Hugo Chávez does not like the term credit card. It sounds too much like an instrument of capitalism. So when Venezuela’s socialist president announced the introduction of something similar recently, he decided to call it a “good life card”.

The idea of the card – which will enable users to buy staple foods from state-run stores on credit – is apparently to stimulate consumption, in an attempt to boost the economy of the only country in Latin America still in recession. But not any old consumption – no, “good and necessary” consumption offering a “path to happiness”, said Chávez , not unbridled “consumerism”. Continue reading »