Good news from Venezuela

Generali

In further Venezuelan news, Venezuela doesn't have enough money to pay for money!!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-27/venezuela-faces-its-strangest-shortage-yet-as-inflation-explodes

In a tale that highlights the chaos of unbridled inflation, Venezuela is scrambling to print new bills fast enough to keep up with the torrid pace of price increases. Most of the cash, like nearly everything else in the oil-exporting country, is imported. And with hard currency reserves sinking to critically low levels, the central bank is doling out payments so slowly to foreign providers that they are foregoing further business. Venezuela, in other words, is now so broke that it may not have enough money to pay for its money.

Last month, De La Rue, the world’s largest currency maker, sent a letter to the central bank complaining that it was owed $71 million and would inform its shareholders if the money were not forthcoming. The letter was leaked to a Venezuelan news website and confirmed by Bloomberg News. “It’s an unprecedented case in history that a country with such high inflation cannot get new bills,” said Jose Guerra, an opposition law maker and former director of economic research at the central bank. Late last year, the central bank ordered more than 10 billion bank notes, surpassing the 7.6 billion the U.S. Federal Reserve requested this year for an economy many times the size of Venezuela’s.

mwpt

But but but... leftists and big state spenders and bloggers internet wide assure me that austerity is only a political dogma, there is no need for it because a country with a central bank can never run out of money.

From an article in May 2015:

It is a point of honour for the Venezuelan government that despite the sharp plunge in oil prices and acute shortages of goods, President Nicolas Maduro has ruled out austerity measures.

and another from a socialist blogger in 2013:

The one region that has largely broken with neoliberal institutions like the IMF and World Bank is Latin America. In particular, Venezuela and Ecuador, both members of the Bolivarian Alliance or ALBA, successfully weathered the global recession while reducing poverty and inequality through increased social spending and comprehensive reforms.

Whoops!

Austerity is never a choice if you have run your finances into the ground. You either do it in a controlled fashion or the market does it for you, with probably worse consequences.

michaels

Generali wrote: »

In further Venezuelan news, Venezuela doesn't have enough money to pay for money!!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-27/venezuela-faces-its-strangest-shortage-yet-as-inflation-explodes

It is funny now but could we see the sort of collapse that will require massive food shipments and a huge migration exodus?

antrobus

michaels wrote: »

It is funny now but could we see the sort of collapse that will require massive food shipments and a huge migration exodus?

According to the IMF, inflation was 275% in Venezuela last year, and is forecasting 720% for this year.

I'd say that it was only matter of time before the economy collapses.

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

According to the IMF, inflation was 275% in Venezuela last year, and is forecasting 720% for this year.

I'd say that it was only matter of time before the economy collapses.

Oh well, at least they had some socialism from that nice Mr Chavez. The Guardian quite liked him. If you look him up on their website they were very nice about him. E.g. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/17/venezuela

michaels

Surely all Londoners remember Kens frequent trips and deals to power London buses with Venezuelan oil in return for advice from TfL on running their transport infrastructure - yes the same Ken Livingstone who is a key advisor to Mr Corbyn....

CLAPTON

michaels wrote: »

Surely all Londoners remember Kens frequent trips and deals to power London buses with Venezuelan oil in return for advice from TfL on running their transport infrastructure - yes the same Ken Livingstone who is a key advisor to Mr Corbyn....

I think that was the time that Chavez consider the UK a third world country and wanted to support our poor and needy.

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

Oh well, at least they had some socialism from that nice Mr Chavez. The Guardian quite liked him. If you look him up on their website they were very nice about him. E.g. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/17/venezuela

Even the Guardian has been less enthusiastic of late, particularly since they have woken up to the astonishing level of homicides in the country. We had 574 murders last year. Venezuela, with less than half our population, had something like 24,000. No one is quite sure, since no one trusts the official numbers.

Private Eye had a 'Letter from Caracas' that once basically said that the reason was that the criminal gangs responsible for a lot of this carnage were given carte blanche to operate in return for 'getting the vote out' for the PSUV.

antrobus

Bad news from Venezuela.

Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food company and the brewer of 80 percent of the country's beer, said Thursday it would stop brewing beer in the South American nation next week due to shortages of raw materials.

http://www.efe.com/efe/english/business/polar-to-stop-brewing-beer-in-venezuela-due-shortages-of-raw-materials/50000265-2904110

Generali

No beer . At least you can still drink the world's most drunk alcoholic drink, Bacardi and Coke. Apart from you better have some Coke stockpiled because Coca Cola Venezuela has run out of sugar:

http://qz.com/691347/not-having-enough-sugar-to-make-coca-cola-is-the-ultimate-sign-of-economic-disaster/

Venezuela just became one of the few spots on earth where Coca-Cola production has ground to a halt. Femsa, the Mexican Coca-Cola bottler that supplies Venezuela, said late Monday it stopped making its flagship product because it can’t get any sugar.

I would guess that Venezuelans have bigger concerns than Coca Cola though. Even finding food is becoming hard:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/24/venezuela-crisis-basic-food-shortages

Investigators from the Bengoa Foundation said a sampling of 4,000 school-aged children showed 30% were malnourished and that school absences were on the rise.

Paula Arciniegas, 19, said she worried about the development of her two-year-old daughter because when she can’t find milk – which is often – she calms her child’s hunger with a mix of water and cornstarch.

And you really don't want to get sick there:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/world/americas/dying-infants-and-no-medicine-inside-venezuelas-failing-hospitals.html?_r=0

By morning, three newborns were already dead. The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward.

Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died.

Vote Socialism, get empty bellies and dead babies.