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> Maduro created the currency to try to salvage his country’s failing economy, where inflation is estimated to spiral to 13,000 percent this year. That is a sh

> Maduro created the currency to try to salvage his country’s failing economy, where inflation is estimated to spiral to 13,000 percent this year. That is a shocking statement. 1) I did not know Venezuela is in such a bad state. 2) I cannot believe that a freaking government is trying to "create" money through an ICO.

lr4444lr 9y ago
Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. That latter country's leadership saw the writing on the wall and began diversifying their wealth holdings before the big price downturn in 2014. Hugo Chavez did no such thing by the time he died a year earlier, unfortunately for his people.
- tweedledee 9y ago
  It would have failed eventually, it just would have taken longer. Venezuela is incredibly corrupt and more money would not have fixed that. One could argue that sanctions only serve to increase corruption by eliminating non regime sources of income for the local populace.
  - saint_fiasco 9y ago
    Same could be said about Saudi Arabia, but that one has been working, in a fashion, for quite a while.
- dmix 9y ago
  Venezuela's economic crises and food shortages started well before the oil prices declined. Chavez's failed economy theories created this problem. The high price of oil was merely masking the disaster he created. It allowed massive cash injections and lavish spending on social programs to compensate for serious issues that price controls, import/export controls, corrupt nationalized businesses, mass emigration of top business talent, etc caused.
- MadSudaca 9y ago
  The problem goes beyond Chavez. Venezuelans have known about the issues of depending on only one export for decades. Thing is, no one was able or willing to do anything about it. Obviously the socialist doctrines that took hold of the venezuelan government weren't going to solve it, and as expected, made things much much worse. Edit: I think that there are two big problems with having your country depend on a single easy to obtain resource. First, it doesn't provide incentives for society to improve its values, since the export doesn't require too much people with good values, and the consequences of failing to improve won't be felt immediately. Second, it gives a big incentive to groups of corrupt individuals to seize power. If you control the money making machine, then you're set, you can make away with people since they're largely not part of the equation.
galieos_ghost 9y ago
It's probably the least shocking statement ever if you know basic history, socialism/communism always fails. Putting all power into the hands of the government will always be inefficient and prone to corruption. Coincidentally comrade Chavez's daughter is the richest person in Venezuela.
- Retra 9y ago
  If you look at history, every government and economic system fails. Except for the ones that haven't yet.
gshulegaard 9y ago
This goes even deeper than that, I just listened to a Podcast called The Daily (from the NYT) which did a two part episode on the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. It would seem that Venezeula is quickly descending into an authoritarian state. As a point of illustration, the jailing of Leopoldo Lopez is one of the few things Obama and Trump both outspokenly agree.
deleted 9y ago
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ataturk 9y ago
Every person in the US pushing communism or even just socialism should be required to spend a month in Venezuela. If you come back alive, then we can have "a conversation."

lr4444lr 9y ago

Venezuela has more proven oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. That latter country's leadership saw the writing on the wall and began diversifying their wealth holdings before the big price downturn in 2014. Hugo Chavez did no such thing by the time he died a year earlier, unfortunately for his people.

tweedledee 9y ago
It would have failed eventually, it just would have taken longer. Venezuela is incredibly corrupt and more money would not have fixed that. One could argue that sanctions only serve to increase corruption by eliminating non regime sources of income for the local populace.
- saint_fiasco 9y ago
  Same could be said about Saudi Arabia, but that one has been working, in a fashion, for quite a while.
dmix 9y ago
Venezuela's economic crises and food shortages started well before the oil prices declined. Chavez's failed economy theories created this problem. The high price of oil was merely masking the disaster he created. It allowed massive cash injections and lavish spending on social programs to compensate for serious issues that price controls, import/export controls, corrupt nationalized businesses, mass emigration of top business talent, etc caused.
MadSudaca 9y ago
The problem goes beyond Chavez. Venezuelans have known about the issues of depending on only one export for decades. Thing is, no one was able or willing to do anything about it. Obviously the socialist doctrines that took hold of the venezuelan government weren't going to solve it, and as expected, made things much much worse. Edit: I think that there are two big problems with having your country depend on a single easy to obtain resource. First, it doesn't provide incentives for society to improve its values, since the export doesn't require too much people with good values, and the consequences of failing to improve won't be felt immediately. Second, it gives a big incentive to groups of corrupt individuals to seize power. If you control the money making machine, then you're set, you can make away with people since they're largely not part of the equation.

galieos_ghost 9y ago

It's probably the least shocking statement ever if you know basic history, socialism/communism always fails. Putting all power into the hands of the government will always be inefficient and prone to corruption. Coincidentally comrade Chavez's daughter is the richest person in Venezuela.

Retra 9y ago
If you look at history, every government and economic system fails. Except for the ones that haven't yet.

gshulegaard 9y ago

This goes even deeper than that, I just listened to a Podcast called The Daily (from the NYT) which did a two part episode on the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. It would seem that Venezeula is quickly descending into an authoritarian state. As a point of illustration, the jailing of Leopoldo Lopez is one of the few things Obama and Trump both outspokenly agree.

deleted 9y ago

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ataturk 9y ago

Every person in the US pushing communism or even just socialism should be required to spend a month in Venezuela. If you come back alive, then we can have "a conversation."