Venezuela crisis deepening

One of my best mates still lives in a wealthy suburb in Caracas

Even he who is decently paid and middle class; has to deal with random power blackouts and can't walk out alone at night. Some days at the supermarket the only thing he can buy is fruit...

Literally sometimes the shelves are empty and you can't buy certain foods, he snapchatted me a rather large bag of oranges the other week (it was the only thing he could buy at the local store).

Another victory for central planning and state control over key industries.

But I'm sure the West is to blame for installing a useless govt and lowering oil pric- oh wait.

Ahhhhh Socialism, working again

I thought venezuela had rainforest and agricultural field.

It's only going to get remarkably worser before it gets better for Venezuela.

Posted from TSR Mobile

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.EASE.XQ?year_high_desc=false
(Venezuela ranked 184)

http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015#results-table
(Venezuela ranked 158)


@oShahpo, remember you were asking why Venezuela aren't richer than Saudi Arabia... it turns out, there are worse (and more corrupt) countries than KSA

Maybe theocracies aren't that bad after all :P

The problem is that Venezuela just doesn't have the infrastructure or experienced workforce to actually produce food any more. They've been importing produce (and plenty of other things, like medicine) for years now, relying on oil exports to cover the cost. This was economically viable, for a time, but by putting all their eggs in one basket they've been utterly screwed over by the falling oil prices.

Now with the constant decline, even if Venezuela wanted to, it's in no fit position to be starting up new industries to try and stimulate the economy and either create new exports or build local industries. It's well and truly a mess.

Then of course, there's the old elephant in the room: massive corruption of the establishment. Again, this has been going on for decades, and now it's come to bite the entire country in the bum. Government officials will likely continue to bleed the economy dry before making out like a bandit when it all finally collapses.

Why ain't we sending them food?

There are plenty of places around the world that need aid more than Venezuela does. Also, another poster mentioned that the government may have been blocking aid from coming in. Not sure if that's actually the case or not though.