The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Batgirl III
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Authoritarian systems tend towards corruption to much greater degrees than open systems. Do I need to drag out the Lord Acton quote?
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Ken
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Yes, and what a great time saver it is, when you don't have to wait for corrupt government officials to get into bed with corrupt heads of industry (or vice versa) because they're the same people.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Gilliam wrote: Mon May 21, 2018 7:13 pm Fair enough, personally what I took from the article was corruption is corruption no matter what political system or beliefs you follow.
When the core notion of your economic and political system is "we want your stuff; therefore we're taking your stuff" how far does one have to go before corruption sets in?
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Don’t forget the inbuilt “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” aspect of collectivist ideology too. Maria Gabriela Chávez has a reported net worth of $4.2 billion USD. Meanwhile, her fellow citizens in the glorious workers’ paradise her father built are eating vermin.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Batgirl III wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 3:50 am Don’t forget the inbuilt “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” aspect of collectivist ideology too. Maria Gabriela Chávez has a reported net worth of $4.2 billion USD. Meanwhile, her fellow citizens in the glorious workers’ paradise her father built are eating vermin.
Well, someone's got to eat the vermin. They already ate the cats.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Holy SHIT.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/781952/mi ... thing-else
Five million Venezuelan bolivars is the equivalent of $1.45. It's also roughly a minimum-wage worker's entire monthly salary in the South American country.
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Batgirl III
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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And that's just the official exchange rate. The actual buying power of the bolivar is far lower than that... Not that there's anything to buy.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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The world’s most oil-rich nation has to import crude oil.

A coastal nation that is predominantly a semi-tropical rainforest and whose largest cities are built between river deltas, is running out of water.
“Breitbart.com” wrote:“Locals have been protesting since 3 am due to lack of water on the Charallave-Ocumare highway, and are now requesting the presence of the media,” wrote onlooker Rocely Romero in Twitter.

The last major water shortage in Venezuela was in February 2016, when authorities announced a weekend “maintenance” session designed to maintain sufficient water levels during a period of drought. An estimated three million in Caracas consequently went without water, where the average temperature at that time of year is 68F.

The lack of clean water is the latest in a string mass shortages experienced in Venezuela under the rule of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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Venezuelas new series of bank notes are nowhere to be found.
Venezuela’s new series of bank notes, to be called bolívares soberanos, and necessary because the nation’s rampant inflation turned much of what it has been using into nothing more than play money, was supposed to be introduced on June 4.

When the Maduro government delayed it to Aug. 4, the national banker’s association asked for an extra month to prepare.

As of now, the Monetary Research Institute reports in its MRI Banker’s Guide to Foreign Currency, there is no indication that any of the seven new denominations, from 2 to 200 bolívares soberanos, have even arrived in Venezuela.
That’s right. Venezuela might not be able to roll out the new currency because they literally do not have the bills to pass out... Seems Baroness Thatcher was only half right: the socialists have run out of other people’s money and run out of their own.

Truth is Maduro can knock as many zeros off the bolivar as he wants, but even if the avaerage Venezuelan can find someone who will accept the bills... there’s still nothing to buy. As of now, inflation in Venezuela is north of 46,000 percent.
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Re: The ongoing fall of Venezuela

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I once heard that the perfect deal is one where both parties are slightly annoyed afterwards.

Capitalism generally works because it acknowledges peoples self interest.
I think Socialism fails because it thinks people are better than they are.... And it is a messed up, by necessity totalitarian system.

As for China it works because it is huge, understands market forces and is willing to exploit it's resources and people (just like Americs and Russia).
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