Venezuela experiencing Hyper-inflation - Food shortages and ATM's running out of cash

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes, my point was if America controls the Saoudi's and therefore OPEC and oil prices (which are linked to the dollar)
then it hurts Venezuelan economy if they're left out. Still trying to find some links to food embargo's, but remember the "confessions of an economic hitman".

originally posted by: hutch622
a reply to: nOraKat

So does this mean if you sold your house by the end of the week you could not buy a loaf of bread .

About that speed. Between the time you entered a supermarket with enough money to buy all the things you needed, and the time you reached checkout, you could only afford 3/4's of what you needed. Inflation at the rate of 1%/minute = 60%/hour = 2000%/day = 15000%/week.

Say your home was $200,000, a $50 shopping bill would hit that in a week.

originally posted by: Ksihkehe
a reply to: nOraKat

This has been happening for a while and the writing was on the wall long before.

I often wonder how this escapes the notice of people that keep up on the news.

Yeah, I made a few posts on a previous thread and added photos of the long lines of people waiting to buy food and incidentals, also pics of empty grocery stores. Venezuela has been falling for a couple of years and no one on the outside seems to care. I don't understand how their government can let this happen.

They rely heavily on food and agriculture imports. I don't know what they can do.

a reply to: StoutBroux

And when the government steps in and seizes goods to distribute them to the people and play Santa, it doesn't help them lure in more shipments of those same goods.

Here's a couple of links of embargo's:
www.miamiherald.com...
(Obama signs off on sanctions, meaning they were in place)
csis.org...
(Interesting article on multiple aspects)
Could find more, however not interested atm to search on, look for yourselves.
Some things I remember from news reports of the past and such, after Maduro took over from Chavez, it's remarkable how the Dutch media became silent about Venezuela.

originally posted by: Tyrion79

Here's a couple of links of embargo's:

None of which are impacting the average Venezuelan depicted in the Original Post.

www.miamiherald.com...

From that link:

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law legislation that will allow him to freeze assets and deny or revoke visas of Venezuelan officials responsible for violence and human rights violations in the wake of anti-government protests early this year.

How does penalizing government officials create the situation in the Original Post?

csis.org...
(Interesting article on multiple aspects).

The above link deals with Venezuela embargoing the United States. Try reading things before you post them.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Thank you for pointing out my apparent shortcomings.
Please show me your input in all of this (on subject matter), so I may point a finger to thee...

Ok, real question here is, a seamingly rich country treating it's citizens so poor as to deny them of every day products, such as food for which they have to for pay themselves... Which country's next then? Could such an instance instigate a civil war?
What would you do to feed your family? Is there not enough food in the world then?

a reply to: SlapMonkey

In this book - None Dare Call it Conspiracy, by Gary Allen, he discusses how America's goal is Socialism:

www.outpost-of-freedom.com...

---

I'll openly admit I still don't know what socialism means.. just thought I would mention.

a reply to: FormOfTheLord

Well the US did pass sanctions on many people in high level Venezuelan government and froze their assets in the States so you know where they stand.

a reply to: ProxyBear22

originally posted by: ProxyBear22
The food shortage could be the result of the legalization of marijuana bill Venezuela passed earlier this year.

I want to give you a star but for some reason I can't.

originally posted by: Robert Reynolds

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Ketsuko beat me to it, but this truly is what the culmination of years of socialism looks like. While Robert Reynolds says that end-stage capitalism might look similar, that's not the point at all, because our capitalism isn't at its end (yet?).

So the point is that Socialism is a system less capable of delaying the inevitable demise of civilisation? Can the West's capitalism carry on the way it's going?

I think all these words - "Capitalist", "Socialist", "left", "right", "Conservative", "Liberal", etc. really paint ourselves into a box. I guess you can't take different things from each? What does each one mean anyway? They mean different things to different people? .. then maybe we shouldn't use them terms.

..they really promote ignorance.

In the end its the *intention* of our leaders (and citizens) that set the atmosphere. Civilization can probably run fine under a variety of structures/schemes.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: nOraKat

This is end stage socialism.

Look well those of you who think socialism is great.

Not sure why you have chosen Socialism as the cause but i suspect that you may be thinking that its all due to the govt prinitng money but however, as the head line read there is a shortage of hard copy money so I'm sure you can see for oyurelf that govt printing money cannot be the cause.

In nearly all countires govt print about 5-10% of the money in existance, the rest is created by banks who create accounts for people who want them and credit them with deposits. If govts create by printing only about 5-10% of the money clearly they are only 5-10 % responsbile for the inflation, booms or busts which occur.

Banks always want to expand their business, which means continually increasing the overall level of debt. Banks just

love big spending business and particularly government customers who the banks know cannot create their own credit as they gave that rhight away to the banks themselves long ago.

However, its worth noticing that banks can at any time decrease the money supply in the economy by refusing to issue new loans as existing ones are repaid... thereby causing recessions and depressions.

As Im sure you can appreciate, the reverse is also the case as per the 2008 finanical crisis which was cause by all the subprime (high risk) housing loans sold and which collapased.

originally posted by: Tyrion79
Please show me your input in all of this (on subject matter), so I may point a finger to thee...

My input is that the situation depicted in the Original Post is the end result of Statism.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Statism is universal term, defining lots of state forms, do you mean that the Venezuelan government overregulated the economy, therefore resulting in the demise of the current economic situation?
Every government interferes with the economic market, one way or another, by certain regulations.
I remember years ago when U.S. raised import taxes on foreign (European) steel to protect their own steel industry.
This affected my country as well and led to alot of job cutting in the Netherlands.
Point is, there is no real free market as we're led to believe, everything is artificially managed.
Up to speculation of prices of basic commodities like grain, way before it's planted, let alone harvested.

Getting back on topic, what did the Venezuelan government do wrong resulting in the current scarcity of goods and hyperinflation?
I remember a speech of Chavez, that the intent of him and probably of his predecessor(s), was that the oil pumped out of Venezuelan soil belonged to the people of the nation and that the people should benefit from it, not some (foreign) shareholders.
I think he was right about that, as it should be with all natural resources extracted from any country.
But maybe I'm a bit socialised biased for that.
I know one thing though, capitalism will fail as well in the near future, because is not sustainable on the long term, at least not the way I see it today.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus
That's some nice cherry-picking. Did they teach you that at the lodge?

They kicked the US oil companies out some time ago. Without proper maintenance the oil stops flowing. The citizens can thank Mr Chavez for the state of the country.

However, it is now paradise for those in search of budget vacations as long as you have US dollars.

Love the US or hate the US but everywhere the dollar is still king

originally posted by: Robert Reynolds
That's some nice cherry-picking. Did they teach you that at the lodge?

Nice ad hominem. Guess you are incapable of big person discussions. Try arguing the point.

originally posted by: Tyrion79
Statism is universal term, defining lots of state forms, do you mean that the Venezuelan government overregulated the economy, therefore resulting in the demise of the current economic situation?

Correct.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Ok, if this is the case, what lesson could be learned from it, statewise, in other countries today?