{"id":1472,"date":"2018-04-04T14:40:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T14:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=1472"},"modified":"2018-04-04T14:40:53","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T14:40:53","slug":"cns-news-venezuela-is-going-from-bad-to-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/04\/04\/cns-news-venezuela-is-going-from-bad-to-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"CNS news: Venezuela Is Going from Bad to Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by: Colin Bunn<\/p>\n

CNS News<\/p>\n

Venezuela Is Going from Bad to Worse<\/h1>\n
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\"Daniel<\/a><\/div>\n

By\u00a0Daniel Mitchell<\/a>\u00a0| April 3, 2018 | 10:06 AM EDT<\/div>\n

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Venezuelans wait in food line, a part of everyday life in socialist Venezuela.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, everything you need to know about capitalism vs. statism is captured in\u00a0this chart<\/a>\u00a0comparing per-capita economic output in Chile and Venezuela.<\/p>\n

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Ask yourself which country offers more opportunity, especially for the poor? The\u00a0obvious answer<\/a>\u00a0is Chile, where\u00a0poverty has rapidly declined<\/a>\u00a0ever since the country shifted to free enterprise. In Venezuela, by contrast, poor children\u00a0die of malnutrition<\/a>\u00a0thanks to pervasive interventionism.<\/p>\n

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Indeed, having shared\u00a0several<\/a>\u00a0horrifying<\/a>\u00a0stories<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0human suffering<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0government venality<\/a>\u00a0from Venezuela (including\u00a028 separate examples<\/a>\u00a0in April 2017 and\u00a028 different separate examples<\/a>\u00a0in December 2017), I\u2019ve reached the point where nothing shocks me.<\/p>\n

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Tsuki, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Poster<\/a><\/h1>\n
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See more \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Promoted by\u00a0Red Bubble<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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So now I mostly wonder whether leftist apologists feel any shame when they see grim news from that statist hellhole.<\/p>\n

For instance, what does\u00a0Joe Stiglitz<\/a>\u00a0think about\u00a0this report<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0Miami Herald<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 16, Liliana has become the mother figure for a gang of Venezuelan children and young adults called the Chacao, named after the neighborhood they\u2019ve claimed as their territory. The 15 members, ranging in age from 10 to 23, work together to survive vicious fights for \u2018quality\u2019 garbage in crumbling,\u00a0shortage-plagued\u00a0Venezuela. Their weapons are knives and sticks and machetes. The prize? Garbage that contains food good enough to eat. \u2026 A year ago, the gang was \u2018stationed\u2019 around a supermarket at a mall called Centro Comercial Ciudad Tamanaco that generates tons of garbage. But a feared rival gang from the neighborhood Las Mercedes also wanted the garbage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And what does\u00a0Bernie Sanders<\/a>\u00a0think about\u00a0this story<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0NPR<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela estimates the country is suffering from an 85 percent\u00a0shortage of medicine\u00a0amid an economic crisis \u2026 The entire Venezuelan health care system is\u00a0on the verge\u00a0of collapse, says Francisco Valencia, head of the public health advocacy group Codevida. Some hospitals lack electricity, and more than 13,000 doctors have left Venezuela in the past four years in search of better opportunities. \u2018They don\u2019t give food to the patients in the hospital \u2026\u2019 Government data shows infant mortality rose by 30 percent in 2016 \u2026 The International Monetary Fund\u00a0predicts\u00a0inflation will soar to 13,000 percent this year and the economy will shrink by 15 percent. \u2026 The monthly minimum wage for many Venezuelans is now equal to $3, according to the AP. \u2026 Maduro blames the country\u2019s growing crisis on \u2026 the U.S. \u2026 leading an effort to wipe out socialism in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019d be curious to know what\u00a0Michael Moore<\/a>\u00a0thinks about\u00a0this news<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0CNN<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela\u2019s devastating food crisis means wheat flour has become a\u00a0rare commodity\u00a0in the country. Some churches have run out of the ingredient needed to make the sacramental bread that is central to celebrating the Holy Eucharist \u2026 So, members of the Catholic diocese of C\u00facuta, Colombia, braved heavy rain this week to deliver the wafers over a bridge that connects the two countries \u2026 Venezuela\u2019s economic crisis, fueled by a decline in oil production, shows no signs of improvement. People are starving because of routine\u00a0food shortages.\u00a0They are\u00a0dying in hospitals\u00a0because basic medicine and equipment aren\u2019t available.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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And what does\u00a0Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>\u00a0think about this\u00a0Bloomberg\u00a0<\/i>report<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cRuiz\u2019s weekly salary of 110,000 bolivares \u2014 about 50 cents at the black-market exchange rate \u2014 buys him less than a kilo of corn meal or rice. His only protein comes from 170 grams of canned tuna included in a food box\u00a0the government provides to low-income families. It shows up every 45 days or so. \u2018I haven\u2019t eaten meat for two months,\u2019 he said. \u2026 Hunger is hastening the ruin of Venezuelan\u2019s oil industry as workers\u00a0grow too weak and hungry\u00a0for heavy labor. With children dying of malnutrition and adults sifting garbage for table scraps, food has become more important than employment, and thousands are walking off the job. \u2026 Venezuela, a socialist autocracy that once was South America\u2019s most prosperous nation, is suffering a collapse almost without precedent.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or how about getting\u00a0Sean Penn<\/a>\u2018s reaction to\u00a0this story<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0The<\/i>\u00a0New York Times<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past three weeks, Wilya Hern\u00e1ndez, her husband and their daughter, 2, have been sleeping on the garbage-strewn streets of C\u00facuta, a sprawling and chaotic city on Colombia\u2019s side of the border with Venezuela. Though Antonela, the toddler, often misses meals, Ms. Hern\u00e1ndez has no desire to return home to Venezuela. \u2026 \u2018I sold my hair to feed my girl,\u2019 Ms. Hern\u00e1ndez said, pulling back her locks to reveal a shaved head underneath, adding that wigmakers now walk the plazas of C\u00facuta where many Venezuelans congregate, wearing signs advertising that they give cash for hair. \u2026 \u2018If I can\u2019t afford to go the bathroom, I\u2019ll go on the street,\u2019 Ms. Hern\u00e1ndez added. \u2018That\u2019s when guys walking by say creepy things.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Venezuelans sort through trash as hunger mounts in the socialist country. (Screenshot)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I wonder if\u00a0Noam Chomsky<\/a>\u00a0has any comments about this\u00a0Washington Post<\/i>\u00a0story<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend recently sent me a photograph \u2026 , just a blurry cellphone shot of trash \u2026 And yet I can\u2019t stop thinking about it, because strewn about in the trash are at least a dozen 20-bolivar bills, small-denomination currency now so worthless even\u00a0looters\u00a0<\/i>didn\u2019t think it was worth their time to stop and pick them up. \u2026 according to the \u2018official\u2019 exchange rate, \u2026 each of those bills is worth $2. In fact, as Venezuela sinks deeper \u2026 into \u2026 hyperinflation \u2026 , bolivar banknotes have come to be worth basically nothing: Each bill is worth about $0.0001 at the current exchange rate \u2026 It\u2019s easy to see why the thieves left them behind.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last but not least, I wonder what\u00a0Jesse Jackson<\/a>\u00a0thinks about\u00a0this news<\/a>\u00a0from the U.K.-based\u00a0Guardian<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than half of young Venezuelans want to move abroad permanently, after food shortages, violence and a political crisis escalated to new extremes in 2017, according to a new survey. Once Latin America\u2019s richest country,\u00a0Venezuela\u2019s economy is now collapsing \u2026 One of the most painful effects of the current crisis has been\u00a0widespread hunger. In 2015, when inflation and food shortages were well below current levels, nearly 45% of Venezuelans said there were times when they were unable to afford food; in the latest study, that figure had risen to 79% \u2013 one of the highest rates in the world. \u2026 Norma Guti\u00e9rrez, a radiologist in eastern Caracas, is one of those \u2026 would-be migrants.\u00a0Acute shortages in the hospital where she works\u00a0depress her, and she says the idea of emigrating crosses her mind at least once a week.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By the way, in an example of unintended humor, the Socialist Party of Great Britain has\u00a0a ready-made answer<\/a>\u00a0to all those questions. The misery is the fault of capitalism. I\u2019m not kidding.<\/p>\n

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And folks on the establishment left\u00a0occasionally try to imply<\/a>\u00a0that it\u2019s all the result of falling oil prices.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, I concocted a visual showing the \u201cFive Circles of Statist Hell<\/a>\u201d and speculated that Venezuela was getting close to the fourth level. Though I still don\u2019t think it\u2019s\u00a0nearly as bad as North Korea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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P.S. Since I mentioned unintentional humor, you\u2019ll be amused to know a \u201cHappy Planet Index<\/a>\u201d created by radical environmentalists places Venezuela above the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted by: Colin Bunn CNS News Venezuela Is Going from Bad to Worse By\u00a0Daniel Mitchell\u00a0| April 3, 2018 | 10:06 AM EDT Venezuelans wait in food line, a part of everyday life in socialist Venezuela. As far as I\u2019m concerned, everything you need to know about capitalism vs. statism is captured in\u00a0this chart\u00a0comparing per-capita economic output in Chile and Venezuela…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1473,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1472\/revisions\/1473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}