As if anyone needed any further proof that socialism harms the poor most of all, the New York Times has a masterly spread on the extent of mass starvation in Venezuela as a result of "government policies."  Over the course of five months, the Times interviewed doctors at 21 public hospitals across the country and got on-the-record quotes to create a worthy picture. So much for socialism helping the poor.  And so much for socialist handout policies creating "poverty reduction," as multilaterals like the World Bank put it.  What Venezuela's 19 years of socialism has demonstrably produced is starvation, same as all other socialist dictatorships, and it's not the rich who are starving.  The poor aren't merely poor in that hellhole; they are dead or going to be dead.  The long, picture-laden Times piece is Pulitzer prize stuff, with every sentence well worth reading, even with the Times's customary failure to lay the...(Read Full Post)