've got yourself toilet paper rationing. Left-wingers never learn, because no one every learns anything who doesn't want to.