«Imagine if Theresa May suddenly announced that her government was going to devalue the pound by 96 per cent; increase the minimum wage by 6,000 per cent; pay the wage increases for millions of businesses for three months; tie the pound to a mythical cryptocurrency; prepared for petrol rationing; and impose a 0.7 per cent tax on big financial transactions. It would be seen either as an act of lunacy, of a collapsing country — or both.
For the long-suffering people of Venezuela, it’s just the latest stage of their country’s grand socialist experiment.
President Nicolás Maduro has just issued a new currency, called ‘sovereign bolivars’. The original idea was that the currency would be like the old one, but with three zeros lopped off. But then hyperinflation got so out of hand that the government decided on five zeros.
Maduro’s new plan is supposed to be a big economic reset but, on its launch, those who turned up at bank machines found a withdrawal limit of ten sovereign bolivars a day — about 12p. This, they discovered, is only the latest part of what Maduro calls his ‘really impressive magical formula’ to restore the economy. To many Venezuelans, residents of what was once the strongest economy in Latin America, it feels not like magic, only more misery.
Last month, the minimum wage was increased for the umpteenth time this year to three million bolivars. On Friday night the president jacked that up to 1,800 in sovereign bolivars — about $30 a month. His government is offering to pay the 60-fold rise in salaries because employers say that they can’t afford to. With the shortages of medicine and basic food, and the economy in such freefall, Venezuela’s two million slum-dwellers have started to barter goods to survive. It is understood that Iran and Russia advised Maduro on the changes. What interest they might have in the destruction of a once-rich country remains unclear.
For years, Venezuela has been one giant economic laboratory, its 32 million citizens reduced to guinea pigs. The Maduro regime has been condemned worldwide (except by Jeremy Corbyn, who rang Maduro to congratulate him on his election victory and refuses to denounce him). Maduro’s latest experiment is telling, and may well lead to greater economic catastrophe and even massive famine.
Socialist principles are at stake: if the economy will not behave, issue edicts. If money is short, then borrow — or print — more of it. If prices are rising, enforce price freezes. Venezuela is imposing a huge version of ideas that Corbyn has been proposing in miniature. The world can now see the results.»
Excerto de Venezuela’s great socialist experiment has brought a country to its knees, no Spectator
For the long-suffering people of Venezuela, it’s just the latest stage of their country’s grand socialist experiment.
President Nicolás Maduro has just issued a new currency, called ‘sovereign bolivars’. The original idea was that the currency would be like the old one, but with three zeros lopped off. But then hyperinflation got so out of hand that the government decided on five zeros.
Maduro’s new plan is supposed to be a big economic reset but, on its launch, those who turned up at bank machines found a withdrawal limit of ten sovereign bolivars a day — about 12p. This, they discovered, is only the latest part of what Maduro calls his ‘really impressive magical formula’ to restore the economy. To many Venezuelans, residents of what was once the strongest economy in Latin America, it feels not like magic, only more misery.
Last month, the minimum wage was increased for the umpteenth time this year to three million bolivars. On Friday night the president jacked that up to 1,800 in sovereign bolivars — about $30 a month. His government is offering to pay the 60-fold rise in salaries because employers say that they can’t afford to. With the shortages of medicine and basic food, and the economy in such freefall, Venezuela’s two million slum-dwellers have started to barter goods to survive. It is understood that Iran and Russia advised Maduro on the changes. What interest they might have in the destruction of a once-rich country remains unclear.
For years, Venezuela has been one giant economic laboratory, its 32 million citizens reduced to guinea pigs. The Maduro regime has been condemned worldwide (except by Jeremy Corbyn, who rang Maduro to congratulate him on his election victory and refuses to denounce him). Maduro’s latest experiment is telling, and may well lead to greater economic catastrophe and even massive famine.
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| Corbyn & Maduro, a mesma luta |
Excerto de Venezuela’s great socialist experiment has brought a country to its knees, no Spectator
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