Venezuelan Tragedy Continues to Unfold
Things continue to go from bad to worse in Venezuela. People are hungry and social chaos accelerates because of it.
Pity the poor folks in Venezuela. While we here in the U.S. go at each other in the coming national election, there's no sign of respite or even hope in Venezuela. No matter what you think of Hillary or Trump, the election of either would likely not result in what we're seeing in Venezuela. Not that it's impossible. All that's needed is the complete loss of confidence in the US dollar, the result of which would be a catastrophic loss of the dollar's value. People have been predicting this for years, but it's yet to happen. The last time it almost happened was the late 1970s/early 1980s.
While Venezuelans starve and riot, all the news is about "Brexit." The forces for remaining in the EU have pulled out all the stops in anticipation of this week's vote. They've practically said that the UK will devolve into something approaching Venezuela. It's all manipulative nonsense.
There is, however, another country whose economy is teetering on the abyss: Nigeria. Their currency has apparently begun spinning into hyperinflation - the quick and disastrous loss of value that leaves people unable to pay for anything. And if that happens, just as in Venezuela, we can expect the government to take over the economy, freeze prices, and accelerate the descent into social chaos that ensues when governments run things. Of course, the other alternative would be a country like North Korea, where the government keeps social chaos at bay by keeping the vast majority of the people in the edge of starvation and deprivation. Not a good alternative.
Pray for the people of Venezuela. Their government surely isn't. It's too busy keeping itself in power to do anything effective to stop the madness that seems not to be spinning completely out of control.
In the last two weeks alone, more than 50 food riots, protests and mass looting have erupted around the country. Scores of businesses have been stripped bare or destroyed. At least five people have been killed.The local currency loses value daily. People can't afford food. The current government, successor to the late socialist dictator Hugo Chavez, continues to pursue the policies that have caused this disaster. Socialist policies, when pressed to the limit, involve total government control of the economy. And when government totally controls the economy, people suffer, and usually suffer terribly.
Pity the poor folks in Venezuela. While we here in the U.S. go at each other in the coming national election, there's no sign of respite or even hope in Venezuela. No matter what you think of Hillary or Trump, the election of either would likely not result in what we're seeing in Venezuela. Not that it's impossible. All that's needed is the complete loss of confidence in the US dollar, the result of which would be a catastrophic loss of the dollar's value. People have been predicting this for years, but it's yet to happen. The last time it almost happened was the late 1970s/early 1980s.
While Venezuelans starve and riot, all the news is about "Brexit." The forces for remaining in the EU have pulled out all the stops in anticipation of this week's vote. They've practically said that the UK will devolve into something approaching Venezuela. It's all manipulative nonsense.
There is, however, another country whose economy is teetering on the abyss: Nigeria. Their currency has apparently begun spinning into hyperinflation - the quick and disastrous loss of value that leaves people unable to pay for anything. And if that happens, just as in Venezuela, we can expect the government to take over the economy, freeze prices, and accelerate the descent into social chaos that ensues when governments run things. Of course, the other alternative would be a country like North Korea, where the government keeps social chaos at bay by keeping the vast majority of the people in the edge of starvation and deprivation. Not a good alternative.
Pray for the people of Venezuela. Their government surely isn't. It's too busy keeping itself in power to do anything effective to stop the madness that seems not to be spinning completely out of control.
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