The socialist dream crumbles in Venezuela

[Alan C.]

Why are Venezuela’s supermarkets so empty?

 

Venezuela's supermarkets don't have enough food. Or toilet paper. Or, well, anything really. And that's why the government is about to start fingerprinting people to ration goods.But why can't an oil-rich country even keep its stores stocked? Well, it's the price controls, stupid. They always and everywhere create shortages. Here's why they have done so in Venezuela.1. The government is running a massive deficit, around 14 percent of GDP, that it's financing with the printing press. The problem, of course, is that money is worth less when you create more of it to pay your bills. So it's not surprising that Venezuela's inflation is officially 60 percent, and might actually be as high as 300 percent.2. But the government thinks it can wish away this inflation with currency and price controls.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela seizes warehouses packed with medical goods, food

 

President Nicolas Maduro's government said on Thursday it had taken over warehouses around Venezuela crammed with medical goods and food that "bourgeois criminals" were hoarding for speculation and contraband.

 

The socialist government says businessmen and wealthy opponents are trying to sabotage the economy to bring Maduro down, while also seeking to make profits from hoarding, price-gouging and smuggling across the border to Colombia.

[fractional slacker]

I have a question. Given how awful things appear to be  economically in Venezuela, why is it conservative oriented news programs don't report on this story?
Is the paucity of reporting on Venezuela because daily suffering and general malaise don't make for "breaking news?" Is the lack of coverage due to an even less free press in Venezuela? Is there a fair amount of reporting going on I don't know about?

[Alan C.]

More good news from the socialist paradise.

 

Shortages, Inflation Threaten Venezuela Christmas

 

President Nicolas Maduro announced Friday that he is deploying hundreds of inspectors to enforce the government's price regulations, which set the cost of everything from milk to toothbrushes artificially low.

 

. . .

 

Maduro recently announced that his administration had taken over warehouses where "bourgeois criminals" were hoarding food and medical supplies. He also increased the maximum prison sentence for smugglers to 14 years.

 

Officials say the state has arrested more than 1,000 smugglers since Venezuela began closing its border with Colombia each night.

 

Venezuela's Maduro to raise minimum wage

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he will increase the minimum wage by 15% starting in December.

The raise, the third this year, comes amid an annual inflation rate of 63.4%.

 

In violent Venezuela, bulletproof everything

 

The oil-rich country has a huge gap between rich and poor, and sadly, it boasts the world's second-highest homicide rate.

 

. . .

 

...Venezuela is a violent mess. Nearly four kidnappings per week are reported, according to the government, 65 people a day die violent deaths, according to NGOs, and the obsession with survival is spreading everywhere.

 

. . .

 

...the homicide rate stood at 54 per 100,000 inhabitants, surpassed only by Honduras, according to UN figures.

[hannahbanana]

I have a good friend who moved here from Venezuela...she said that the government encourages people to move into and create slums on other people's private property...this all done without saying anything to the people who own that land, of course.

Needless to say, she is very glad that she got out, before things got even worse....and things were already pretty bad when she left.

[J-William]

I have a good friend who moved here from Venezuela...she said that the government encourages people to move into and create slums on other people's private property...this all done without saying anything to the people who own that land, of course.

Needless to say, she is very glad that she got out, before things got even worse....and things were already pretty bad when she left.

I think that's your only choice, especially when smuggling (aka feeding people) is punished with 14 years in jail...

 

I feel for these people, they are in an awful situation and only a few have the resources to get out like your friend. (Also curious why Honduras is so messed up that they have a higher murder rate)

[Alan C.]

Venezuelan President Announces 'Hotline' to Denounce 'Traitors, Spies, or Dissidents'

 

Venezuelans who suspect their friends or neighbors of being insufficiently socialist now have a direct line to the government they can use to ensure anyone not toeing the line is punished. President Nicolás Maduro announced the new "Denounce Infiltrates" Hotline this week.

...

This is not the first such hotline President Maduro has opened. Last year, the Maduro administration opened a hotline to denounce "speculators," meaning small businesses that sold products at retail price. Maduro's price caps on necessary goods, such as eggs, oil, and milk, have resulted in severe scarcity in much of the nation, as well as the emergence of illegal pop-up marketplaces where vendors sell the products at full price. The hotline functions similarly to Cuba's "Committee for the Defense of the Revolution" system, in which one person on every street block is assigned to monitor his or her neighbors for any counter-revolutionary activity or anti-socialist opinions.

 

Stasi

[Josh F]

The Venezuelan people have a vocal and bold pro-market revolution going on in their country against Maduro that I hope manages to wrestle away some power.  Maduro is the joke of S America, like George Bush, he is a bumbling fool who makes ignorant comments and is the frequent target of satyrical cartoons.  Venezuela at one time, prior to socialism, was a rapidly growing economy with some very talented and hard working people.  Their system was controlled by an aristocratic oligarchy, and in a popular attempt to dismantle and end one form of corruption, they ignorantly stumbled onto a corruption that is much more dangerous.  The country has had several massive protests, one in which they actually captured Chavez himself.  Maduro has an army of ignorant and racist poor people, and motorcycle mercenaries who became the strong arm of their system and are now powerful biking gangs which rob and kidnap wealthy people.  The biggest movement against Maduro is coming from the students, imagine, the students are the ones who are against socialism for a change.    

 

Impressive how we have learned nothing from the XX scentury!! And this "we just need a better government" is utter bullshit..strange coincidence that the bigger the state size the bigger the corruption rates. Id like to know if the venezuelan intellectuals are sinking with the ship or fleeing the country Cheers J

Yes, they are all fleeing at an exceedingly fast rate.  I've met many reformed socialists who were sucked in by the psychopathic charm and brilliance of Chavez and have since become disillusioned and far more appreciative of free economies.  

 

I have a buddy who was catering lunches to businesses, and it became so impossible to do his job that he would buy and prepare the food in the morning, but by lunch time he didn't know how much to charge for the food, the cost and prices were in such extreme decline.  

I think that's your only choice, especially when smuggling (aka feeding people) is punished with 14 years in jail...

I feel for these people, they are in an awful situation and only a few have the resources to get out like your friend. (Also curious why Honduras is so messed up that they have a higher murder rate)

 

A combinations of coups, military dictatorships, natural disasters and narco-trafficers have just ripped Honduras apart over a long period of time.  

I have a question. Given how awful things appear to be  economically in Venezuela, why is it conservative oriented news programs don't report on this story?
Is the paucity of reporting on Venezuela because daily suffering and general malaise don't make for "breaking news?" Is the lack of coverage due to an even less free press in Venezuela? Is there a fair amount of reporting going on I don't know about?

Firstly, they do in Florida, this is a big topic there.  Secondly, I think not unlike with Iraq and many other countries, there is a long standing history of corrupt support of violent and despotic people in Venezuela.  Chavez, not unlike Mao, was also the darling of lefty Americans.  

[Alan C.]

Is Venezuela on the Verge of Collapse?

 

“Venezuela spends more than it earns and this year we’re only going to get half as much,” said Asdrúbal Oliveros, an economist who is director of the Caracas consulting firm Econanalítica. “The fiscal deficit amounts up to 20 percent of the GDP.” The International Monetary Fund predicts the economy will shrink 7 percent this year. Several economists believe inflation will reach triple digits and that shortages will worsen dramatically.

 

Robbers target food delivery trucks in shortage-hit Venezuela

 

Robbers and looters are targeting trucks carrying food across Venezuela in another sign of worsening shortages that have turned basics like flour and chicken into coveted booty.

Crime has long plagued shops and roads in Venezuela, which has one of the world's highest murder rates.

But widespread shortages due to a restriction of dollars for imports have worsened since the New Year.

This has made food delivery increasingly risky even as certain trucks have been fitted with GPS devices and are sometimes protected by private security agents.

"I won't transport food anymore because the streets are too dangerous," said Orlando Garcia, a 37-year-old driver from the western state of Tachira who has been ambushed twice as he crisscrossed the country.

"They put screws on the road (to burst your tires), and when you stop to fix the tire they attack you," said Garcia, who now refuses to work past midnight and will only transport plastics.

 

Photo of long line at grocery store

 

Venezuelans Throng Grocery Stores Under Military Protection

 

Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American country’s capital as residents search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken.

“I’ve visited six stores already today looking for detergent -- I can’t find it anywhere,” said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. “We’re wearing our dirty clothes again because we can’t find it. At this point I’ll buy whatever I can find.”

A dearth of foreign currency exacerbated by collapsing oil prices has led to shortages of imports from toilet paper to car batteries, and helped push annual inflation to 64 percent in November. The lines will persist as long as price controls remain in place, Luis Vicente Leon, director of Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis, said today in a telephone interview.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422411861&x-yt-cl=84924572&v=u2tTbV-2LJ4

[fractional slacker]

^^ Is Venezuela on the Verge of Collapse?

 

Found that to be one of the best current articles on the continuing hostage situation going on in Venezuela. It's hard to imagine having money AND not being able to buy basic items such as cooking oil or diapers. The measures the govt. mafia keep putting in place to fix supply problem are not fooling anyone. 
Maybe we are just in the fish bowl, but I am still amazed you can't hardly find anyone on the street who knows anything about the crisis developing in this oil-rich country. SMH

[mlsv2f]

LETS TRY IT AGAIN SOMEWHERE ELSE, ITS BOUND TO WORK THIS TIME!! 

 

 

[J-William]

 

I hadn't even realized how completely devastated Venezuela will be with the current price of oil... I mean they were already messed up at really high oil prices, but Maduro won't even be able to pay off the dependent classes and thugs keeping him in power.

 

I don't see it ending well, either the government will reform policies, or there will be a coup... and we all know how often socialist governments implement free-market reforms... especially with lefty american cheerleaders telling them they've nothing to worry about.

[Alan C.]

Tweeting for Treatment in Venezuela

 

...the country is facing a critical shortage of basic medical supplies. The crisis is only getting worse. A crumbling economy and lack of access to foreign currency (worsened by the recent drop in oil prices) means domestic distributors cannot pay their suppliers. That, in turn, has led international medical suppliers to cut shipments and hold back on maintenance of Venezuela’s health care infrastructure. Bills have piled up to the tune of some $245 million — and that doesn’t include money owed to drug companies, maintenance firms or other  health careproviders.

The consequences are being felt across a broad swath of society. Up to 15 percent of the country’s cancer patients are dying due to a lack of radiotherapy treatment, the Venezuelan Society of Oncology and Oncological Radiotherapy has warned.  The situation has become so dire that some professionals who used to work with pharma companies say they’ve cut their relationships because there’s just no medicine for the businesses to supply.

Look no further than the shelves in Jaimes’ two pharmacies, which are almost empty. There’s no vitamin C, no folic acid, not even acetaminophen, which is sought after to treat the symptoms of chikungunya, a mosquito-transmitted virus that causes severe joint pain and infected almost 35,000 people last year. And while Jaimes searches for the drug his niece needs, he — and many other business owners — are also struggling to keep their pharmacies afloat. “You must keep the pharmacy open eight hours a day, every day, whether you have anything to sell or not,” he says. “If we close, we lose our licenses.”

The country’s government, which did not respond to a request for comment, has said that many Venezuelan-subsidized products, such as medicines, are being smuggled to Colombia and that it is trying to get a handle on the situation. Yet it has also taken steps to protect its image. One government directive that Venezuelan health care guilds have criticized warns, “It is strictly prohibited for patients or their families to bring medicines or medical supplies for their treatment, even if hospitals don’t have the necessary supplies.”

[FreedomPhilosophy]

I read about the problems with sky-high condom prices recently, although I didn't check the source. With the prevalence of HIV in Venezuela, this is a very serious issue.

 

http://www.medicaldaily.com/public-sexual-health-venezuela-looking-bleak-condoms-birth-control-and-hiv-anti-321078

[FreedomPhilosophy]

John Pilger thinks that the US is manipulating the Saudis to lower oil prices to destabilize Venezuela and Russia.

 

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/What-is-Inexcusable-is-Venezuelas-Political-independence-20150216-0011.html

[Alan C.]

I have posts on this forum regarding the problems in Venezuela going back to 2010. While the decline in oil may have worsened existing problems, it's not the cause.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

I have posts on this forum regarding the problems in Venezuela going back to 2010. While the decline in oil may have worsened existing problems, it's not the cause.

I agree. The political left always blame intervention by "capitalists" for messing up experiments in socialist economics. But then US foreign policy really has been about heavy handed interventions in the South Americas.

[shirgall]

I agree. The political left always blame intervention by "capitalists" for messing up experiments in socialist economics. But then US foreign policy really has been about heavy handed interventions in the South Americas.

 

Indeed, the economic hit men we sent into South America and other places were hardly capitalists. If anything, we would do anything to prevent communist takeovers by instead creating economic debts to the west which is more like fascism.

 

I invite you to read John Perkins book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to get some details. http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins-ebook/dp/B001AFF266

[Alan C.]

Venezuelan hotels asking tourists to bring their own toilet paper and soap

 

Haha.

[fractional slacker]

I read they have to finger print scanners at locations now but the system is still months away from working. Gee, unmotivated commies. Who woulda thunk it?

[Existing Alternatives]

I have a number of Venezuelan friends who fled all this nonsense. Although, they all believe that Chavez either “went a little too far” or “did not do it the right way”, but ultimately, he was on the right track.

 

“Oil wealth should be shared with all people”

“He really helped the poor”

 

“Do you know the kind of margins these stores are making?!?”

[shirgall]

I have a number of Venezuelan friends who fled all this nonsense. Although, they all believe that Chavez either “went a little too far” or “did not do it the right way”, but ultimately, he was on the right track.

 

“Oil wealth should be shared with all people”

“He really helped the poor”

 

“Do you know the kind of margins these stores are making?!?”

 

It always galls me that what they obviously don't understand is that in capitalist systems the oil wealth would be shared with all people, as the people who pull the oil out of the ground and sell it would spend that money on goods and services. The difference is who controls where the money goes.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

That link broke, I found this one http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-28891292 - they are deploying the army to prevent people smuggling the subsidized goods to Colombia!

[zmanx]

Impressive how we have learned nothing from the XX scentury!! And this "we just need a better government" is utter bullshit..strange coincidence that the bigger the state size the bigger the corruption rates. Id like to know if the venezuelan intellectuals are sinking with the ship or fleeing the country Cheers J

 

There are lots of people leaving, specially to Florida, US. My family and I moved here back when Chavez got elected, glad my father saw it comming before it all went down. Every day that goes by, the governments regulations and decline of the economy make it harder for intellectuals and decent people to flee. There are still some who have the means of leaving but refuse to do so because they still have hope that it will all pass sooner or later

[Alan C.]

How long does it take to buy basic goods in Venezuela?

 

Follow link for video.

 

What we're observing is societal regression. What was once a simple errand has become a colossal time-waster. Almost an entire day was spent just to go grocery shopping.

 

Think of it this way: suppose you wanted to build a house and instead of having access to a backhoe you had to use a trowel.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela to nationalize food distribution

 

Citing new decree-making powers recently granted by the National Assembly, Maduro said he would carry out such a measure "in the coming days and weeks."

 

. . .

 

Various estimates suggest the government already controls about half of the country's food distribution, but that hasn't stopped record shortages in shops and markets.

 

Venezuela is struggling with a recession, 68.5-percent annual inflation and severe shortages of the basic goods that it relies on oil money to import.

 

Fantastic.

 

This f'ing loser is a former bus driver and trade union leader, so he's obviously qualified to centrally plan food distribution and economic policy for 33M people.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela raises minimum wage 30 pct amid raging inflation

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is raising the country's minimum wage to help workers being battered by inflation running at more than 60 percent a year.

 

Speaking at a May Day rally Friday, the socialist president said he will increase the minimum wage and pensions for retirees by 30 percent. He is also promising more actions to empower workers in what he says is an economic war against capitalist employers.

 

The pay and pension increase is the second this year and takes Venezuela's minimum wage to around 6,700 bolivars a month. That's about $1,000 at the country's official exchange rate but less than $25 at the black market rate widely used to set many prices.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

Pour petrol on the fire, yeah that'll fix it.

[Alan C.]

The Bolivar (Venezuela's currency) is in serious trouble. When people begin ditching a currency, the end is near. The same thing will eventually happen to the U.S. dollar when the rate of price increases becomes too onerous.

 

Businesses quietly switch to dollar in socialist Venezuela

 

Venezuela: No Rule of Law, Bad Money

[Kim Lee]

The Bolivar (Venezuela's currency) is in serious trouble. When people begin ditching a currency, the end is near.

They already switched from the Bolivar to the Bolivar Fuerte in 2008.

[Alan C.]

Venezuela's currency isn't worth a penny

 

Just a month ago, $1 was worth 279 bolivars. That was already pretty dismal for Venezuela. Now $1 equals 408 bolivars, according to the unofficial exchange rate, which most Venezuelans get when they try to trade currency.

Put another way, one bolivar equals $0.002 -- less than a penny. The country's currency has lost nearly half its value since the beginning of May...

. . .

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro has touted the Bolivarian Revolution, started by his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez, as a successful movement. The goal is to equally distribute wealth among all the country's people. Maduro has continued massive public spending programs to appeal to the country's poor.

. . .

Lots of American companies do business in Venezuela, and they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

Venezuelan struggling socialists hold legislative primaries

 

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-struggling-socialists-hold-legislative-primaries-130806386.html

[Thomasio]

I can't help thinking, you're blaming the wrong thing.

Venezuela just like Russia are running a deeply corrupt state capitalism.

That definitely doesn't work, there are countless examples throughout the world, but calling it socialism doesn't make it socialism, it is and remains state capitalism.

 

Real socialism you find even within capitalism and it's thriving.

http://techworker.coop/

The "trick" is, they don't call it socialism, because the word by itself due to the abuse from state capitalism got a bad taste.

Richard Wolff has a pretty good comment on this, when he says: "I don't care what they call it, if only they do it."

[Alan C.]

They call it socialism in Venezuela.

 

You can call it whatever you want, but if it lacks private property and free exchange then it's doomed.

[Thomasio]

That's true, but that doesn't make it socialism, because true socialism is actually based on about everything being private property, i.e. factories owned by the workers working in them, rather than factories owned by super rich individuals who serve nobody but just take most of the profit their workers generate.

Bashing socialism because some idiot claims his state capitalism to be socialism serves no purpose.

Call it what it is and then bash the state capitalism.