For years we have mocked Venezuela's economy (if not its long-suffering population): it got so bad, we even did a visual summary of selected Venezuela headline posts we wrote over the years.
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Most of these were expected, and in line with the transformation of any normal nation to a socialist utopia. None were more poignant than the images of supermarkets and grocery stores that have been ransacked empty as a result of the collapsing currency, devastated supply chains and soaring inflation (supermarkets which have since imposed fingerprint scanners in what is no longer capital but food controls).
We are sad to announce that what was once a Venezuela trademark has now transitioned to a country that until recently was among the most developed nations in the west: Greece.
As we noted yesterday, in clear rejection of Tsipras' plea for calm [7], the Greek population stormed (now empty) ATMs, grocery stores and gas stations as they scrambled to obtain, or convert, paper currency into tangible products.
This morning, the NYT picked up [8] on the realization that for Greece ATM runs were last week's story. Now, it's all about the "Supermarket Sweep"... and hoarding. To wit:
Beside the lines at A.T.M.s, people were also lining up at gas stations and in grocery stories. In the small town of Spata, outside Athens, residents had stripped grocery shelves bare by Saturday night. The local Shell station had run out of regular unleaded and had only premium gasoline to sell. “Doom,” the gas attendant responded, when asked to describe the mood.
The frenzy at gas stations across the country prompted Greece’s largest refiner to issue a statement assuring that there would be enough supply...
And this is how Athens is slowly starting to look like Caracas.
On Monday supermarket shelves in #Athens [9] emptying as Greeks stock up for coming days #Greece [10] #Grexit [11] #Greferendum [12] pic.twitter.com/q61PVM17d9 [13]
— Julia Damianova (@JuDamianova) June 29, 2015 [14]
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