The New Venezuela: Hunger, Crime, Unemployment, Inflation, Blackouts, Corruption, Collapse In Medical And Social Services

New York Times: Venezuela Drifts Into New Territory: Hunger, Blackouts and Government Shutdown

CARACAS, Venezuela — The courts? Closed most days. The bureau to start a business? Same thing. The public defender’s office? That’s been converted into a food bank for government employees.

Step by step, Venezuela has been shutting down.

This country has long been accustomed to painful shortages, even of basic foods. But Venezuela keeps drifting further into uncharted territory.

In recent weeks, the government has taken what may be one of the most desperate measures ever by a country to save electricity: A shutdown of many of its offices for all but two half-days each week.

But that is only the start of the country’s woes. Electricity and water are being rationed, and huge areas of the country have spent months with little of either.

Many people cannot make international calls from their phones because of a dispute between the government and phone companies over currency regulations and rates.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Went back into the archives for this post on Venezuela .... I noticed that I started warning about Venezuela way back in 2008 .... The Slow Disintegration Of Venezuela (October 24, 2008). And as for Venezuela's electricity crisis .... this was regular news way-back in 2010 .... The Mess That Is Venezuela (February 9, 2010). In short .... over the years I posted dozens of articles and commentaries on what was happening in Venezuela, and why the country was not only falling apart but heading to the abyss. But even with this slow and painful disintegration ... which was obvious to me .... much of the left and the main stream media pushed a different narrative .... Hugo Chavez’s economic miracle (Slate, March 6, 2013). And the explanation on Venezuela was/are always the same .... I have heard it so many times from these Chavez/Maduro apologists that I can recite it by heart .... Chavez/Maduro/etc. .... they are helping the poor and making them better off by stopping the rich/oligarchs/capitalists/etc. from exploiting them and the country's resources.

Sighhhh ....

Why was the media wrong and I was right .... the answer is simple .... because I grew up in these systems/societies/governments and I learned an undeniable truth .... a country that adopts such a system will always fall apart after a few years (i.e. a decade or two). And why do they fall apart .... not because they stop the rich/oligarchs/capitalists/etc. from exploiting the country (actually these characters usually partner up with the new government) .... they fall apart because they destroy the "little people" who make things work by taking away their incentive to do what they want to do. In Venezuela .... over the past decade .... the people who make things work .... the entrepreneurs, the small business man or family, the professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, managers), the capitalists (i.e. those who have extra money and willing to invest in someone's idea or start-up) and their bankers, and down to a young person who dreams of a better and an independent life .... they have fled and/or are fleeing the country. And who would blame them .... because in today's Venezuela there is no future for them. And as for the poor .... the ugly truth is that many of them are now realizing that after 17 years of rule from United Socialist Party of Venezuela the promise of a better life is not going to happen .... in fact .... it is going to get worse.

A few months ago I mentioned that the situation in Venezuela .... as bad as it was .... was going to get worse. I now see only two endings to this story .... strikes/riots/revolution .... or a Cuban style crack-down that will not be pretty but it will keep Venezuelan President Maduro and his cronies in power. What's my prediction .... my money is on the Cuban-style crackdown.