Category: Venezuela
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Venezuela's Opposition Is Playing With Fire / Politics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The Maduro government has put Venezuela in Satan’s record books. That hellish distinction is because Venezuela is in the grip of one of the world’s 58 episodes of hyperinflation. Hyperinflation occurs when the monthly inflation rate exceeds 50%/mo. for at least 30 consecutive days. Of the 58 episodes of hyperinflation, Venezuela’s inflation rate is middling: it ranks as the 23rd most severe episode. Today, I measured Venezuela’s annual rate of inflation at 132,743%/yr. (see the chart below). This contrasts sharply with the National Assembly’s lying statistic of 1,698,488%/yr. for December 2018 and the IMF’s absurd forecast of 10,000,000%/yr. for December 2019.
Friday, February 08, 2019
The Venezuela Myth Keeping Us From Transforming Our Economy / Politics / Venezuela
By: Ellen_Brown
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is getting significant media attention these days, after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview that it should “be a larger part of our conversation” when it comes to funding the “Green New Deal.” According to MMT, the government can spend what it needs without worrying about deficits. MMT expert and Bernie Sanders adviser professor Stephanie Kelton says the government actually creates money when it spends. The real limit on spending is not an artificially imposed debt ceiling but a lack of labor and materials to do the work, leading to generalized price inflation. Only when that real ceiling is hit does the money need to be taxed back, but even then it’s not to fund government spending. Instead, it’s needed to shrink the money supply in an economy that has run out of resources to put the extra money to work.
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Monday, February 04, 2019
Venezuela Trying to Sell Gold to Stay Afloat / Politics / Venezuela
By: Richard_Mills
Venezuela is reaching for its last card as the deck collapses on President Nicolas Maduro’s failed regime.
The country is selling its gold in order to provide liquidity for imports of basic goods.
You know your regime’s days are numbered when you start eyeing your bullion. Indeed gold’s status as store of value, as money, the only currency available when yours is worthless, has come into play with respect to the crisis that has been unfolding in Venezuela over the last couple of years and appears to be reaching its peak.
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Saturday, February 02, 2019
Without A Currency Board, Venezuela's Opposition Will Fail / Politics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, has tanked. Just take a look at the ugly chart below.
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Saturday, February 02, 2019
The U.S. Declares Economic War Against Venezuela / Economics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Since the election of Hugo Chavez in December of 1998, Venezuelans have embraced Chavismo. This peculiar form of socialism has allowed Venezuela to morph into what is in essence an organized crime syndicate and has pushed the country in an economic death spiral. For the stunning evidence of this death spiral, we need look no further than Venezuela’s inflation rate.
Today, Venezuela’s annual inflation rate is 112,189%/yr. The chart below tracks the daily measurements of this annual rate. Unlike the fantastic inflation forecasts thrown around by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the data in the chart are real measurements—accurate measurements.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Venezuela's Retrogressing Socialist Economy, Spotlight on the Failing PDVSA / Economics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Two hallmarks characterize capitalist economies. Firstly, property is predominately in private hands. Consequently, goods and services are allocated via market mechanisms in which prices provide signals for businesses, workers, and consumers. Secondly, capitalist economies are highly capitalized. Indeed, the stocks of physical and human capital are relatively large in relation to the capitalist economies’ income flows.
On those two counts, Venezuela is retrogressing. With Chavismo, which commenced when Hugo Chavez took power in 1999, Venezuela has beaten a hasty retreat from anything that would qualify as “capitalist.” Today, it is clearly in the throes of a socialist-interventionist system.
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Thursday, August 04, 2016
Venezuela in Chaos With Work Camps and 1,000% Inflation – Coming Soon to the West? / Politics / Venezuela
By: Jeff_Berwick
We’re keeping track of Venezuela and have written about its deepening disaster numerous times, including HERE. In fact, I personally visited a few months ago to see the disaster with my own eyes.
Every time we look at this poor country, things are getting worse. The rate of price inflation is soaring toward 1,000 percent, with looting and shortages of critical necessities such as medicine and food. Hyperinflation is well underway. June monthly figures put inflation around 22%, with inflation at 488% for the year but I know from personal experience that the government numbers, as with all governments, are heavily lied about.
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Saturday, June 25, 2016
Venezuela vs. Ecuador (Chavismo vs. Chavismo Dollarized) / Economics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
With the arrival of President Hugo Chávez in 1999, Venezuela embraced Chavismo, a form of Andean socialism. In 2013, Chávez met the Grim Reaper and Nicolás Maduro assumed Chávez’ mantle.Chavismo has not been confined to Venezuela, however. A form of it has been adopted by Rafael Correa – a leftist economist who became president of a dollarized Ecuador in 2007.
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Sunday, June 12, 2016
What Makes Venezuela Different / Politics / Venezuela
By: MISES
Ryan W. McMaken writes: Unlike other leftist South American regimes, the Venezuela regime has intentionally crushed even the middle and working classes.
The economic disaster in Venezuela has prompted many to take a look at the country and attempt to understand what it is that has made things so bad in Venezuela.
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Monday, May 23, 2016
Why Aren't Venezuelan Interest Rates Going Negative Like in Europe? / Interest-Rates / Venezuela
By: Mario_Innecco
Monday May 23rd 2016 I'm gonna talk about Venezuela is mainly because we've
been you know bombarded in the last few months which stories in the mainstream
and alternative media about hyperinflation Venezuela societal
collapse people killing packs to eat you know loads of horrible stories and I'm
not saying they're not true they are and Venezuela though is a fairly rich
country know you look at their GDP per capita has hired in China I know they
have a lot of oil revenue but it's still not a poor country and the main theme
and even Zero Hedge who blog I read it and I really enjoy what they talked
about and how you analyze things they've caught you know they've been trapped by....
Monday, May 23, 2016
Venezuela Descends Into Chaos... Europe and US Next? / Politics / Venezuela
By: Jeff_Berwick
It has been less than two months since I visited Caracas, Venezuela. While things were already very bad when I was there, they are now worse.
Power shortages have deepened (and this in an oil rich country!); food is becoming scarce (some people have resorted to eating dogs and cats); people lie on concrete slabs in hospitals without medicine (if you thought medical care was bad, just wait until it’s free!); and riots and looting are growing worse.
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Saturday, May 21, 2016
Will Venezuela Be Forced to Embrace the US Dollar? / Currencies / Venezuela
By: MISES
Daniel Fernández Méndez writes: The country of Venezuela is dangerously approaching hyperinflation. At 2015’s year-end, official figures had yearly inflation at or above 180 percent (some private sector sources estimated it at 330 percent). The technical definition of hyperinflation is when inflation is at 50 percent or more per month, meaning that Venezuela is not yet at this point, but does seem to be approaching at an accelerated pace. The South American country finds itself with inflation rates at their worst in its history (1996 saw 103 percent yearly inflation) and the highest in the world (Ukraine is second with 50 percent yearly inflation).
Thursday, November 06, 2014
Socialism and Other Crimes in Venezuela / Politics / Venezuela
By: MISES
In the aftermath of the brutal murder of Venezuelan lawmaker Robert Sierra and his wife Maria Herrera, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech on October 27 that he will “purge” and “revolutionize” the country’s police forces. This comes in response to not only the murder of Sierra, but also to the murder of militia leader José Odreman a week later, and to the general failure of law enforcement to address soaring crime rates in the country.
Venezuela has the second highest murder per capita rate in the world behind Honduras. A 2013 Gallup poll ranked Venezuela as the most “insecure nation in the world,” a sentiment shared by many of its citizens: 2014 Gallup polls showed that only 19 percent of Venezuelans felt safe to walk alone at night.
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Venezuela Exchange Controls and Plunging Petroleum Production / Economics / Venezuela
By: Steve_H_Hanke
Foreign airlines have begun to restrict ticket sales in Venezuela. As the bolivars’ value evaporates, and with exchange controls in force, the airlines fear that the funds they have in Caracas will evaporate, too. By restricting ticket sales, the airlines will limit the amount of new money that is trapped behind the government’s wall of exchange controls.
Of course, President Nicolas Maduro isn’t the first autocrat to impose exchange controls, and he won’t be the last to impose these confiscatory policies. Indeed, the pedigree of exchange controls can be traced back to Plato, the father of statism. Inspired by Lycurgus of Sparta, Plato embraced the idea of an inconvertible currency as a means to preserve the autonomy of the state from outside interference.
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Thursday, March 21, 2013
Hugo Chávez Is Gone, but His Oil Legacy Lives On / Politics / Venezuela
By: Marin_Katusa
On March 5, 2013, Hugo Chávez, one of the most iconic presidents in the world, died at the age of 58. While he was alive, Chávez was a highly controversial figure, calling George W. Bush a drunkard and a "psychologically sick man" and Tony Blair an "imperialist pawn who attempts to curry favor with Danger Bush-Hitler."
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Monday, September 20, 2010
Chavez wants a break from U.S. meddling, Can you blame him? / Politics / Venezuela
By: Mike_Whitney
Most people know that Iran, Russia and Venezuela all have vast oil reserves. And, they also know that Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are on Washington's "enemies list". So, why is it so hard for them to connect the dots? Can't they see that the media only demonizes the leaders that stand in the way of the corporate agenda? If Iran's biggest export was pistachios (rather than oil), no one in America would have ever heard of Ahmadinejad. Instead, every time poor guy makes the slightest miscue, his face is splashed across the front pages of US newspapers.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Is Venezuela's Stagflation the Beginning of the End for Chavez? / Economics / Venezuela
By: Money_Morning
Jason Simpkins writes: It wasn't long ago that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision to nationalize state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) resulted in a failed coup that very nearly cost him his post.
Now, Chavez's aggressive economic policies are again being called into question, this time as the country slides into what could be a protracted period of stagflation, which is defined by the exasperating mixture of torpid economic growth and high inflation.
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Sunday, June 01, 2008
Bogus Global Peace Index Prelude to Regime Change for Venezuela and Iran / Politics / Venezuela
By: Stephen_Lendman
The Global Peace Index (GPI) was launched in May 2007 and claims to be the first study of its kind ranking nations according to their peacefulness. Last year's report covered 121 countries. The latest increased it to 140. Australian entrepreneur Steve Killelea conceived the idea and won some dubious endorsements. Among them, the Dalai Lama.
He served as a CIA asset from the late 1950s until 1974 and may again be in tow if the Bush administration's awarding him a Congressional Gold Medal last year and closeness to him now is an indication. Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela / Politics / Venezuela
By: Stephen_Lendman
The Bush administration tried and failed three prior times to oust Hugo Chavez since its first aborted two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through FOIA requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger uncovered top secret CIA documents of US involvement that included an intricate financing scheme involving the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of Democracy (NED), and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The documents also showed the White House, State Department and National Security Agency had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have approved it, and there's little doubt of CIA involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty business. What's worrying now is what went on then may be happening again in what looks like a prelude to a fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as events develop.Read full article... Read full article...