Venezuela Goes from Bad to Catastrophe

Until the country has a government that can build a sustainable economic system, its misery will only deepen

No more Coca-Cola for Venezuela–there’s not enough sugar. Diet Coke is still around–until the country runs out of aspartame–but the disappearance from store shelves of an icon of globalization is the latest blow for an economy on the edge. In April, the country’s largest private company, Empresas Polar SA, which makes 80% of the beer that Venezuelans consume, closed its doors. The government now rations water, so Venezuelans have begun stealing it from tanker trucks and swimming pools.

Electricity is also in short supply, and President Nicolás Maduro has ordered public offices to conserve energy by remaining open just two days a week. An ongoing drought only makes matters worse. About 65% of the country’s electricity is generated by a single hydroelectric dam that’s now in serious trouble. Blackouts, scheduled and otherwise, have become common.

This isn’t just bad luck. Supermarket shelves are often empty, in part because price controls have discouraged production of staples, and Maduro is threatening to seize closed factories and nationalize them.

Then there is the government’s oil addiction. Venezuela depends on oil for about 96% of export earnings and nearly half its federal budget. When prices were high, policymakers could have created a rainy-day fund. Some of that money went toward lifting poor people from poverty, but much was stolen: Venezuela is the most corrupt country in the Americas and the ninth most corrupt in the world, according to Transparency International. To balance its budget, Venezuela would need to sell oil for $121 per barrel, more than twice the current price. The inflation rate is expected to hit 481% by year’s end and 1,642% by next year.

It’s no surprise Venezuelans are angry. There are 17 demonstrations per day across the country on average. That discontent helped an opposition alliance win control of parliament in December for the first time in 17 years. Maduro’s approval rating is at 26%, and 70% of Venezuelans want him removed from office. The opposition needed 200,000 signatures to trigger a recall referendum. It got 1.85 million.

Maduro’s remaining allies know they have an out: Venezuela’s constitution stipulates that if the President is ousted within the final two years of his term, he is replaced with his Vice President, not by a new election. Unless a dangerous public uprising forces the issue, the government will stall to ensure that one of its own takes Maduro’s place.

But this is all a sideshow. Maduro is a symptom, not the cause, of Venezuela’s problems. Until the country has a government that can build a sustainable economic system, its misery will only deepen.

unbridled Socialism.

Glories Of Socialism!

It's amazing! I heard an interview with a Cali Sanders delegate who said something along these lines when asked: "Aren't you worried of Sanders socialist agenda and it's effects on the country should he be elected after seeing the results of socialist policies in Venezuela?"

The reply made me go !

He said "There is no way that Bernie would or could impose all the policies of his platform because of the Congress"

Are these idiots not aware that we have a current dictator in the White House who has no respect for the peoples congress and has proven it time and again by executive fiat? I mean holy cow! Just look at how almost every EO he has put forward has been brought before the SCOTUS by suit or challenge? The latest being the threat to withhold federal funding to states educational systems if they don't adhere to the unlawful bathroom bill?

Congress passed a law on this in years past that prevents the very action this action goes against!

The POTUS is supposed to uphold the laws as they are set forth by the Congress but the present liar in chief feels he is above them.... as King of America!

His chief advisors can call the American people idiots, even admit to lying on Obozocare and the Iran deal, but libs just don't care.

The left are just a bunch of drones! They have to be! Just look what they have done to our higher education institutions which create these drones!

Got that right!