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The Times does it again, as Venezuelan strong-man Hugo Chavez announces the nationalization of several key industries. From the editorial page, we learn for the first time that "State control is rarely an efficient way to run companies." Someone should tell Paul Krugman that, and perhaps efficiency isn't really in important issue, anyway, in relation to the principles of property rights in play here. But the real message is in the last graf:

Mr. Chávez’s latest moves serve as yet another reminder of why America needs to curb its insatiable appetite for oil. The United States is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan petroleum products. If a powerful Hugo Chávez is against U.S. interests, we should stop paying for his Russian fighter jets and helicopters — and his nationalizations — with our gas-guzzling cars and trucks.

My DC lawyer/lobbyist friend adds,

The NYT editorial writer weaves across three lanes of traffic to slam into America and Bush for the predictable nationalization move of a socialist. Does the NYT believe Bush aggravated Chavez into being what he always has been? Wasn't Jimmy Carter the wet nurse on duty when Chavez's was born? How come he wasn't mentioned? Will the NYT-owned Boston Globe now campaign to take down the Citgo sign over Fenway? (So the drivers of Boston don't inadvertently fill up their SUVs with socialist carbon.)

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