The Joys of Shopping In the Soviet Union, As Experienced in 21st Century America

Sunday night we took a trip to our local Cabelas to buy a new FoodSaver vacuum sealer. Unfortunately the shelves were bare of the model we wanted. We asked a helpful employee when they might expect the next shipment to arrive, he dutifully checked the app on his smart device and said Cabelas didn't have any on the way, so there was no telling. Then we noticed the store employees' had a fast emptying roll away cart with about 100,000 rounds of 22lr ammo on it; they were handing it out one 500rnd brick at a time, limit one per person. Along with each brick of ammo came a Cabela's credit card application. Much like finding bread at a Soviet grocery store, the people in line were rapidly trying to call their friends and relatives to rush down to Cabelas and pickup their allotment while they still could. When I asked the friendly employee when they might expect more to come in, he didn't even bother to check his smart device to answer.

The beauty of the modern supply chain is the system has visibility of every empty shelf; just imagine what the Soviets could have done if they had known when their shelves were empty. Actually its not hard to imagine, its not like centralized planning could produce more food or goods even if it wanted to. No, the result would have been that the limited supplies would have been more readily doled out by the government as rewards for compliance and complicity with the system. Its a system the Government would love to implement on ammunition. Call it Smart Grid for ammunition, truth in advertising would actually call it Rationing Grid. Yes, that is the true purpose of the Smart Grid is to ration energy. That is why all funded Smart Grid designs are of Centrally Planned Top Down design architecture. A true functional Smart Grid would have a architecture driven from the bottom up; much like a farmer deciding what to plant and when, vs Soviet Style Famine'ing er "Farming"

But its not just ammunition or electricity, ObamaCare is such a system too. Its a classic example of creating more government as a supposed fix for governmentally created problems. As such, FDA regulations have caused a shortage of Saline (salt water) Solution, and many other drugs too.

Hard to imagine a shortage of salt water isn't it? To "fight" such shortages the FDA is putting out even more regulations to require the Government's approved manufactures to warn the Government when the harvest, err medical supplies are going to fall short.

In a free non Soviet world, someone would decide that now is a good time to start producing sterile salt water; TRY IT see how government regulation is designed to keep you from starting your own business to compete with the favored business. Try setting up your own Doctors Office outside of ObamaCare. Try loading and selling your own .22lr ammo and see how fast you end up in jail. Try selling cupcakes out of your home.

Of course someone reading this right now is screaming, BUT ITS ALL TO KEEP US SAFE. Lol, no its not! We had a perfectly good legal system designed to allow people to combat fraud; we also had a perfectly good system that allowed people to take their money elsewhere and NOT TO CHOOSE crappy products and services. And that is why regulations exist, to prevent you from taking your money elsewhere, and to force you to use "The Company Store".

More Info and Sources:

A Primer on Regulation


Soviet Official:  "It cost millions of lives, but the collective farm system is here to stay"


IV Saline in Short Supply


Health officials force local 11-year-old girl to shut down cupcake business