Why did Venezuela collapse? Watch this short excellent explainer video

boing
23

Exactly. Thats part of what I’m saying - the shape of the disaster is “socialist”.

In their minds, the “perfect socialism” would be when all the money the State get for Oil is enough to give all citizens imported stuff so they dont complain. Victory - no national productive sectors of pesky independent owners of any kind, big of small, just a nation of PSUV clients exchanging votes for chickens. So all their measures have been targeted to make running any kind of business impossible. After all, “capitalists” are the enemy, no? So why do you want to run a successful chicken farm? Extend to absolutely every single thing to buy.

The small flaw in the plan, small enough for a whole moon to pass through it, is “what happens when oil prices go down?” Well, what happens is Venezuela 2019.

There is a recent book by a Venezuelan intellectual, Paula Vásquez Lezama , talking about the situation. I’ve not read it, because it is in French, but on an interview she said something that nailed it down.

"Chávez no promulgó su revolución sobre la idea del trabajo —como lo hubiera hecho un marxista— sino sobre la del consumo, "

Chávez didnt propagate his revolution on the idea of work - as a marxist would have done - but on the idea of consumption.

9 Likes
24

Really? Who woulda thunk it?

I wonder if there is someplace on the internet where I could observe this phenomenon in action.

1 Like
25

I think that we are in close to 100% agreement, in that the current (and former) Venezuelan are either mostly or totally responsible for the current situation (and does it really make a difference if they are “only” 95% responsible vs. 100% responsible?).

I also agree with the first 5 minutes of Steve Hanke’s explanation of hyperinflation causes and effect. It’s where he veers into ideology promotion (where he implies that socialism inevitably leads to economic collapse) where I take issue. Hanke seems to talk more about the evils of socialism than the evils of greed, corruption, authoritarianism and “strongman worship”, which – IMO – are the primary causes for most national economic miseries.

TBH, I’m much more comfortable taking about the economic collapse of Zimbabwe than I am about the collapse of Venezuela. I am, admittedly, far less familiar with the politics of South American nations than I am with the politics of Southern African nations. From what I can see though, the situation in Venezuela (a dictator who promotes “the people’s revolution” while robbing the nation of its wealth and plunging the populace into poverty and misery) is pretty similar to that of Zimbabwe and a lot of other nations.

I very much appreciate your statements here (as well as several other commenters’ contributions), even where our ideologies may differ. It’s discussions like this that remind me that I don’t always have the answers.

26

Is this a TV show now? Looks like a grittier Chuck … but not in a good way.

27

Is the latest Jack Ryan stuff in Amazon Prime.

In which somehow the same government that is not capable of keeping the fucking lights on or delivering water to its citizens is a existential danger to the US if they get a nuclear bomb. Because that is the important thing, US paranoia, not that it is a clear and present and very much existential danger to actual Venezuelans.

1 Like
28

Well, if you follow the news, right now almost every country in Latin America is on some kind of situation with political unrests or stuff like that. Most of them, I cant really talk about in any more detail than just generalities. Venezuela, on the other hand, I can.

For example, one of the best international successes of the “revolution” was to control the narrative of how the country and its history was understood outside Venezuela. Because all that crap about “oligarchs”… well… is crap.

The country, for decades, was a democracy that was run more or less on social democratic principles. The main party was social democratic, and the other big party was in theory christian democrats but in practice their policies were very much social democratic.

And in the beginning it worked very well. And then they got the first big oil boom, became crazy and corrupt and drove the country to the ground in the 80s-90s.

But again, all that was under democratic governments of a social democratic leaning. Some noises were made toward “liberalization” in the 80s-90s crisis but that was basically just your standard I need money from the IMF thing.

Public education? Already there before Chávez. Nationalization of oil and other resources? Done in the 70’s, not by Chávez. Etc, etc, etc.

But as the image of a standard Latin American country is “filthy rich owners exploiting the peasants”, well, thats what they sold internally and abroad. A view that doesnt fit Venezuela since … well, probably the 30s. What we got was the discredit of democracy due to the traditional parties losing themselves into an orgy of corruption and mismanagement. And then the election of some messianic outsider antipolitician that proceeded to double down on all that.

We got our Trump way before US got Trump, only ours was an idiot from the military and from the left.

6 Likes
29

I have major issues with the Cato Institute.

They come down on the the opposite side of my viewpoint on almost all issues I can name.

I really appreciate the other people in this thread posting better and less late-stage-capitalism-y videos here, because the OP question (“why did Venezuela collapse?”) has been on my mind for over a year. I have no acquaintances in Venezuela to keep in touch with. I am aware that the current U.S. version of government, Cult45, has been and is doing much to spin everything and further meddle in the affairs of Venezuela.

(off to go check Pro Publica and The Intercept to see if there’s anything useful on Venezuela 2019…)

3 Likes
30

I am fortunate enough I was able to immigrate to the US. I was born here when my parents were going to college so making the move was relatively painless, but a good portion of my family is still in Venezuela. Honestly as bad as it sounds I purposefully keep myself largely ignorant of the political/social developments in the country because otherwise I would be very distressed or angry, I tried that some years ago and it just made my daily life very difficult to manage. More power to Venezuelans that are able to do that kind of thing abroad because I just can’t.

7 Likes
31

Just last year all my direct relatives are out. Still have some relatives of my relatives.

Still, I’m a glutton for punishment, so I read the news from Venezuela every single day. And yea, it takes a toll on sanity and good humour.

6 Likes
32

Well, yeah. Who would’ve thought that a couple of incompetent leaders placing all the country’s chips on a single commodity would have resulted in disaster? Add to that the fact that Maduro didn’t have close to the charisma of Chavez to make up for no longer being able to hand out the burritos empanadas (although he couldn’t resist sneaking a bite of one off camera). Lacking the ability to build a personality cult, he instead used heavy-handed authoritarian tactics to maintain his power, and of course things went into a death spiral.

While travelling through South America earlier in the year, I met quite a few educated refugees from Venezuela who were working as waitresses, parking valets, etc. They all said they missed their home terribly, but that going back was not an option as long as this clown and his cronies are in power.

5 Likes
33

Objection.

It was an empanada.

(I love empanadas, they dont deserve to be associated with Maduro)

4 Likes
34

Fixed! Thank you.

I agree that empanadas are delicious and don’t deserve to be associated with this greedpig hypocrite.

3 Likes
35

I purposefully have not gone back since Chavez took power so i haven’t been to my family’s homeland for something like 15+ years. I try not to dwell on exactly how long its been because its a depressing subject, i keep waiting for things to drastically change and it keeps getting worse.

6 Likes
36

Frankly, the empanada-gate thing was very minor. I mean, I can almost even forgive it. Need to have a bite while working, ups, forgot the camera.

Then the bastard goes to Turkey and ends up eating on the “Salt Bae” restaurant and doesnt even cross his fucking mind that he should not be photographed and shared on Instagram.

4 Likes
37

It’s minor, but also a great symbol of how out-of-touch he was. He’s about to make an address to his citizens to essentially tell them that all the misery and starvation is worth it for his glorious revolution, and he can’t help stuffing his already well-fed face.

4 Likes
38

Thank you for this overview. I find it very useful.

I am grateful for and benefit from the time you spend (and possible sanity) trying to keep current on what’s happening in Venezuela. Having firsthand experiences related by family members makes this understandable and concrete for me.

I don’t have much hope for any nation whose operating budget is based on an extractive economy (petroleum, coal, etc.) because, sooner or later (usually sooner)…

Yep–you nailed it.

Saudi Arabia. Nigeria. Angola. Congo. The list is huge, surely.

And if one looks at the Keystone XL pipeline and so much U.S. history re the oil industry: the U.S.

2 Likes
39

On a different track, nowadays I often wonder why, exactly, Maduro is the only piece of shit authoritarian dictator Trump doesnt love and want to be pals with.

I mean, Maduro at this point is basically a Putin client. And we all know how much Trump loves Putin. So, how come he hasnt gone and told him to go and be a friend of Maduro? I’m sure Trump would find plenty of stuff to love. Like, I dont know, imagine Trump realizing that in Venezuela the ruling party can put posters all over the public buildings saying stuff like “Here nobody speaks ill of Chávez”. Or that jailing people for news or even tweets is just a question of calling somebody and you get it done and even better, not even a judge gets them out because the not-so-secret police doesnt care one bit about stuff like that.

6 Likes
40

Honestly, I think you get a broken system pretty much any time an election is motivated of hatred of the other, whether it is Chavez in Venezuela or Trump in the USA.

And sadly, this applies no matter how much the hatred may be deserved.

Bad actors seem to be far better at exploiting hatred for their own ends than those of good faith can use it for constructive purposes.

41

My guess is that the biggest motivator for the US to be anti-Chavez and Maduro is tied to the US’ antagonism toward Cuba. I’m pretty sure Cuba may have experienced bigger instability in the past 10 years or so had it not been for the Venezuelan government’s assistance. I know little about the topic but i do recall hearing about Cuba taking advantage of Venezuela’s position to make a lot of lucrative deals for themselves.

3 Likes
42

I have not seen any video worth mentioning in regard of the subject. I believe that this article ( Charting The Decline Of Venezuela’s Oil Industry ) gives a good overall view of the facts, although not being complete.