Good news from Venezuela

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

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...

On a point of order; I think you can still knock back those rum and Cokes in Venezuela, so long as the Coke is the diet version. Until, that is, that they run out of artificial sweetener.

zagubov

Because fascism was a system of dictatorship designed for violent idiots to understand.

Communism was a system of dictatorship with such an elaborate pseudo-democratic facade and sophisticated pseudointellectual backstory designed to hoover up, hoodwink anyone clever enough to see through its smokescreen, and integrate them into the elite.

It's PR and presentation: the hard left were a lot cleverer at it. And probably everything else.

angrypirate

What was it Diane Abbott said... was it something like "Venezuela shows us that another way is possible"

And she is the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.....

CLAPTON

Diane Abbott on Mao

Diane Abbott: Chairman Mao "on balance did more good than harm"

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB4o5n2EGyA



Diane on Venuzuela

Diane Abbott: "Venezuela shows that another way is possible"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErk_QqRMo

antrobus

angrypirate wrote: »

What was it Diane Abbott said... was it something like "Venezuela shows us that another way is possible"
.....

She is not wrong. If you have the world's largest oil reserves and oil is $120 a barrel, all things are possible.:)

Generali

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/heterodox-economics-venezuela-collapse-by-ricardo-hausmann-2016-05

In Venezuela, subsidies for gasoline and electricity are larger than the budget for education and health care combined; exchange-rate subsidies are in a class of their own. With one daily minimum wage in Venezuela, you can buy barely a half-pound (227 grams) of beef or 12 eggs, or 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of gasoline or 5,100 kWh of electricity – enough to power a small town. With the proceeds of selling a dollar at the black market rate, you can buy over $100 at the strongest official rate.
Under these conditions, you are unlikely to find goods or dollars at official prices. Moreover, since the government is unable to pay providers the necessary subsidy to keep prices low, output collapses, as has happened with Venezuela’s electricity and health sectors, among others.

NB 5,100kWh might be enough to run a town in Venezuela for a month but in the UK it is about the average electricity used by a household in about 14-15 months.

westernpromise

One huge benefit of the food shortages in Venezuela is that the toilet paper shortage will matter less.

Generali

westernpromise wrote: »

One huge benefit of the food shortages in Venezuela is that the toilet paper shortage will matter less.

Ach, who needs toilet paper when you have Pesos.

co-op_lover

Are you a real General? Has the crash happened yet?

Generali

co-op_lover wrote: »

Are you a real General?

No. I'm a fake.

co-op_lover wrote: »

Has the crash happened yet?

Yes, in 2007-8.