Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Shortages of Coffee, Surpluses of Wine

1. WSJ -- There is a glut of wine all over the world—an oversupply so significant that some wine is now cheaper than water and selling as low as $1 per gallon.

2. WSJ - Venezuela coffee shortages predictably follow Hugo Chavez's price controls.

11 Comments:

At 5/04/2010 9:15 AM, Anonymous Clifton Chadwick said...

You cannot get lost on this one!

 
At 5/04/2010 9:34 AM, Blogger Colin said...

Venezuela should have at least two major areas of comparative advantage: coffee and oil. And now they are importing coffee and suffer from power shortages. Ah, the "compassion" of socialism.

 
At 5/04/2010 9:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. - Ludwig von Mises, 1944

H/T Maggies Farm

 
At 5/04/2010 10:32 AM, Anonymous gettingrational said...

The solution to the Hugo Chavez price problem is to have your wine steward recommend coffee "flavored" wine. Will Starbucks offer a tall pinot noir with a coffee bean taste infusion? Fighting socialism one coffee bean at a time.

 
At 5/04/2010 11:48 AM, Anonymous Benny The Man said...

$1 a gallon wine?
I find you get the best deals on large bottles with screw tops.

 
At 5/04/2010 12:20 PM, Blogger wright said...

Wine for a dollar a gallon? Gee, that's what I usually get.

 
At 5/04/2010 2:12 PM, Blogger VH said...

And even if you could get coffee in Venezuela you'd be hard pressed to find any milk to put into your cafe con leche.

 
At 5/04/2010 3:41 PM, Anonymous Jason said...

Maybe we could make auto fuel out of wine...

 
At 5/04/2010 5:02 PM, Blogger KO said...

Jason, see the line "...forced French producers to turn wines into ethanol .."

 
At 5/04/2010 6:15 PM, Blogger Saimon said...

Venezuela seems to be a small producer of coffee, so its shortage may not have great impact:
http://coffee.wikia.com/wiki/Coffee_production_by_country_in_2006

 
At 5/04/2010 6:20 PM, Blogger VH said...

"Venezuela seems to be a small producer of coffee, so its shortage may not have great impact."

Japan doesn't produce much oil but it doesn't have a shortage. Venezuela proves (again) that price controls do not work.

 

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