The Truth About The Venezuelan Crisis

Think About Now

Mass starvation, rampant murder, and no electricity in an area that has more proven oil reserves than anywhere else in the world...Why? Socialism of course.
Here is the truth about the Venezuelan Crisis.
This is the second part of our series on free trade. Donate at www.libertarian-atheist.com/donate Music Xzibit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClFehQCAFFA Big Theif - Masterpiece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oacUgWXrqwc New York Times, June 19: Venezuelans Ransack Stores as Hunger Grips the Nation “With delivery trucks under constant attack, the nation’s food is now transported under armed guard. Soldiers stand watch over bakeries. The police fire rubber bullets at desperate mobs storming grocery stores, pharmacies and butcher shops. A 4-year-old girl was shot to death as street gangs fought over food. Venezuela is convulsing from hunger... A staggering 87 percent of Venezuelans say they do not have money to buy enough food... About 72 percent of monthly wages are being spent just to buy food... A family would need the equivalent of 16 minimum-wage salaries to properly feed itself” CNN, August 17: Venezuela chaos: The biggest threat to cheap oil “Venezuela's oil production -- the country's sole lifeline for revenue -- has hit a 13-year low. As the situation worsens, Venezuela's oil output could plunge even lower...While the rest of OPEC is ramping up production, Venezuela is retreating, despite the fact that it has the largest proven oil reserves on the planet.” CRIME IN VENEZUELA While having some of the tightest gun restrictions in south America, it also has the highest gun related deaths. They went from 6,000 homicides a year in 2013 to 28,000 in 2015 – and that’s just the reported amount. Many security officials aren’t even allowed to carry weapons, but that doesn’t prevent people from getting and using them SUGAR Just a decade ago, Venezuela was producing nearly all of the sugar it needed. But this week, 30,000 tons of imported Guatemalan sugar is being offloaded at the port city of Puerto Cabello for delivery to government-run supermarkets across the country, where desperate shoppers typically line up for hours to buy basic foodstuffs. In some ways, the sacks of sugar being lowered on pallets to waiting trucks at Dock 10 symbolize the plight of a country that has seen the production of sugar and other products plummet. Venezuela now imports 80% of all the sugar it consumes, and many economists say 17 years of socialist policies are to blame. The Nation, August 17: Why Is Venezuela in Crisis? “Venezuela is not ‘in a state of total collapse,’ as per The New York Times and other mainstream media sources, the country is in the midst of a very severe crisis, which is getting worse. Venezuelans are not dying, or starving, or looting en masse. But many, far too many, are suffering... By absurdly declaring that Venezuela is an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ to US national security and pressuring investors and bankers to steer clear of the Maduro administration, the White House has prevented Venezuela from obtaining much-needed foreign financing and investment... While Venezuela has moved away from free-market capitalism, its economy is hardly socialist. The private sector, not the state (and still less the social economy), controls the overwhelming majority of economic activity. Between 1999 and 2011, the private sector’s share of economic activity increased, from 65 percent to 71 percent” New York Times, August 10: Middle Class and Hungry in Venezuela “’Luis Almagro is the O.A.S.’s secretary general. He has blamed Mr. Maduro for the crisis and has called on the O.A.S. to consider taking the steps necessary to ‘restore democratic institutions’ in Venezuela. ‘Yeah, it looks like they’ve invoked the Charter.’ Under the charter, the O.A.S. can suspend a member state that fails to preserve the democratic order. Mr. Almagro seems to be hoping this threat will convince the Maduro government to accept humanitarian aid from abroad, which it has pre-emptively ruled out.” New York Times, August 13: Venezuela-Colombia Border Begins Gradual Reopening “Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia agreed Thursday to the gradual reopening of their 1,380-mile (2,200-kilometer) border after the Venezuelan government nearly a year ago closed crossings to crack down on smuggling...Officials alleged that speculators were causing shortages in Venezuela by buying up subsidized food and gasoline and taking them to Colombia, where they could be sold for far higher prices... Hundreds of Venezuelans stormed a border checkpoint in July and illegally crossed into Colombia for the day to go grocery shopping. In the weeks after that, Venezuela temporarily opened the border for short periods to allow people to buy food and medicine. More than 100,000 Venezuelans crossed into Colombia during a temporary weekend border opening in July.” Economic History Association: The Economic History of Norway “In 1969 Philips Petroleum discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field, which was defined as part of the Norwegian continental shelf. This enabled Norway to run a countercyclical financial policy during the stagflation period in the 1970s... Since the countercyclical policy focused on branch and company subsidies, Norwegian firms soon learned to adapt to policy makers rather than to the markets. Hence, both productivity and business structure did not have the incentives to keep pace with changes in international markets. Norway lost significant competitive power, and large-scale deindustrialization took place, despite efforts to save manufacturing industry. Another reason for deindustrialization was the huge growth in the profitable petroleum sector. Persistently high oil prices from the autumn 1973 to the end of 1985 pushed labor costs upward, through spillover effects from high wages in the petroleum sector. High labor costs made the Norwegian foreign sector less competitive. Thus, Norway saw deindustrialization at a more rapid pace than most of her largest trading partners.” Show Notes