LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: The Army Took Over the Spigots, Forcing Thirsty Venezuelans to Pay.

Venezuela’s military has come to oversee the desperate and lucrative water trade as reservoirs empty, broken pipes flood neighborhoods and overwhelmed personnel walk out. Seven major access points in the capital of 5.5 million people are now run by soldiers or police, who also took total control of all public and private water trucks. Unofficially, soldiers direct where drivers deliver — and make them give away the goods at favored addresses.

Ayn Rand called it “the aristocracy of pull,” and in late-stage socialism it always belongs to those with the most guns.