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Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuela's "Death Spiral"

2016-09-15

[ZEROHEDGE] "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

When President Nicolas Maduro inherited the Venezuelan Socialist "dream", in April of 2013, just one month after Chavez died, he was facing a mere 53% inflation rate. Today the Venezuelan bolivar is virtually worthless, and inflation is creeping to 500% with expectations of much more. A recent Washington Post report stated:

" ...markets expect Venezuela to default on its debt in the very near future. The country is basically bankrupt. It is not easy for a nation to go bankrupt with the largest oil reserves in the world, but Venezuela has managed it. How? Well, a combination of bad luck and worse policies. The first step was when Hugo Chavez's socialist government started spending more money on the poor, with everything from two-cent gasoline to free housing. That may all seem like it's a good idea in general -- but only as long as there's money to spend. And by 2005 or so, Venezuela didn't have any."

Posted by:Fred

#9 American socialists appear to really be Trotskyites in sheep's clothing.

Posted by: 3dc 2016-09-15 22:34

#8 To reword the old Soviet Era Joke: "In Socialism they pretend we have private property and we pretend to be still free."

Posted by: magpie 2016-09-15 20:23

#7 Socialism might work in theory - and there's a lot of that - but it has never worked in practice. Hayek explains why. It's all pretty obvious once you read The Road to Serfdom.

Posted by: KBK 2016-09-15 14:13

#6 Do you really think Obama cares about the future of the Dem party?

Only in how it will benefit him, AlanC.

Posted by: Mullah Richard 2016-09-15 13:26

#5 The problem many people, including a few R'burgers, have is the "axiom" that the government cares about the people.

In Socialism the system is a success as long as it provides luxury and power for the founders. If in continues to do such for future members of the elite then that's just gravy. It is only for the comfort of the founders that the system is established. Do you really think Obama cares about the future of the Dem party?

Posted by: AlanC 2016-09-15 11:17

#4 That spiral could continue on until there was literally nothing there but dust, dirt, and wildlife and our (alleged) "media" would STILL NOT cover the story--it doesn't fit THEIR narrative.

Posted by: Crusader 2016-09-15 10:42

#3 The usual socialism-statism outcome.

Posted by: JohnQC 2016-09-15 10:12

#2 This sort of thing reminds me of when I was in second grade and the teacher assigned us each to write a limerick involving food in some way. Mine ran:

"There once was a fellow named Sam
"Who would only ever eat ham.
"It happened one day
"That he died away [sic].
"And now his wife eats only ham."

I was never happy with this verse, but lately I see a lot of this tendency in politics as in the final line, namely not learning from others' mistakes.

Posted by: Korora 2016-09-15 09:22

#1 Maduro is strongly urging businesses and farmers to sell their goods at severe losses, forcing shut-downs when the cost of doing business becomes prohibitive.

Always with the socialist "Magic Money" tree. When you remove the value of things, things don't happen.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-09-15 09:19

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