The Trash for food program
The Venezuelan government has implemented an interesting program : The poor could bring in trash, and trade it for Food. I guess it beats looking inside the trashcan for food. Now the people will fight over the trash instead of the food inside the trash. That's what I call Dignity. She and other Venezuelans who came to turn in their trash in a Caracas slum last weekend said they felt grateful to President Hugo Chavez and his political ally, Mayor Freddy Bernal, who promoted the program as a way to clean up the streets while helping to feed the needy. No word on what will happen the moment they run out of trash. But a majority of Venezuelans remain poor, and many among the hundreds who showed up lugging bulging plastic bags and scrap metal said life remains a struggle despite some improvements. One man brought an old sofa that had been lying in the street. Bonilla turned in a bag of clothes and a bag of newspapers weighing 18 pounds, and in exchange chose a bottle of cooking oil and a small bag of powdered milk. 18 pounds of junk = cooking oil bottle and a small bag of powderd milk. Kaa-ching. Some of Chavez's leading opponents accuse his government of running handout programs that help the poor just enough to win their political allegiance while not addressing deeper issues of poverty. You think?
posted by The Sandmonkey @ 10/05/2005 02:59:00 AM
2 Comments:
This sure does beat the American welfare system. Here we pay people to produce trash and then tell them a trash collectors job is beneath them.
At least Chavez is getting something for his money, hes getting cleaner streets.
Why don't they just hire them as garbage men, give them money os they can make their own living and buy their own food? Of course, that would create something called capitalism that might actually create some wealth and begin a real middle class.
Much better to give them a few cheap goods and keep them dependent on the state.
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