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2014-03-09 Caribbean-Latin America

Venezuela's Shortages: 15 years in the making

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Posted by Pappy 2014-03-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Unlike a normal country, where you can trade U.S. dollars with local currency at whatever price the market will bear, the Venezuelan bolivar is fixed at 6.30 per dollar, and sold discretionally, only to those the government deems worthy. This worthiness is established on the basis of an enormously cumbersome and corruption-prone administrative process.

Not to be confused with the Fed's management of 'quantitative easing' which induces inflation on common goods, like food and gas, while raising the value of paper and mortgages held by money and lending institutions (caught with such over priced speculative holdings in 2008/9). The same institutions that members of the Fed and Treasury will return to work at/with upon their completion of their tour with government.

Posted by Procopius2k 2014-03-09 09:04|| 2014-03-09 09:04|| Front Page Top

A notable moment. After issuing fawning praise for a convicted terrorist and murderer, he steps from the podium at the Mandela memorial and shakes hands with the first available, Latin American communist.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-03-09 14:33|| 2014-03-09 14:33|| Front Page Top

#3 The Venezulan monetary split with an official exchange rate and a black-market one side by side leads where it normally leads, e.g. to anyone with an import license actually engaging in currency arbitrage, with imports a side market excuse. So, basically, real imports stop, while the importers play money games to keep their heads above water, because they have to deal with the real world outside the restricted zone. (You have to bear in mind, importers work both sides of the fence as part of the job; they have to be on both sides at once.)

Posted by ed in texas 2014-03-09 15:07|| 2014-03-09 15:07|| Front Page Top

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