The current situation in Venezuela is a travesty. The economy is in freefall at a rate never seen before. If you don't spend your money today it will be worth considerably less tomorrow. By the end of 2018, the inflation rate is estimated to hit 1,000,00%!
To put things in perspective, the number of bolivars needed to buy a roll of toilet paper stacked against a roll of toilet paper.
With more than 32 million citizens, the country is in chaos. Most citizens are using life savings to just pay for food and other life necessities. On average the price of all goods has doubled every 26 days. Most citizens are live in candlelight as there have been countrywide power outages on a regular basis.
Below you can see a small business owner before and after the crisis. No other picture can summarize the devastation this economy crash has caused.
The root of the problem is the only source of income for the country is oil export. Prices on barrels of oil have fallen significantly since 2014. With no other valuable exports, Venezuela has no means to create wealth. It was never considered there would be a need for anything else.
A large portion of Venezuelans is attempting to leave the country. Most Venezuelans cannot afford the trip to leave the country or have anywhere to go. If they stay though, it is almost guaranteed they will starve and be homeless unless something drastically changes.
The government has raised minimum wage 3400% and has attempted to circulate new currency. Neither work to stop the hemorrhaging of their economy, only delay it slightly. There is some short-term relief with the new bills but it is a matter of months before they suffer the same fate.
Unless another country like the United States gets involved, cryptocurrency maybe the most effective solution to the problem. If so, maybe the quickest and most widespread adoption in a short period of time.
The situation is as bad as you say and living here is really stressful, I will be leaving the country soon in search for opportunities and hopefully I manage to stabilize my life, I was basically born into the socialist revolution so I don't really know what is it like to leave without a stressful government situation and I'm really looking forward to that...
If you guys have any questions about living in Venezuela, feel free to ask them while I still live here :^)
I'm so worried to learn about the current situation. Is the situation really beyond the scope of government? Can't they overhaul the entire system?
The government can't fix the situation they put us in, they have been in power for almost 20 years and it has gotten worse and worse ever since, they expropriated most of the private companies that didn't bend the knee, killing jobs and productivity, 50%+ of the Venezuelan workforce is public, working useless bureaucratic jobs for the government and they also created a famine by appropriating all the productive lands and not putting them to use, most of our arable lands are in hands of the government and not producing food, thus we depend on food imports. you
Venezuela is a country that depends solely on oil, its economic situation is so difficult, that the president has taken the decision to regulate its prices and increase the salary of Venezuelans to 3,000%, bankrupting many businesses in Venezuela that unfortunately they can not afford that salary.
It is unfortunate to see how a country with so many natural resources, lives a difficult situation, thousands of people are dying of hunger and emigrating to other countries to bring their lives a better quality of life.
The first national president took advantage of the national chain to inform that as of September 1, the direct subsidy comes into effect through the Hogares de la Patria program, with five scales ranging from Bs. 360 (for families of 2 members) to Bs. 1120 (for families of six or more members.
Pregnant women enrolled in the Humanized Delivery mission will receive a bonus of Bs.S 600 per month; while Bs.S 450 will be for the participants of the José Gregorio Hernández voucher, all these payments will be made through the country card.
Venezuelans can only wait and continue working for a better country.
In your view , what role ( if any) US govt has played in the downfall of the Venezuela economy ?
As much as I would like to blame someone else, the us has not intervened in the country since the coup attempt in 2002.
This whole economic mess is due to Chavez expropriation policies that killed private industry and foreign investments and the lack of will to diversify the economy away from oil, and of course a huge sprinkle of corruption, embezzlement and theft. Sadly I'm not able to see a light at the end of the tunnel for the country that's why I decided to leave before it's too late.
Tks for your response , from what I have heard US sanctions have played a role of catalyst for an unstable equilibrium of economy , does that hold true at all?
Hyperinflation and scarcity started way before sanctions came in and if you look at the sanctions they are targeted at the politicians and not the country itself and really if the oil industry got sanctioned, everyone would probably starve to death in 3 months since we are neck deep in debt with the Chinese and Russian, we depend 100% of food imports and 90%+ of the county income comes from oil, so any direct sanctions to our oil supply could kill our ability to import food thus everyone dies cuz we don't produce shit anymore due to things mentioned in other comments here.
tks again...best of luck for your migration plans.
Thanks! I hope I was able to shed some light into the situation!
I guess not everybody have the priviledge to even get a flight tickrt there? All the best to you buddy.
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No they do not, I was pretty lucky myself. A lot of people leave by bus and even walking in n search for a better future. 2.3 million people have left the country since 2015 and I wouldn't be surprised if the number reached 3 million by the end of this year.
Is it possible for you to live there from steem?
I have been doing exactly this for the past few months, If I try really hard, I can live off 20$ a month but 50$ a month is optimal.
I think this is duable with steem. I hope you will find somewhere else to stay.
Thank you! Hopefully i find a nice place :-D
https://www.aeinstein.org/free-resources/free-publications/espanol/
https://es.theanarchistlibrary.org/library/piotr-kropotkin-la-conquista-del-pan
Keep working, stop paying.
I am from Venezuela and the word FREEDOM has been erased from my mind and heart in a short time, its meaning is not yet clear to me, I have lived in a country that 200 years ago freed 5 nations from slavery and war.
But in my country FREEDOM is dying little by little, it has no breath left and every day gives its last breath, its streets can only feel the loneliness and fear of the uncontrolled dictatorship of a man who has led to misery a whole country.
If we look in a dictionary for the definition of freedom, we can find the following: "Freedom is the capacity of the conscience to think and act according to the will of the person."
It is so simple "power to decide and live" fully under our own responsibility, where every decision we make is expressed by our feelings and conviction.
To be a Venezuelan in a country trapped by corruption and dictatorship can, with time, eliminate the meaning of the word freedom from each one of us.
It's extremely sad, we were never a perfect country but it was possible to have a decent life in Venezuela if you worked hard enough, nowadays most of the people that live here is just struggling to survive, trying to make it everyday. I have been lucky to never suffered from any kind of starvation but my life is basically going to work everyday and make money so I can buy food for my family, things like going for a drink, going to the movies or travelling are luxuries that the regular venezuelan cannot afford to do as much as the used to, some of them don't even do it anymore, everything goes to food.
Platforms like Steemit have been a breath fresh air for us because we are able to earn in a coin that has more worth than the Bolivar and I know many people that were able to leave Venezuela, thanks to their savings acquired via Steemit. Thank you for article, I hope it helps to raise awareness of all the things going on here and maybe the world can give us a hand in the near future.
Oil production drop is only one of the many causes of the crisis. The government has worked against producers by stealing their companies when they start to work, then leaving them to stgnate. Together with the massive regulations, the promotion of crime and the absurd jailings and kidnappings of anyone in the opposition, businesses cannot thrive and the economy can't recover.
There's sadly a thousand and one things that are wrong with what the government has been imposing on us. :(
A country without national production and with more than 40% of its businesses closed, have exposed the serious crisis in the country, a crisis that has increased since the president announced the salary increase of 50 Bs.S ($ 1.50) to 1,800.Bs.S (20 $) an increase of 3,500% what meant for the great majority of Venezuelans a madness.
These businesses are forced to close since they can not afford the payment of their employees as this would mean losing more than 64% of their profits, without forgetting that they have to pay taxes to the government which means 16%, they practically remain in red numbers with losses greater than 72%.
Thousands of people are losing their jobs due to this situation, and consequently thousands of families have lost that small inflow of money, which generates a 66% unemployment in the country.
"We are in a really critical situation, but not only for the lack of products, but also, the most serious thing we have today is the issue of the purchasing power of the Venezuelan," he continued, adding that the forecast for next year is "Good black."
The representative of the Venezuelan merchants also said that they have not acquired foreign currency for two months through the auction system of the Central Bank in the context of exchange control, so they have had to resort to the parallel illegal market.
"Nowadays, all imports" are being made "on a parallel dollar, which leads to (...) that price dynamics in the black market also apply to the price dynamics that establishments have in their products and services".
Venezuela is on the red line and every day is more sinking in an economic crisis that presents every day a loss of 54% of small investors who no longer see business future in Venezuela.
As a Venezuelan I find myself in the great need of having to work in 3 different jobs in order to help my family, we are in a crisis that is already ending with the small future we have left. @themarkymark
the whole situation is so sad... :(
Aware of it, and more even since I'm on Steemit as I have befriended so many from that country. And curiously they're not less spirited but more... in my native islands the Canary Islands Venezuela is called "the 8th island" cos many people from the islands moved there generations ago...
Its pretty bad, just like over here in Argentina, but they are suffering it alot more @themarkymark. I work with alot of venezuelans and its sad to see what they are going through..
If friend and we do not stop working for themselves better.
Part 2: How bad is Turkey?
I've read a little bit about Turkey's inflation and some investor panic, but hasn't the situation stabilized this month?
Wow, nice to hear from someone on the inside. Sure as hell ain't gonna' hear the truth on lamestream within' the states. I've known it was bad but never read comments such as yours luna. Funny how people around the world have forgotten that there's food all around them though they just don't know what to look for any more. We all think food comes in a bag or box/can when there are plenty of wild edibles out there. Most of the crap we buy is poison anyways but all that is another story. I wish you well/safe passage on your journey out. I hope you find a wonderful place to be and live. How are the politicians and gooberment peeps fairing through all of this? I'm curious if they suffer as everyone else or if nothing has changed for them?
how about make helpful project for Venezuela ?
I am glad my daughter was able to go to Venezuela on a mission trip before Chavez destroyed the place. She thought it was a beautiful country and she just loved teaching English to the children there. Many prayers for those suffering under socialism.
XPD to the moon lol
This is like the hyperinflation in Germany in the early 1920s - in November 1923 one US$ was 4.2 trillion mark (two years before it was 90 mark/$). My grandfather was a bricklayer and was paid in bricks and windows and cement. That's how he managed to go on building a house for his family but every free inch of the garden was planted with vegetables and they had an additional allotment for potatoes.
The gaming community I’m in has some from Venezuela in it. All I know is from time to time they often go missing or inactive on Steemit. Sometimes they share a little bit about needing to go out and try to get what supplies they can right now as such things might not be possible days from now. Other times just wishing everyone to stay safe.
While many of them are infrequent posters. They also are producing outstanding gaming content. Often times a Spanish and an English version of their posts. At least for gaming there are a couple of communities out there that try and do what they can within the community guidelines they have to work with. I can only hope earning on Steemit somewhat helps in the dire situation many of them are in.
The really sad thing about that picture is the amount of weight the shopkeeper has lost.
What's going on there, and the world's response is disgraceful and if they have the strength need to rise and throw out the government so they can get some outside help in.
If not, this could easily become one of the worst humanitarian crisis ever.
We call it Maduro's Diet. Most people are losing lots of weight these last couple years.
Never knew condition there is this worse. Good you shared this!
I have seen an increase of users here from the country and try to curate them as much as possible although I focus on the introductory posts to guide then to tips and tooks here in the ecosystem. Most that I know are very hardworking and could help us grow with their engagement which could help them as well!
In Brazil we are having a mass immigration of Venezuelans in the Rondônia State. Many of them are becoming homeless since the State don't have enough money to give services from them. That start to create a xenophobic problem in there, and that is awful, because like us Paulista's (people who live in São Paulo State), immigration is a common thing. That is why we are receiving more and more Venezuelans, and that is amazing for us, because Paulistas are Brazilian's which love people who want to live here and evolve together.
They should start making bolivars two-ply. Peg their currency to the TP standard. The United States can't fix their problems, only they can reject socialism and the government that has put them in this situation.
the United States are already involved, you can bet on that.
In times like these the world should rally around and help a country out, considering how many dollars is actually wasted in the US and the campaigning time period you would think Venezuela could use some of that wasteful money. They need help.
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
Steem is helping many Venezuelans today. When Speaking to them about the currency and Prices of Bitcoin they explain that bitcoin tends to double in price every 60 days. So that is one reason why Venezuelans often would much rather earn wages with Steem and Bitcoin than the Bolívar. Great post here, this needs to be talked about a lot more.
Dash is seeing lots of adoption in Venezuela.
Thank you for bringing some attention to the state of things in Venezuela @themarkymark. It really is shameful that the US or any other "major" country hasn't involved themselves, and considering how long it's been going on, it's equally shameful that the media hasn't done more too, in terms of bringing awareness to the masses. I guess what's really shameful is that the "majority" of people are more concerned with reality tv or the latest i-phone to simply not care. What a sad state of affairs ... all of it.
We are the ones that tanked their economy in the first place. This is their fault for not bowing down to the petro-dollar. Get back to work, slaves!
If it's a difficult situation rather than an economic one, the main problem is the morality they try to put in our brains.
A country that is being governed by people who dominate the weakest through strategies of control and generation of need.
Steem has helped Venezuela a lot, since it has allowed many young people to undertake and stay to fight for a better country, the Venezuelan projects that make life in steemit have worked with the nails to educate and change minds to have a better society ready for prosperity.
We will continue to work to learn at steemit and continue to grow.
if friend is true what you say for December the percentage of inflation will be very high at 1 million percent, and really buying food is unattainable.
I charge two minimum salaries and I really can not afford it, thanks to steemit I have been able to survive this economic crisis, and really thanks to each one of you stemianos do not know how much they have helped the Venezuelans.
true friend your publication talks about the reality of venezuela, and thanks for spreading it, he is not for giving pity of my country but for people to know the type of government that is, and what communism does, thanks
And that photo of the before and after the Venezuelans there are many like those that I have I am going to send them so that you can make a post of them as a gift
We are a non-profit organization in Venezuela trying to help children. Visit our link to know more about our labor. We know how difficult is the situation here.