[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: The People's Junk Food (click to view)
Date: April 27, 2010
In the old days, if you wanted to enjoy fine Coca-Cola or McDonald's brand consumables you had to head over to a capitalist pig-dog country, or at the very least a pig-dog country on good terms with the Great Satan.

BUT NO LONGER! The anti-American socialist strongmen of Bolivia and Venezuela recently unveiled their own government-run alternatives to these sinister capitalist franchises, in an effort to offer more ideologically acceptable junk food options to their citizenry.

In Venezeula, the Chavez government has established a fast-food franchise known as "Arepea Socialista," a chain of burger joints where low-wage proles can buy state-subsidized sandwiches at below market rates. The Post has more.

Meanwhile, in the People's State of Bolivia, President Evo Morales has released a hip new soda called Coca-Colla, after Bolivia's conveniently-named "Colla" native people. As we all know, the real Coke used to contain cocaine extract at one time, but the company eventually stopped for obvious reasons. Senor Morales, by contrast, believes there are few problems in the world that cannot be solved with more cocaine, so his soda returns to the original formula, coca and all. Read more in the Guardian.

You can say what you want about these two guys, but at the very least they are creative.

[Mr_Canada]

Hmm.

At least it's not really Coca Cola and not really McDonalds.

Junk Food is disgusting, I absolutely hate the junk. But I suppose the shit was made to be addicting, the people grow quickly in love with the crap.

I suppose Venezuela and Bolivia are just giving their people what they want.

[martin14]

Mr_Canada wrote:

I suppose Venezuela and Bolivia are just giving their people what they want.

No further comment needed.

[commanderkai]

Mr_Canada wrote:

I suppose Venezuela and Bolivia are just giving their people what they want.

By taking away their choices.

[Mr_Canada]

By providing something at a more real value and thus not profiteering and over-charging the people for something that is virtually worthless.

[commanderkai]

Mr_Canada wrote:

:lol: By providing something at a more real value and thus not profiteering and over-charging the people for something that is virtually worthless.

Ahem. The "Coca-Colla" is a $1.50 for a half a litre, and it uses one of the main ingredients of cocaine. Either coca leaves are expensive, or it sounds like a government monopoly screwing the little guy.

The other one destroys any competition from any other businesses in the area, no matter if they're corporations, or mom and pop stores, and soon people will be lined up for their government sandwiches. OH, wait a minute:

"This place was supposed to be different. And look, they've run out of chicken and minced meat already today."

Well that was fast. Now...what does that remind me of...hmm...oh right



Edit: Forgot to add. Excellent cartoon, as always

[Psudo]

The coca that Coca-Cola is named after and once contained isn't identical to cocaine. Just as chocolate has little in common with the bitter T. cacao fruit pods, it takes a lot of processing to get cocaine out of coca leaves... and Coca-Cola was made from the nuts, not the leaves.

The National Post article about the Arepa chain says that the sandwiches were sold below market value, and gives examples: 7.50 bolivars for a sandwich in the populist chain and 50 bolivars at a middle-class, market value shop.

The Soviet bread line comparison is right on. Only capitalism consistently gets resources in quantity to where demand is greatest. If demand were identical to need, socialists would have no argument left.

[Quantum_Wizard]

Psudo wrote:

The coca that Coca-Cola is named after and once contained isn't identical to cocaine. Just as chocolate has little in common with the bitter T. cacao fruit pods, it takes a lot of processing to get cocaine out of coca leaves... and Coca-Cola was made from the nuts, not the leaves.

The National Post article about the Arepa chain says that the sandwiches were sold below market value, and gives examples: 7.50 bolivars for a sandwich in the populist chain and 50 bolivars at a middle-class, market value shop.

The Soviet bread line comparison is right on. Only capitalism consistently gets resources in quantity to where demand is greatest. If demand were identical to need, socialists would have no argument left.

Psudo, at least Wikipedia claims that originally Coca Cola was really made from coca leaves (and kola nuts) before 1903 among other things and that it still contains flavoring made from coca leaves but with cocaine removed. Of course (the original) Coca Cola isn't the same as purified cocaine, but neither is this Coca Colla.

I don't know how much cocaine Coca Colla contains, but I suspect not very much. Wikipedia claims the following about chewing coca leaves:

Quote:

Addiction or other deleterious effects from the consumption of the leaf in its natural form have not been documented.

I think same goes for coca based beverages.

I do agree that this kind of ventures are usually best left to the private sector.

[Psudo]

Looking around, it looks like I confused kola nuts with coca leaves (both original formula Coca-Cola ingredients, and presumably it's namesake). QW is right.

Coca-Cola and Coca-Colla both claim not ever to have contained cocaine, and it's basically true -- coca leaves, by reports, contain about as much cocaine as yogurt contains alcohol (trace but biologically irrelevant amounts).

Incidentally, this New York Times article refers to the USA's only legal coca importer (a Maywood, NJ, lab for Stepan Company) and only licensed cocaine refinery (Mallinckrodt Inc., St. Louis, which is also reportedly a licensed importer of opium from India). It's notable that controlled substance regulation results in monopolistic control.

[Pseudonym]

Nice cartoon. Chavez and other would-be-dictators need more mockery. What a ridiculous person.

[Harminder]

I'll have to admit the clown has a similar feature to Boris Johnson.

[PostFactum]

commanderkai wrote:

Mr_Canada wrote:

:lol: By providing something at a more real value and thus not profiteering and over-charging the people for something that is virtually worthless.

Ahem. The "Coca-Colla" is a $1.50 for a half a litre, and it uses one of the main ingredients of cocaine. Either coca leaves are expensive, or it sounds like a government monopoly screwing the little guy.

The other one destroys any competition from any other businesses in the area, no matter if they're corporations, or mom and pop stores, and soon people will be lined up for their government sandwiches. OH, wait a minute:

"This place was supposed to be different. And look, they've run out of chicken and minced meat already today."

Well that was fast. Now...what does that remind me of...hmm...oh right



Edit: Forgot to add. Excellent cartoon, as always

That picture was only in the cities and only in the 1989-1992