Venezuela on the knife’s edge of collapses

Venezuela's economy has been shrinking for seven consecutive quarters going back to the start of 2014. It's GDP is expected to plunge by a jaw-dropping 8 percent this year; inflation is an even more gut-churning 720 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.





The Venezuelan government is imposing rolling blackouts on its citizens. Food shortages are rife, leading to lines and even looting.

As The New York Times reports, in Venezuela's hospitals children are dying for lack of medicine. The country is on the brink of collapse. And let's keep in mind, Venezuela is one of the world's most oil-rich countries.

"Consider the basic necessities of life. Food, toilet paper, and many other basic goods are hard to come by in Venezuela. Why? Well, when Chavez decided the prices of necessities were too high, he first put the squeeze on retailers, accusing them of hoarding or raising prices to bilk the customer. Then he put in price controls which, just as Econ 101 says they would do, led to shortages and a black market. The government responded by arresting CEOs and executives of retailing firms."

Venezuela's capital has earned the distinction of being the murder capital of the world.

Chavez and Maduro kept saying that everything that was wrong with Venezuela was the fault of markets and that if the government either eliminated or regulated those markets, things would get better. They implemented their agenda and it has been a disaster. This socialist brand of economic authoritarianism had the predictable consequence of political authoritarianism, corruption, and a breakdown of the rule of law. It's a lesson worth remembering.

"If you block this democratic path we don't know what might happen in this country," two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles told Reuters. "Venezuela is a time bomb that can explode at any given moment."

Related:

Venezuela food shortages cause some to hunt dogs, cats, pigeons
Venezuela Collapsing; U.S. Officials Fear Violence, Military Coup
Venezuela’s Slow Motion Economic Apocalypse
Watch Venezuela, Because Food Shortages , Looting And Economic Collapse Are Coming To America
Venezuela on the brink of collapse
Venezuela Before Chávez: Anatomy of an Economic Collapse
Why has Obama declared Venezuela a national security threat?

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