I think it's just plain old populism. They go on TV screaming about having to "defend the poor from the big bad private sectors that want to topple the governme

I think it's just plain old populism. They go on TV screaming about having to "defend the poor from the big bad private sectors that want to topple the government with their economic war with artificially induced high prices. The price of eggs has to be Bs.500 a carton!" Meanwhile , just the cardboard for producing the packaging for the eggs costs Bs.200, chicken feed Bs. 300, the govt increases the minimum wage 4 times a year to fight "the economic war",etc. Of course, anyone producing eggs is now working at a loss, so they just produce less and move part of the production to the black market. I really have no idea what their endgame is. Maybe the idea is to actually try to finish off the private producers that are left in the country.