Yes, that is Real Socialism in Venezuela

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Coffee has been grown in Venezuela since the late 1800s, but today a minimum-wage employee in Venezuela can afford only 5 cups of coffee a month on their wages, with nothing left over.

The trouble with Venezuelan socialism, just like all attempts at socialism, is that it misallocates resources. Now, after years of a fictional economy, reality is hitting Venezuela hard. The government is attempting to literally paper over the problem by inflating the currency, and as always that is making things worse.

Terrible reports are coming out of Venezuela. Parents are giving away their children, and the government has killed hundreds of poor young men in an arbitrary fashion.

Every time a socialist country falls into chaos, socialist sympathizers in the West say, “that’s not real socialism.” Unfortunately, Venezuela is the perfect example of real socialism, and it is failing just as other socialist nations have.

Kathryn Krawczyk writes in The Week:

Five million Venezuelan bolivars is the equivalent of $1.45. It’s also roughly a minimum-wage worker’s entire monthly salary in the South American country.

Thanks to stunning inflation, it now takes 1 million bolivars to buy a cup of coffee in a Venezuelan cafe, Bloomberg reports. That’s one-fifth of Venezuela’s monthly minimum wage, and a 10,000-bill stack of Venezuela’s most common bank note, the 100-bolivar bill.

To illustrate Venezuela’s rampant inflation, Bloomberg has tracked the price of a cup of coffee since December 2016 on its Cafe Con Leche index. One dose of caffeine cost 450 bolivars when the index launched two years ago, but 43,378 percent inflation in the last year has led to today’s astronomical price.

Venezuela Violence: Crime rate has been increasing in the country

Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.

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E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.