Venezuela is collapsing

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(05-15-2016 02:52 AM)Poker Wrote:  The figures I have read in the past suggested that 96% of Venezuelas exports is oil. You don't have to be an expert in economics to see what a giant risk something like this is, pegging the entire fortune of your country to one commodity, especially one which isn't governed by the basic market force of supply and demand, but as Luvianka said, is used as a weapon by various countries in the geopolitical conflicts of the world. What Venezuela should of done is diversified their economy as much as possible, at one time they certainly had the money to do it considering the billions they poured into various social programmes during the Chavez era.

On a side note what do you guys think is the future of Saudi Arabia? I read yesterday that they lost $100 billion dollars last from their reserve. It was claimed that at this rate Saudi Arabia has another five years left to go. Thoughts?

Don't miss a key point that future oil revenue has been borrowed against at yesterday's prices. The government couldn't live off the stolen revenue alone and issued 37 billion in bonds. The bond payments are in USD not in the local currency. So it must be factored in that they have not only less oil revenue but less oil revenue against an increasing debt dominated in stronger US Dollars.

The Chavez/ Maduro system is basically a socialist which feeds "friends" all the revenue, jobs, what little is being built in infrastructure, permits to import things etc. If you aren't a friend of the Socialist leaders you are either struggling to do business of just one of the poor. The Venezuelan poor are used to struggling and you now see ads in papers like "will stand in line for you for oil or food."

You may sit in wonder at the difference of the "official" exchange rate vs the street rate. Just check the site dolartoday.com for the latest rates. BTW the Venezuelan government is so stupid they actually blame the inflation on the owner of that website not on their policies. Today's actual rate is about 1100 BsF to 1 USD.

If you are a close close close friend of or member of the government you get to import your goods at one of the several official rates. Let's say you bring in iphones worth $500 wholesale. You "exchange" 6000 Bolivares to get the $500 to purchase external goods. Then once that $500 phone reaches Venezuela it is worth, due to inflation, the $500 USD or 550,000 BfS. You just got an insane return not even counting profit for marking up the good. Do this over and over, and subtract your bribes.

People who have the means are fleeing the situation and not only fleeing the violence and shortages but very recently, not just going back and forth but staying put in places like Miami. I wrote a tiny bit about it in my datasheet but it keeps increasing.

Venezuela is just another failed Socialist State and what was called the Switzerland of South America in the 60s is now just a scene out of Atlas Shrugged.

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Video on the ground in Venezuela.

-Huge regulation business
-Massive gun control, criminals still have them like always.
-Food shortage

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He said the financial elite is trying to make the global economy collapse and things will get pretty bad for everybody even us living in the west. I doubt things here will become as bad as it is in Venezuela. What do you guys think?

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(05-15-2016 11:37 AM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(05-15-2016 02:06 AM)NASA Test Pilot Wrote:  On the positive side, you can read other details. These are some of the highlights:
countries are not in such situation... By now.

Then what are you doing in Mexico if the gov't is that incompetent?

I am Mexican, this is my country.

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(05-16-2016 12:31 AM)pitt Wrote:  He said the financial elite is trying to make the global economy collapse and things will get pretty bad for everybody even us living in the west. I doubt things here will become as bad as it is in Venezuela. What do you guys think?

Rule one: governments will always try and blame someone other than themselves when their currency goes tits-up underneath them. Traditionally in hyperinflationary conditions governments blame big businesses for putting the prices up, and the second target is usually anyone who hoards goods to get off the government's shit currency.

But hyperinflation cannot occur without government decisions, because governments -- or rather their central banks -- control the printing presses. The only difference between counterfeiting and government "quantitative easing" is that, as Richard Nixon might have said, it's legal when the government does it. The form may differ -- buying back bonds with invisible money -- but it's still the government doing it. And lastly: hyperinflation basically cannot occur without a persistent, structural if not deliberate deficit being run for decades by a country in the modern world.

Regardless of how much leverage the elite put on a government to borrow too much and pay back in shit, it still comes down to spineless government officials who make it happen. Said officials are never brought to justice for these decisions any more than the elite are: I'm still waiting on the first prosecution of a ratings agency out of the subprime crisis, when they knew fucking well right up to the crash that they were approving garbage. Never let an invisible man excuse the crimes of the government official who carried out that invisible man's wishes.

As to what could happen to America in an instance of hyperinflation: it could easily get as bad as Venezuela in large, poor, urban areas of the US, if not indeed elsewhere. How bad hyperinflation gets for you depends directly on the extent to which you can buy and sell without using the government's worthless currency. This is one reason barter clubs in Argentina (during their last instance of hyperinflation) kept a lot of people from starving to death. However, most people will not understand hyperinflation until it hits, and I would guess the vast majority of the US population does not, and cannot easily, move off the financial grid. Empty shelves in supermarkets, as displayed in those earlier videos, are a standard marker of hyperinflation, because people figure out how it works very fast: you have to buy your consumer goods as fast as you can because you'll pay double tomorrow. Or even 4 hours later. And nobody offers credit, either, because nobody can work out what the rate of interest is.

Don't say it can't happen in the US. It did - during the Civil War. The South's currency was worthless by the end of the war. And the only reason they don't technically call the Union's inflation hyperinflation is because they reckon the inflation rate in the North hit 47% ... and hyperinflation is recognised as happening at the 50% mark. Yes, we are not in Blue and Gray times. But the Blue and Gray were not fighting over the reserve currency for the planet and did not have billions in US-dollar-denominated assets sitting all over the planet, all of which would have the legs kicked out from under them in seconds if hyperinflation hit and was faithfully passed on by our glorious real-time Internet financial world where money never sleeps.

The only saving grace to hyperinflation is that it can't continue forever. Historically it lasts between 18 months and 3 years; eventually the government caves in on trying to make people use its shit currency and reissues a unit of currency that is backed by something that people trust, at least at that point.

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Who wants a good laugh?


In 2013, Salon wrote an article praising Chavez and Venezuela, hailing it as an economic miracle

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/hugo_cha...c_miracle/

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Good thread. To me the big question here is: how much of the current situation is due to the failed policies of Chavez and his gang, and how much is due to the behind-the-scenes games of the Empire of Chaos (the US)?

It's a tough call. I think both of these factors are present. Rich Venezuelans hate Chavez and his rhetoric, and the ignorant poor seem to love it. Definitely Venezuela has been on the shit-list for a long time, for a variety of reasons. We all know that the US has all sorts of ways that they can put the squeeze on governments they don't like.

But it's also clear that the government there is hardly a paragon of competence or goodness. From what I've read, Chavez stuffed the positions of authority and judiciary with all his cronies. He also shut down the independence of the press, and idolized Fidel.

The whole thing kind of reminds me of the Brazil situation. I keep getting into discussions with other Brazilians about it. Is Dilma a sinner, or more sinned-against?

Journalist Pepe Escobar (whom I respect) thinks that Brazil has been a victim of "regime change light" engineered by Washington:

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/342821-brazil...peachment/

But other people I talk to get enraged at this theory and say she and her people are the cause of everything. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. It's just too hard to tell.

.

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-15...xt-weekend

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(05-14-2016 05:03 PM)LeeEnfield303 Wrote:  Every time someone vomits a "Bernie is great!" post, someone should show them a Venezuela report.

There's no reasoning with these people. If you show them failed examples of socialism, they say it's not real socialism.

If you ask them for examples of successful socialist countries, they either name countries that don't actually have socialist economies, or a place like China.

Then when you point out that there are more poor people in China than the entire population of the US, they will backtrack and say China is also not real socialism.

If you ask why we should change to a model that's never been successfully implemented over the past century, rather than one that's worked extremely well time and time again, they point to examples of failed capitalism or corporatism.

It's cognitive bias to the point of mental retardation.

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And China lifted 100's of millions out of poverty through capitalism. Though their version has issues as we see today.

Not that capitalism as practiced today that games the system and doesn't address externality is perfect, but I've yet to see something work for billions of people.

WIA

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(05-16-2016 01:15 PM)Enigma Wrote:  It's cognitive bias to the point of mental retardation.

A girl told me a few weeks ago that Communism was a great thing because she'd spent a few days North Korea for work and that 'everyone seemed happy there'.

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^^^^

Dear Lord.

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Anyone else notice the MM is burying this news?

At least on TV, I haven't heard about this on MSBNC, CNN, or FOX. Not saying they haven't mentioned it in their 24/7 cycle, but considering how much coverage I've seen, it's shocking that this isn't topic #1 in the news.

It's almost on the scale of the Berlin wall falling. What gives?

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^ Hide the failings of socialism or they'll be helping Trump out.

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(05-16-2016 07:27 PM)AFS Wrote:  Anyone else notice the MM is burying this news?

Similarly, the MSM is practically silent about Argentina's ex-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's recent indictment for fraud. Now why would they not report on a corrupt, left-wing, female politician?

Hint:

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(05-16-2016 03:59 PM)AnonymousBosch Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 01:15 PM)Enigma Wrote:  It's cognitive bias to the point of mental retardation.

A girl told me a few weeks ago that Communism was a great thing because she'd spent a few days North Korea for work and that 'everyone seemed happy there'.

And she can vote...God save us all

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Socialists are in fucking denial about their failure system

Some NSFW pictures

No electricity, no antibiotics, no beds, no soap: A devastating look inside Venezuela's crisis-hit hospitals where 7 babies die a day, bleeding patients lie strewn on the floor, and doctors try to operate without tools


In denial: President Nicolas Maduro has refused attempts to seek international or monetary support for the country's healthcare system. He insists theirs is the 'best in the world' after Cuba.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...tools.html

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(05-17-2016 11:25 PM)Latinopan Wrote:  Socialists are in fucking denial about their failure system

Some NSFW pictures

No electricity, no antibiotics, no beds, no soap: A devastating look inside Venezuela's crisis-hit hospitals where 7 babies die a day, bleeding patients lie strewn on the floor, and doctors try to operate without tools


In denial: President Nicolas Maduro has refused attempts to seek international or monetary support for the country's healthcare system. He insists theirs is the 'best in the world' after Cuba.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...tools.html

That hospital looks like it would be a shitty place to visit under the best of circumstances.

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(05-17-2016 11:25 PM)Latinopan Wrote:  Socialists are in fucking denial about their failure system

Some NSFW pictures

No electricity, no antibiotics, no beds, no soap: A devastating look inside Venezuela's crisis-hit hospitals where 7 babies die a day, bleeding patients lie strewn on the floor, and doctors try to operate without tools


In denial: President Nicolas Maduro has refused attempts to seek international or monetary support for the country's healthcare system. He insists theirs is the 'best in the world' after Cuba.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...tools.html

Whoa. Another guy that has a serious head cave-in and is still alive.

There was a video of another guy with a similar injury. I don't want to think about it. It's too bizarre, too messed up, too grisly for me to fathom. Being that injured in your brain and being aware of it.

I don't want to think about it.

I don't want to think about it.

Oh, look, a venezuelan hottie:

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(05-16-2016 11:01 AM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  Good thread. To me the big question here is: how much of the current situation is due to the failed policies of Chavez and his gang, and how much is due to the behind-the-scenes games of the Empire of Chaos (the US)?

It's a tough call. I think both of these factors are present. Rich Venezuelans hate Chavez and his rhetoric, and the ignorant poor seem to love it. Definitely Venezuela has been on the shit-list for a long time, for a variety of reasons. We all know that the US has all sorts of ways that they can put the squeeze on governments they don't like.

But it's also clear that the government there is hardly a paragon of competence or goodness. From what I've read, Chavez stuffed the positions of authority and judiciary with all his cronies. He also shut down the independence of the press, and idolized Fidel.

The whole thing kind of reminds me of the Brazil situation. I keep getting into discussions with other Brazilians about it. Is Dilma a sinner, or more sinned-against?

Journalist Pepe Escobar (whom I respect) thinks that Brazil has been a victim of "regime change light" engineered by Washington:

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/342821-brazil...peachment/

But other people I talk to get enraged at this theory and say she and her people are the cause of everything. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. It's just too hard to tell.

.

This is the reason why people should think long and hard before handing so called 'strong leaders' ridiculous mandates.

The separation of powers is a necessity not a convenience in a modern nation state. The judiciary, central bank, parliament and executive should be walled off from each other, and leaders, no matter how charismatic or what their political leanings, should not be allowed to dismantle those barriers.

It's unfortunate that Latin America imported the worst European ideologies in the beginning of last century and has subsequently see-sawed between them. Communism, followed by fascism, followed by proto-communism, and then proto-fascism.

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(05-16-2016 10:35 AM)Kid Strangelove Wrote:  Who wants a good laugh?


In 2013, Salon wrote an article praising Chavez and Venezuela, hailing it as an economic miracle

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/hugo_cha...c_miracle/

Unfortunately, I cannot laugh.

An entire generation of people has been brought up in North America and Europe to believe in this snake oil.

Socialism destroys.

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(05-14-2016 07:17 PM)scorpion Wrote:  Ignoring the political aspect of this situation (I know this is the Politics & War subforum, but indulge me a brief segue), this really demonstrates the necessity of keeping at least a few weeks' worth of food stored in your home. It's easy and takes zero effort. Just buy it and store it. Food distribution networks are extremely fragile in modern society. This sort of thing could happen anywhere for any number of reasons (natural disasters, epidemics, terrorism, martial law, oil disruptions, electrical grid failures, etc...). People turn into violent savages very quickly without access to food. You don't want to be around them in that type of situation, and you certainly don't want to be one of them.

This happened to me years ago when a category 5 hurricane was approaching Houston. As soon as it was announced on television there were a million cars already on the road, so we decided to stay. We went to Walmart for supplies and all the shelves were cleaned out. You need to have supplies stored in advance, because once the shit hits the fan it's too late.

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-20...hat-coming

Quote:Venezuela Launches Biggest Ever "Military Exercise" In History: A Preview Of What's Coming

Last weekend, during our latest reporting on the whirlwind collapse in Venezuela's economy and society, we reported that as part of Maduro's latest set of emergency decrees as part of which he ordered a 60-day state of emergency due to what he called plots from Venezuela and the United States to subvert him, we also previewed something more troubling: "he hinted that a violent crackdown on enemies, both foreign and domestic, may be imminent when he ordered military exercises for next weekend."

As it turns out it won't be just any exercises, but as Bloomberg writes, "Venezuela is preparing for the biggest military exercises in its history this Saturday after the South American country’s government said it’s on high alert as the opposition pushes for a recall referendum on President Nicolas Maduro."

"Venezuela is threatened," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on state television Thursday. "This is the first time we are carrying out an exercise of this nature in the country. In terms of national reach, it’s going to be in every strategic region." When Maduro announced the exercises last weekend in a rambling press conference on Tuesday, he said U.S. spy planes including an Boeing 707 E-3 Sentry had entered the country’s airspace illegally this month.

Just two corrections to Mr. Lopez' statement: it is not Venezuela that is threatened, it is Maduro's regime, and the source of the threat is not external, it is the people themselves who have had it with the country's devastated economy.

With this military deployment, which is nothing less than a dramatic show of force by the soon to be overthrown Maduro, the most likley outcome is a crackdown by the president on either the opposition or protesters, or both; the only question is whether the army will follow the inevitable order to turn against its own people. A recent interview with a member of the Bolivarian National Guard did not provide much clarity on this most important issue.

Opposition governor Henrique Capriles said a “moment of truth” had arrived for the country’s Armed Forces Tuesday, a day before security forces used tear gas to turn back anti-government protesters in central Caracas. The opposition has pledged further demonstrations across the country to pressure the electoral board, or CNE, to process a petition to activate a recall referendum. They accuse the government of stalling the process to avoid early elections.

We expect demonstrations to resume tomorrow, and to turn violent once the massive military deployment meets with thousands of protesters in the streets.

To some the military's show of force is just that, a distraction which buys the failing regime a few more days or weeks of time: "The government is looking to victimize itself to both the international community and its own followers,” Rocio San Miguel, director of Caracas-based, non-profit security researcher Citizens’ Control, said in an interview. “They’re looking for a distraction to buy time, and there’s no better distraction than the military one.”

Others, such as PanAmPost's Sabrina Martin, disagree.

She notes that the Venezuelan opposition announced on Wednesday, May 18 that it is marching to the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to force the electoral body to ensure the recall referendum process continues against Maduro. In response, some cities around the country have been militarized.

Caracas decided to close at least 14 subway stations to prevent the mobilization of citizens while hundreds of police and soldiers closed entrances to Plaza Venezuela, the gathering place for the march.

People on Twitter reported strong traffic congestion on the main avenues of the city. Motorized National Police were also on patrol, and there were several military tanks stationed on corners. Similarly, all access to the Central University of Venezuela was blocked with a strong National Guard presence.

Guarenas, the scene of looting and large protests earlier in the week, also woke up to a military and police presence on the streets. CNE headquarters were surrounded by security officials in western Tachira. On Twitter, Venezuelans complained that Valle de la Pascua in the country’s central region was also militarized, just as Maturin was in the east. Martin adds that the governor of Miranda and former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles announced, however, that marches toward the offices of the Electoral Council will still happen.

The clip below shows the clashes that took place in Caracas on Thursday in a bit to up the pressure for a recall referendum against Maduro.



Meanwhile, Maduro pled ignorance: during a press conference, President Maduro mocked the international media for questioning cities under military control. “What militarization?” He asked. "Show me."

Tomorrow it is likely that the whole world will see, because when a autocratic regime takes away everything from its people including hope, the only outcome is a change in government, achieved either by peaceful means or otherwise.

For those who need a reminder of just how much Maduro's socialist paradise has taken away from the people it is supposed to represent, here is a stark reminder:
*Inflation in Venezuela is predicted to reach 700 percent within the year, which would be the world’s highest.
*According to the Confederation of Venezuela Industry, in the Chavista era, approximately 8,000 businesses have closed.
*More than 70 percent of Venezuelans believe President Nicolás Maduro should step down.
*There were 2,138 protests and more than 170 lootings between January and April this year, according to the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict. That’s about 18 per day.
*Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world. There were 28,000 in 2015. That’s 76 violent deaths per day and three per hour.
*According to an Encovi survey, 87 percent of Venezuelans can’t afford to buy food.
*According to the National Federation of Farmers, 2015 saw Venezuelans reduce their meat consumption by 42 percent compared to 2012 — the largest drop in 55 years.
*Ninety percent of citizens said they buy less food due to scarcity.
*According to polling group Datanalisis, there are shortages of basic food in 80 percent of supermarkets and 40 percent of homes.
*While Latin America’s infant malnutrition rate hovers around 5 percent, the Bengoa Foundation found that it was near 9 percent in Venezuela as of 2015.
*Public medical systems have reported that 44 percent of operating rooms are non-functional, and 94 percent of labs do not have sufficient supplies.

The Venezuelan people have no medicine, electricity, food, water or hope. What they do have, and plenty of it, is street crime, homicide and desperation. And, whether faced with a militarized army or not, they will soon have a revolution, because when yet another country is destroyed by a regime that chooses to only look after itself, that is the only possible outcome.

Meanwhile, here is a preview of what one may expect tomorrow.

Edit: That last video is particularly unpleasant.

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(05-14-2016 05:57 PM)Traktor Wrote:  

(05-14-2016 05:53 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

(05-14-2016 05:39 PM)Luvianka Wrote:  Just another attack on the BRICS by the World financial elite of NY and London. They just operated a coup d'Etat in Brazil, they put a sorry-ass puppet in Argentina, and now Venezuela.
An these scenes could be any country, any day since the whole system in about to collapse.

What specifically did the USA do to speed this along? Particularly after their failed Chavez coup.

From the outside it looks like massive incompetence and corruption coming home to roost.

No, but recent events in Brazil and now Venezuela will be used as a springboard to attack and undermine states like Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador who are outside of Washington's orbit. This is about consolidating the 'backyard' before the elites move onto the biggest prize.....Russia. It is all part of the globalists geo-political plan for world hegemon. Russia is endgame. They are just lining them up before moving in for the kill.

This interview from Gearoid O Colmain, an Irish journo based taken from Press TV basically says underlines my main point. The events in Venezuela and now Brazil are part of a wider geo-political plan by the elites, usually by regime change (namely the George Soros Foundation) to reign in any independent minded governments and return Latin America to the position it was in the 1960s and before when the Continent was firmly under the control of the US.

http://www.gearoidocolmain.org/press-tv-...peachment/

This is about undermining the BRICS and the rival political, social and financial order that they have been trying to set up to counter the likes of Soros, and the domination of Goldman Sachs, Wall St, Rotschilds. etc. and we all know who has most to lose.

There is a reason why the West took out Libya, Iraq and Yugoslavia and its the same reason why the same parties are busy trying to take over, destabalise and destroy whole nations like Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Syria, Russia. The NWO want their resources. They want mass privitisation and world global tyranny over the heads of every single one of us. The Latin American Right are total fucking scumbags. They are in the pockets of the banksters and globalists.

You support this shit, you support the NWO.

Russia is the endgame. End of. Vladimir Putin is the ONLY hope for mankind. Russia goes, its over. Welcome to our dystopian future.

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