Posted on 05/03/2018 8:49:18 AM PDT by rktman
Venezuela's inflation rate, already by far the world's highest, spiked from 4,966 percent to nearly 18,000 percent in just March and April — a trend that, if it continues, could push the country's annual rate to more than 100,000 percent by year's end, economists say.
The 17,968 percent rate registered at the end of April already surpassed the 13,864 percent rate predicted by the International Monetary Fund for all of 2018.
“What we're seeing at this point is a giant jump in inflation,” Steve Hanke, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and one of the world's top experts on inflation, told el Nuevo Herald.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
This needs to be a lesson to every Freeper who likes to refer to “our oil” and then proceed to explain how we should “keep it here”, tax foreign oil, “reign in gas prices”, eliminate our reliance on imported oil, etc.. Many of them favor the government doing something that ranges from controlling prices to restricting distribution and subsidizing production and yet somehow putting a floor under prices.
If you wish to avoid a petro dictatorship like this craphole, Russia, and the entire ME then all energy resources but especially extractive energy resources should be left alone and free from government interference and control. All energy deposits on public lands should be sold.
It is messy. It makes the US subject to international markets on supply and pricing but the tremendous wealth that is generated cannot be funneled to cronies and tyrants.
Latin American Zimbabwe.
“Not even close. Zimbabwe peaked at an annualized rate of 89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000%.”
I have two $10 Billion Zimbabwe bank notes. There are some $100 Trillion bills around.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/02/the_feds_want_your_retirement_accounts.html
An oldie but goodie. That is where we are headed. Not as of today but the journey will restart as soon as the Progs/Dems get control again. This time they will move quickly and ruthlessly.
Lets see, what they need is some sort of uninflatable digital cryptocurrency. One where the government could not confiscate or devalue, that is decentralized.
I wonder where they could find something like that...
Maduro had 22 Billion in gold when he went into office. He now has 7 billion. Time is getting short for him.
The exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar in the Wiemar republic.
“Let’s send every American university instructor to Venezuela on a one year sabbatical.”
Our academics are so brainwashed they would come back with 100 reason how they would get it right*here*.
Best just to shoot’em and put them out of our misery.
“At this point it’s almost a pure barter economy.”
for what little there is to barter ... but we’re still talking only the peasants being affected one way or the other anyway ... the government still has enough hard currency oil money to purchase enough food and goods (plus a shitpile of military weapons) to keep the military, the elite and all of their families fed ... at least for now, because the remaining economic structure is a house of cards with international bond after bond being defaulted upon ... no way to borrow additional other people’s money ... RAPIDLY dwindling oil production as the oil infrastructure disintegrates from lack of investment, mismanagement and fleeing oil workers ... both china and russia prepared to move in and seize the oil field assets used as collateral for their loans ... loaded tankers on the verge of being seizeable due to court judgements in favor of international oil companies who’ve had their assets seized ...
still, Maduro will very likely stay in power as long as he can feed his army ... that’ll be the last thing he spends his final hard currency oil money on ... when that’s no longer possible, THEN we’ll see the forces unleashed that will topple him, namely a military coup and/or civil war among the military ...
He must be handing it out to his people. Wonder how hugo chavez’ daughter is making out these days.
“I heard yesterday that they ship their crude out to be refined then ship it back and, because of nationalization of their oil industry, sell the refined gas for a penny.”
mostly correct. the reason they have to import refined petroleum products is that their refineries are no longer viable due to neglect, theft, and fleeing workers not being paid enough to buy food ... the penny a gallon gas is a long standing socialist perk for the masses ...
“Let’s say, God forbid, it happened here. Where would you go?”
I left NY for GA. 1000 mile move. I understand the reluctance, but discovered the delight in doing so.
Were the USA crash Venezuela-like in general, I’d either move to hardcore rural and live off the land (grew up partly so) while fighting for restoration of Constitution, or head for Canada (wife’s origin, so leverage there). No qualms about going elsewhere as situation dictates.
Adhering to “home” is understandable. So is knowing when to leave it.
“They will dig holes and fill them in while getting paid by the government.”
such an optimist ... most likely they’ll steal the shovels, sell them out of the back of their trunks, and then sit around all day complaining they have no shovels ...
“You can rarely present a Leftist with evidence of how wrong their views are that they will accept.”
Yup, the last communist I argued with simply denied that China’s Long March was anything other than a purely military maneuver, and rejected any proof that >40,000,000 died in the process.
And that’s why they can be as successful as they are: complete willingness to destroy life & truth to achieve their goals.
Oh, well in that case, give me bernies phone number.
“What we’re seeing at this point is a giant jump in inflation,”
Thank goodness we have these geniuses to point out the obvious.
“When nobody wants to print currency (yes, they hire some company to manufacture cash) because the order literally won’t pay for itself, the economy based on that currency is dead.”
they’re paying for the printing with hard currency ... at this point no one in their right mind would sell ANYTHING to Maduo denominated in Bolivars ... needless to say, though, their printed currency is literally not worth what it costs to print it ... and it’s been that way for quite a while.
During the Weimar hyperinflation, people would pay for a restaurant dinner at the start of the meal precisely because it would cost more by the end.
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