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Keeping the Common People Sedated: Putin Caps Vodka Prices. Could the Same Thing Happen in the United States?
Daniel Drew, 12/25/2014 
Tweet Merry Christmas! Schastlivogo Rozhdestva! Christmas just got a little merrier for the Russians - but this could be the last Christmas for the ones who got toxic hepatitis after drinking bootlegged liquor laced with polyhexamethylene guanide hydrochloride, a medical disinfectant. Putin wants to impose a price ceiling on the price of vodka. As oil prices collapse by 50% and the ruble plunges, the Russians are facing a rapidly unfolding economic disaster. This is a dangerous time for Putin, who needs to keep the common people sedated to avoid any domestic unrest. The biggest roadblock to this plan is the rising price of vodka, which is prompting some Russians to turn to illegally produced alcohol - with fatal effects. When you experience toxic hepatitis, your skin turns yellow, your liver shuts down, and your body poisons itself. In 2005, 40,000 Russians died after drinking fake Vodka. Osman Paragulgov, the head of Russia's union of wine and spirits producers, called for the establishment of a "people's vodka." The nation of alcoholics has grim statistics: 25% of Russian men are dead by age 55. In the United States, 10% of men are dead by 55. All these price controls are Un-American right? We are a free country with free markets and freedom to choose what we drink. Tell that to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, which was founded in 1938. 17 states control the sale of alcohol at the wholesale level. They are running alcohol monopolies. If you want details, you have to be a member of the NABCA. Otherwise, you are in the dark. The monopoly states are called "Control States." In October 1973, OPEC raised oil prices and cut production. Nixon's response was to cap the price of oil in the United States. The odd-even license plate form of rationing led to a disaster, with huge lines at the gas station. If the government can cause such widespread havoc in one of the most critical segments of the economy, then surely they can do the same thing with alcohol. Instead of trying to prevent alcohol consumption like the Prohibitionists, the government would be promoting it - because you can't be an informed voter when you're totally wasted. But in typical government fashion, they turn the entire show into a DMV experience, where you wait hours in line for your people's beer. |