So, Price Controls. When Will We Begin To See Shortages?

[lamarque]

We've had shortages by us and limits on quantity that you can purchase.

Where you live city girl? not even in my little small town in the middle of nowhere in patagonian desert shortage are happening.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I went today and saw significant shortages! There was no Skippy or Jif peanut butter, no maple syrup and no pancake mix, no Dr. Pepper, no ginger ale, no palatable pizza, no Twinkies, no canned soup, no sweet iced tea, no frozen dinner entrés, no green beans, no Mexican food, no bean dip, no hummus, no baby spinach, no salad bar, only one type of fish (pale white), and the only deserts they had left were the ones that contained dulce de leche!

Things are getting REALLY bad!

 

[sleslie23]

I went today and saw significant shortages! There was no Skippy or Jif peanut butter, no maple syrup and no pancake mix, no Dr. Pepper, no ginger ale, no palatable pizza, no Twinkies, no canned soup, no sweet iced tea, no frozen dinner entrés, no green beans, no Mexican food, no bean dip, no hummus, no baby spinach, no salad bar, only one type of fish (pale white), and the only deserts they had left were the ones that contained dulce de leche!

Things are getting REALLY bad!

I just came from the corner store and I noticed there were only two bags of Doritos left (my one main vice from the homeland, which ironically I rarely ate when living in the homeland). Needless to say, I bought both of them. They may not be replenished until Tuesday.

 

[citygirl]

Near Moreno. Makro (where I do most of my shopping) has had limited availability on a lot of things the past month. Lavandina, laundry detergent, pomelo, soda, the oil I prefer to use (which is a mix of corn/sunflower), no packets of levadura, etc. Two weeks ago they had no Quilmes in stock. At the Carrefour near me, they had a limit on how many things of oil you could find. No bbq sauce.

Shortages come and go and I wouldn't use "alarming" nor would I say the price freezes have done any good but I have noticed shortages.

 

[French jurist]

Near Moreno.

"Near Moreno" or "Dear Moreno"?

 

[Rich One]

no shortages for the inferior brands I purchase , that is third line brands...

 

[French jurist]

The reforms done in Brazil were not easy. The political costs were tremendous. FHC was not able to elected a successor, and his party has not been able to win a major election in Brazil ever since. Lula came to power as a backlash to the political/economic reforms done by FHC, and he was the one to reap the benefits of those painful reforms. The Lula and Dilma administrations have actually undone many of those hard done reforms, and that is why I am not optimistic at all about Brazil.

Then why Lula was approved at a rate like 83% when he finished Presidency?

 

[camberiu]

Then why Lula was approved at a rate like 83% when he finished Presidency?

Because he rode the commodities boom and cheap credit that was flowing into Brazil due to the near zero interest rates in the developed nations. We joke that Lula was the luckiest president in Brazil's history, as he was gifted by fate with the most favorable international economic environment anyone could hope for, and the bomb that he built during his administration is now exploding on Dilma's lap. Just like in the US, he stimulated massive consumer borrowing in Brazil in order to keep the economy growing. A huge real estate bubble developed due to artificially low interest rates pushed by the Brazilian central bank. All the big government owned Brazilian banks are sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bad loans, because Lula ordered them to give out credit to anyone and and everyone in order to "stimulate" the economy. The Brazilian treasury had to "buy" those bad loans from the government banks in order to keep them solvent.
Petrobras, the government owned oil giant (that many Argentinians see as a "model" for YPF) is being hammered due to a series of politically motivated bad investments during the Lula administration. Lula ordered the company to build refineries and infrastructure work where it did not need to, in order to generate thousands of jobs (votes) on important voting districts. These investments (shipyards, refineries, etc...) were built based on political criteria (from Lula) instead of commercial ones, and will never be profitable. That is why the Petrobras stock (and revenues) are being hammered.
The Brazilian government now is beginning to go into a printing spree to cover the massive losses from the banks and Petrobras and to try to prevent an economic slowdown (it is not working) but inflation is ticking up. The Plano Real was built upon three pillars:

1) Clearly defined inflation targets
2) Balanced budgets (at municipal, state and federal levels)
3) Free floating exchage rate

The Lula government demolished all three pillars in a rather spectacular way. He could get away with it thanks to the commodity boom. Now that the boom is turning to bust, it is clear that his policies and his complete disregard for the important and critical reforms made during the FHC government are taking a heavy toll on Brazilian economy.


"Year-to-date, the wheels have completely come off Petrobras. If its stock can be imagined as a deep sea oil drilling platform, it would have a blown-out plantoon and listing into the sea. Shares of Petrobras have not been correlated with oil for years."
--Forbes, February 17, 2013 http://www.forbes.co...s-worth-a-dime/

 

[camberiu]

As everyone knows, I am very vocal about my disdain towards the current administration. However, at the Jumbo near my place, I have not noticed any changes on the available product selection over the past several weeks.

 

[vagabundo]

I went today and saw significant shortages! There was no Skippy or Jif peanut butter, no maple syrup and no pancake mix, no Dr. Pepper, no ginger ale, no palatable pizza, no Twinkies, no canned soup, no sweet iced tea, no frozen dinner entrés, no green beans, no Mexican food, no bean dip, no hummus, no baby spinach, no salad bar, only one type of fish (pale white), and the only deserts they had left were the ones that contained dulce de leche!

Things are getting REALLY bad!

ROFLOL my sides hurt I almost spit my wine out when I read this! Put a warning before you post like this.. do not read with beverages in mouth.