Every day seems to bring new tales of human suffering and economic woe from defiantly socialist Venezuela. The once thriving island put its faith in a backward economic system that relies on central planning and price controls and is now suffering the consequences. Americans learning of the destruction wrought by Hugo Chavez and his hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro naturally feel pity for the Venezuelan people, but they should also be wary. Many domestic policies illustrate that U.S. politicians put faith in similar economic superstitions.

As the cracks in Venezuela’s socialist system mounted and the growing underclass struggled to afford basic goods, Chavez and Maduro turned to price controls in an attempt to wrestle the economy into compliance, but which instead only added fuel to the fire. The results of that folly are now poignantly clear — empty store shelves and a hungry populace.