It's not the first time government officials in Venezuela have said something similar. They say that the constant power outages (in one of the largest oil producers in the world) are because now the venezuelan people are so well off thanks to the govt that they have more money to spend on air conditioning,refrigerators,etc... Same reason why you cannot buy a car in a dealership (and used car prices double year after year), why there are constant shortages of basic food,etc.

This is just too hilarious to be true and it seems not to be direct quote from a government official but more the popular interpretation of a widely ridiculed statement by the head of the Venezuelan stats office.

http://en.mercopress.com/2013/05/24/toilet-paper-shortage-is...

Thanks for this. I couldn't find that in the video either but that video doesn't show the whole interview, so who knows?

I had heard worse thought, like a congressman asking to investigate DirectTV because it was spying venezuelans through receivers... Oh well...