Chavez To Seize Private Businesses

Hugo Chavez threatened to seize hundreds of private businesses that "lay idle" so that they can contribute "for the benefit of the community." Chavez gave his country a "choice:"

"Either capitalism, which is the road to hell, or socialism, for those who want to build the kingdom of God here on Earth," he said.

This reminds me of Leninist policies in Russia when the state seized farms that were "unproductive" for the benefit of the community. Lenin then sent the rural farmers to the gulags (and not the Club Gitmo gulag) to die.

This is a very worrisome development on Venezuela's march towards communism - although after the Kelo Supreme Court decision, maybe it's not all that different than tactics in the U.S.