One-sided, but so is the "news" coming from Maduro's opposition, both domestic and international.
Venezuela Analysis
The Actors in the Conspiracy Against Venezuela
Eduardo Andrade Bone - Resumen Latin Americano
See also
Backgrounder on Venezuelan history.
While this is more about the politics and institutional factors than the economics, the political and institutional factors heavily influence the economics. So there is more to it than just mismanagement.
Could better management have obviated the crisis?
Perhaps. But it was not only lack of material systems knowledge and skills that led to the crisis and its perpetuation.
No doubt that better management would greatly improve matters though.
Fort Russ
The Venezuelan Economic Crisis: Facts. vs. Propaganda
While this is more about the politics and institutional factors than the economics, the political and institutional factors heavily influence the economics. So there is more to it than just mismanagement.
Could better management have obviated the crisis?
Perhaps. But it was not only lack of material systems knowledge and skills that led to the crisis and its perpetuation.
No doubt that better management would greatly improve matters though.
Fort Russ
The Venezuelan Economic Crisis: Facts. vs. Propaganda
From the article: “There can only be a rational and objective analysis of Venezuela’s situation once the bias originating from neo-liberal propaganda has been purged.”
ReplyDeleteExactly.
I attribute much of Nicaragua’s economic problems to government mismanagement. Venezuela is different case. The Maduro government and the Chavez government have tried to correct Venezuela’s economic problems. For example, both have known that Venezuela’s dependence on oil sales makes Venezuela vulnerable to price fluctuations, and to attacks from oligarchs in Venezuela and abroad.
In the third quarter of 2008, Venezuela had $15.5 billion a month coming in from oil sales. But then oil prices started to fall. In Jun 2014 oil was trading at $115 per barrel. By Jan 2016 the price had fallen to $30 per barrel. In the middle of this plunge (Dec 2014) Venezuela went from having a trade surplus to a trade deficit. Its economy went into recession. Today this trade deficit causes about $3.8 billion a month to be sucked out of Venezuela.
(The U.S. trade deficit causes about $50 billion a month to be sucked out of the USA, but this is not a problem for the U.S. government, since U.S. government creates dollars out of thin air, and those dollars are accepted worldwide.)
Meanwhile Venezuela has severe inflation, caused by shortages in consumer goods.
The shortages are caused by
[1] Venezuela’s trade deficit, caused by the fall in oil prices
[2] Venezuelan currency speculation by private interests
[3] Venezuela oligarchs’ hoarding of consumer goods, in order to worsen shortages.
NONE OF THIS HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH VENEZUELA’S SO-CALLED “SOCIALISM.”
The shortages and the inflation are mainly restricted to the lower-class areas, which the oligarchs are punishing for having rejected neoliberalism. Meanwhile stores in affluent (i.e. pro-neoliberal) areas are well stocked.
The cure for all this is diversification so that Venezuela is not so dependent on oil sales. However for reasons I do not understand, Venezuela has not made much progress toward becoming diversified and self-sufficient.
American peasants console themselves in their poverty by saying, “If we had Universal Medicare, we would have socialism, and look what socialism has done to Venezuela!”
The “socialism” label is false. Hugo Chavez first took office on 2 Feb 1999, which was 23 years after Venezuela’s state oil company (PDVSA) had been nationalized (1 Jan 1976).
The Venezuela government has only nationalized businesses that have not been in operation. Other than the PDVSA, most industries in Venezuela remain privately owned. That's not socialism.
Venezuela is not “socialist.” Venezuela is capitalist.
By contrast, the USA is neoliberal, which is anti-socialism and anti-capitalism. (There is no capitalism when rich oligarchs own and control the markets, as they do in the USA.)
I guess "SOCDEM For the 21st Century" didn't have enough revolutionary appeal to it.
ReplyDeleteFour bakers arrested over illegal brownies in Venezuela's 'bread war'
ReplyDeleteGovernment sends in soldiers to enforce rule that 90% of wheat must be used for loaves, not cakes, to combat hoarding and shortages.
It's good to know that you MMTers support soldiers using violence against bakers making cookes and cakes. The Miracle of Socialism.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/17/bakers-arrested-illegal-brownies-venezuela-bread-war