This Is What a State-Run Economy Looks Like

An article at Reuters depicts in grisly detail the mass exodus of quality personnel from PDVSA, Venezuela's state-run oil company. For those workers whose pay remains appreciably above the cost of their commute, here is what awaits them:

Image of Alcatraz from Pixabay.

The company's ongoing decay is evident ... in the once polished office tower: Broken elevators, poor cafeteria food, empty desks in once-crowded divisions.

Maduro has overseen the arrest of dozens of high-level PDVSA executives since late last year, sometimes at the Caracas headquarters as shocked employees looked on. Workers now feel watched by supervisors and are loathe to make any business decision out of fear they will later be accused of corruption, the sources said.

PDVSA workers, often visibly thinner, sometimes surreptitiously hand out resumes to executives from private companies, according to a source at a foreign firm. [bold added]

The article makes too much of the fact that this outfit is being run by a military officer, saying that it is under "military rule." But taking orders from superiors is the essence of any "planned" economy. The fact that it feels more like a "barracks" just means that the velvet glove has slipped a little from the iron fist. In fact, even that description is too kind. Venezuela is a prison:

Some PDVSA offices now have lines outside with dozens of workers waiting to quit. In at least one administrative office in Zulia state, human resources staff quit processing out the quitters, hanging a sign, "we do not accept resignations," an oil worker there told Reuters. [bold added]

Bernie Sanders once said that "the American dream is more apt to be realized in ... places such as ... Venezuela." The above should give his supporters pause, but if it doesn't, there might be job openings for some of them.

-- CAV