Once again, Venezuela’s strong man Hugo Chavez has acted to bolster his nation’s economy by nationalizing more foreign companies. This weekend, 60 oil-service companies were “merged” with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA — by armed troops. Several of those companies were American.

This is hardly an aberration. Back in March, Venezuela seized the assets of Texas-based Cargill.

Chavez’s argument is that the people of Venezuela demand it, and they must be served. In fact, over the last round of confiscations, Chavez reached for his bible — “To God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” he proclaimed as he took over a dozen oil rigs, over 30 terminals, and about 300 boats.

This action has repercussions far beyond the value and use of those assets.

For one, it shows to those who might want to invest in Venezuela that going into business there is very risky — if the government should decide that they want the whole pie, then they’re just going to take it.

This also makes clear broader concerns about business-government partnerships in an increasingly socialist West.

Most important, however, is how the Obama administration will react to this. Those assets belonged to American companies. In some sense, corporations are legal facsimiles of “persons,” and these persons have just been robbed by a foreign government.

How will the Obama Administration react to this provocation? The cynic in me expects them to watch it very carefully, taking note of precisely how it was done — with eyes on how far they themselves can go in their takeovers of the auto and banking industries, and in preparation for their “reform” of the health care and health insurance fields.

One clue will be revealed in how the Obama administration responds to those companies that lost their assets in Venezuela. If the administration issues a perfunctory complaint and lets the matter slide, as they did in the Cargill case, then the writing is on the wall.