Venezuela is in even worse shape than you thought

[jimmy olsen]

Or, at least in worse shape than I thought, and I thought they were in really bad shape.

Tons of hilariously sad links can be found here.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/04/27/venezuela_s_government_just_instituted_a_two_day_workweek_because_it_needs.html

Government Just Instituted a Two-Day Workweek, Because It Needs to Save Electricity

By Jordan Weissmann

Venezuela's yearslong economic disintegration hit a sad new milestone on Tuesday, when President Nicolás Maduro announced that government employees would work only on Mondays and Tuesdays for at least the next two weeks to save scarce electricity. Previously, Maduro had given the public sector Fridays off in a bid to conserve power. The country's severe energy shortage stems from a massive drought that has decimated the water levels at El Guri, the hydro-electric dam that provides a staggering 65 percent of the nation's electricity. The government in Caracas has also started scheduling rolling, four-hour blackouts around the country.

Venezuela's drought is but one result of the extreme El Niño phase that's led to a rise in global temperatures this year and last, leaving almost 100 million people around the world short on food and water. (Maduro, characteristically, has pointed to sabotage by his political foes as the reason for Venezuela's shortages.) But the collapse of the country's power grid also seems to be the result of garden variety corruption and mismanagement. As the Wall Street Journal notes, since 2008 the government has spent many billions on new energy infrastructure, including a hydropower plant that still isn't running. "A former high-ranking official who worked on electric projects said the government routinely overpaid for equipment and for poor-quality thermoelectric plants that are unable to offset the decrease in hydroelectric power," the paper reported.

The drought has done more than just shut off Venezuela's lights. Reservoirs are running dry and many in the country have found their homes waterless for weeks. Again, botched infrastructure projects, such as a $180 million deal with Iran to build a water pipeline that was never laid, seem to be part of the problem.

These are just the latest of many man-made miseries that have befallen Venezuela. When President Hugo Chávez passed away in 2013, he left behind a stunted national economy almost wholly dependent on oil production. As a result, the collapse of crude prices has been disastrous. All the while, an ill-advised system of currency and price controls, partly meant to curb inflation, have led to shortages of basic goods and a thriving black-market economy. And about Venezuela's inflation rate: It's currently the worst in the world, spurred on, it seems, by desperate money printing from a revenue-strapped government. This year, inflation is expected to hit 500 percent. The situation is so bad that the government appears unable to pay for the new bills it has ordered from foreign currency makers (because, like almost all things, Venezuela has to import its money). As Bloomberg put it in a headline Wednesday, "Venezuela Doesn't Have Enough Money to Pay for Its Money."

Somehow, it seems unlikely any workers there will be enjoying their days off.

[Iormlund]

My gf fled the country a couple years ago, like most of her class.

best friend is an MD. She makes $30 a month. No, no zeros are missing there. That's thirty dollars a month. Which she can't even spend, since the supermarkets are empty.

To buy food you need to go to the black market. To get medicines, you need to bring them over from abroad, paid in hard currency (and pray they are not stolen).
Even car batteries are impossible to find. And in Venezuela, finding yourself stranded on the road can easily cost you your life.

[alfred russel]

My gf fled the country a couple years ago, like most of her class.

best friend is an MD. She makes $30 a month. No, no zeros are missing there. That's thirty dollars a month. Which she can't even spend, since the supermarkets are empty.

To buy food you need to go to the black market. To get medicines, you need to bring them over from abroad, paid in hard currency (and pray they are not stolen).
Even car batteries are impossible to find. And in Venezuela, finding yourself stranded on the road can easily cost you your life.

When the security situation stabilizes, they are going to be a prime sex tourism destination. Of course that probably won't be until after the civil war.

[Josquius]

Even if the security situation were sorted tomorrow the stench of the current situation would linger a long while.

America take note. This is where populism lands you.

[Eddie Teach]

There was a time when populism gave us FDR. The problem is the decline in the quality of our rich New Yorkers.

[derspiess]

No, that's about as bad as I thought.

[Valmy]

Well I have to admit I never thought oil prices would collapse like they did, but if I had known that I probably would have expected total disaster for the 'Bolivarian Revolution'. Man even Bolivar's political career ended better than this.

[The Brain]

I still think Socialism works, if only the world would give it a proper chance.

[Valmy]

I still think Socialism works, if only the world would give it a proper chance.

I think it could work in a country with infinite money.

[Barrister]

I still think Socialism works, if only the world would give it a proper chance.

I think it could work in a country with infinite money.

I thought that was what Zimbabwe tried.

[Savonarola]

Even if the security situation were sorted tomorrow the stench of the current situation would linger a long while.

America take note. This is where populism lands you.

Some Colombians called Trump a Norteamericano Maduro when I was there.  Shortly thereafter Maduro closed the border with Colombia and forced Colombians who had illegally immigrated to Venezuela to go back (on foot and carrying their few meager possessions with them.  It made for truly marvelous television since they had to wade across the Orinoco river.)

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Even if the security situation were sorted tomorrow the stench of the current situation would linger a long while.

America take note. This is where populism lands you.

Some Colombians called Trump a Norteamericano Maduro when I was there.  Shortly thereafter Maduro closed the border with Colombia and forced Colombians who had illegally immigrated to Venezuela to go back (on foot and carrying their few meager possessions with them.  It made for truly marvelous television since they had to wade across the Orinoco river.)

were they playing Enya?

[Valmy]

I still think Socialism works, if only the world would give it a proper chance.

I think it could work in a country with infinite money.

I thought that was what Zimbabwe tried.

I still like Ide's idea of a socialism where robots are serfs and every human is a noble. My personal Versailles will be covered with images of my own glory.

[Martinus]

Even if the security situation were sorted tomorrow the stench of the current situation would linger a long while.

America take note. This is where populism lands you.

Some Colombians called Trump a Norteamericano Maduro when I was there.  Shortly thereafter Maduro closed the border with Colombia and forced Colombians who had illegally immigrated to Venezuela to go back (on foot and carrying their few meager possessions with them.  It made for truly marvelous television since they had to wade across the Orinoco river.)

were they playing Enya?

I listened to that song so many times as a teenager. 

[crazy canuck]

Even if the security situation were sorted tomorrow the stench of the current situation would linger a long while.

America take note. This is where populism lands you.

Some Colombians called Trump a Norteamericano Maduro when I was there.  Shortly thereafter Maduro closed the border with Colombia and forced Colombians who had illegally immigrated to Venezuela to go back (on foot and carrying their few meager possessions with them.  It made for truly marvelous television since they had to wade across the Orinoco river.)

were they playing Enya?

They went with the flow