He's nationalized toilet paper, now, what's next? Arepa flour? Frozen chickens?

Mérida, May 20th 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – To guarantee access to essential foods amidst price inflation and supply shortages in some items, the Venezuelan government recently nationalized a major flour producer, granted low-interest credits to small and medium-sized producers, opened new subsidized food markets, sanctioned price speculators and hoarders, and is in the process of reforming the Land Law.

After months of investigations of the flour and tortilla producer Monaca for allegedly decreasing production during a time of national shortage, government officials announced that the state will take over all of the company’s operations and facilities.

The state will acquire “a broad structure for the processing, marketing, and distribution” of cereals and related products such as wheat and corn flour, pasta, rice, and oatmeal. This will be controlled by the state-owned Venezuelan Agricultural Corporation (CVA) with participation of worker unions, cooperatives, and community councils, according to the nationalization order.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5375

Chavez had personality, bombast notwithstanding....poor Maduro is a stumblebum.

and Maduro just keeps along the same track.

Chavez -- when he was healthy -- had sufficient clout to keep corruption down to a dull roar, so even though inflation was egregious and corruption rampant, the wheels kept clanking along, albeit inefficiently. Maduro doesn't have that skill, so the corrupt are grabbing it all while they can, because they know this gravy train that was VZ will -- sooner, rather than later --squeal to a pained stop before too much longer.

Venezuela's economy is hopelessly falling apart. Not because Venezuelans are inept, on the contrary, Venezuelans were very much able to run their country.....until Hugo Chávez, under the so-called ALBA Alliance collapsed the country by having become the paternal economic tit of a vicious gang of small countries with so-called democracies (Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua).

Venezuela has become an empoverished state itself by having absorbed the vicious role of supplier of oil to the ALBA gang plus a terribly vicious management of the country's economy. Much the same as Nicaragua's Sandinista era (1979 - 1985) the country has collapsed into a vicious fight for basic food and toiletries (a toilet-paper economy).

Such degree of mismanagement is now being exacerbated by the appointment of a Chávez protegee, a former bus driver, Nicolás Maduro, who was appointed as Chávez's oficial successor (never mind elections and capability). The appointed so-called president is absolutely incapable of bringing about any improvements of any kind. On the contrary, he is a vociferous anti-U.S. voice (though thankfully with little credibility). He has adopted a very vicious campaign against its principal customer for its oil, the United States, having detained U.S. Embassy officers as deterrent against his supposed threat of a coup.

Nicolás Maduro will be remembered as a hopelessly incapable dictator who struggled to show his authority by randomly furious reactions to whatever gave him a chance to show some strength, only to be exposed to his mounting history of mistakes in a role that never had he any possibility of correcting, let alone successfully implementing.

He will not deviate from Chavez's policies as he invokes him at every turn. Likewise, as you pointed out, the US is a useful bogeyman for all their ills. And of course there are the Cuban handlers who are intent on keeping Venezuela as a colony for Cuba's energy needs.