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If you're lucky enough to be in a position where it's possible, hold other currencies in foreign accounts. For the other 99% of the population, you just can't

If you're lucky enough to be in a position where it's possible, hold other currencies in foreign accounts. For the other 99% of the population, you just can't deal with it. Venezuela is literally a failed state right now. Even well-off people literally cannot afford to buy bread and rice, never mind "luxuries" like medicine. Just to put the 1 million bolivar coffee in perspective - the current monthly minimum wage is just over 5 million bolivars.

stupidcar 8y ago
Right, but there are 31m living in Venezuela. Even presuming a couple of million have fled, there's still a lot of people there. If nobody can afford bread and rice, how are coffee shops still operating? The linked video shows people still looking reasonably well fed and well clothed and walking around. Shouldn't they be literally lying in the streets starving? We often read about these cases of runaway inflation and market collapse, and from the way they're described, it seems logical that the result would be completely antithetical to human survival. And yet, somehow, these societies do seem to stagger along. The question is: how? What is the day-to-day reality for people in these places? How do they get the food and water necessary to stay alive?
- mcjiggerlog 8y ago
  Venezuelans lost on average 11kg (25lbs) in 2017 and 90% of the population is now living in poverty [1]. Also, this report was from when inflation was a measly 1,000%, never mind the current 1,000,000%. People ARE starving. [1] - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelan...
  - i_made_a_booboo 8y ago
    They locally refer to it as the Maduro Diet
- woodandsteel 8y ago
  The linked video shows people still looking reasonably well fed and well clothed and walking around. My guess is they are people with government connections that allow them to buy dollars at a discounted price and then sell them for a huge profit.Or just pay directly in dollars. In any case, the government has the security forces and a huge civilian militia, so it won't starve, no matter what is happening to anyone else.

stupidcar 8y ago

Right, but there are 31m living in Venezuela. Even presuming a couple of million have fled, there's still a lot of people there. If nobody can afford bread and rice, how are coffee shops still operating? The linked video shows people still looking reasonably well fed and well clothed and walking around. Shouldn't they be literally lying in the streets starving? We often read about these cases of runaway inflation and market collapse, and from the way they're described, it seems logical that the result would be completely antithetical to human survival. And yet, somehow, these societies do seem to stagger along. The question is: how? What is the day-to-day reality for people in these places? How do they get the food and water necessary to stay alive?

mcjiggerlog 8y ago
Venezuelans lost on average 11kg (25lbs) in 2017 and 90% of the population is now living in poverty [1]. Also, this report was from when inflation was a measly 1,000%, never mind the current 1,000,000%. People ARE starving. [1] - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelan...
- i_made_a_booboo 8y ago
  They locally refer to it as the Maduro Diet
woodandsteel 8y ago
The linked video shows people still looking reasonably well fed and well clothed and walking around. My guess is they are people with government connections that allow them to buy dollars at a discounted price and then sell them for a huge profit.Or just pay directly in dollars. In any case, the government has the security forces and a huge civilian militia, so it won't starve, no matter what is happening to anyone else.