How Bad Economics Destroyed Venezuela

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[@PolyMatter]

If you're watching this video, there's a pretty good chance you'd like learning computer science, math, and science with Brilliant. The first 200 of you even get 20% off a year of premium membership. brilliant.org/Polymatter

[@arsim612]

2:00 you say billion the graph says million

[@didyoumissedmegobareatersk2204]

Oil destroyed it or it was united state of sanction??

[@Espen.Johannesen]

0:56 -> Why is not Norway on the list, or has it less then Kasakhstans less then 50 million barrels ?

[@danopticon]

From where are you getting your claim (5:09) that “nearly 60% of the population was middle class?” I was living in Caracas in the ‘70s, and our joke was that we were one of ten or fifteen middle class families; everyone else was either obscenely rich, or (far more frequently) absolutely destitute, living in shacks improvised from cinderblocks and corrugated plastic, and sending their shoeless children into highway traffic jams to sell plantain chips for cash.

[@senzium]

@@didyoumissedmegobareatersk2204 did you even watch the video

[@midimusicforever]

Norway solved the resource curse. They put the oil money in a fund and only use the earnings from that fund for spending. It evens out the booms and busts a lot.

[@MrMannyhw]

Norway smart!

[@maclain728]

The issue is if you live in an unstable country or one with a society with lot of corruption, all that money genuine politicians saved can easily be turned into the next coup leaders personal bank account. Another worry is leaders in crisis will drain the funds for personal gain. Creating generous social programs for popularity (votes), savings be damned, is a very potent strategy for someone with no fiscal responsibility Even if you are a democratic leader with only the best intentions, there’s nothing to say in 10 or 15 years someone comes to power with less noble intentions. Only works if people actually have faith in the system to the point it’s self correcting enough

[@pyromcr]

The difference is they are white and Venezuela is not.

[@lorenzomizushal3980]

​@@pyromcr I think this is true, white people have destabilized a lot of countries through their colonialism and interfere.

[@massemiable]

@@maclain728 You are quite right. Though in Norway, the annual spending limit of 3% of the "oil fund" is codified in law. Now, with a proper majority for a certain party it's always possible to change the law, but it's an extra hurdle for any populist politician. The idea of being frugal with the oil money, and making sure we don't spend more than 3% spending limit, is very ingrained in the Norwegian population. I would argue that there is a larger portion of the Norwegian population dedicated to this idea, than the 2nd amendment in the USA. So it would take a lot to mess with it, I think.

[@gmo2932]

I’m from Venezuela. This is very accurate. The only info missing is that Chavez, over the course of a decade, ordered to take away many businesses from owners and give it to his friends in the military. Big cement companies, oil , paper companies, small, medium and large manufacturers, etc suddenly where being run at 1/4 capacity because they didn’t know how to run it. That meant the limited supply of items created a huge supply side inflation that the government tried to appease with importing from china but at limited capacity. Also, Chavez wasn’t giving dollars to anyone that wasn’t part of his political party so those companies closed up and left. The rest is what it’s in the video about exchange rates, printing money etc.

[@mashlangu]

Sounds like South Africa

[@falsch4761]

You forget about US sanctions on Oil Rig component that cripple Venezuela oil industry.

[@giancarlo9731]

Yup, the takeovers was the destruction of the private sector of the country.

[@jeffbenton6183]

I heard a few years ago that many Venezuelans didn't blame Chavez for the crisis, only blaming Maduro and others who replaced Chavez. How true was that, and is it still true?

[@lexluong8155]

So USA and its puppet Guado had nothing to do with it. Not to mention UK seizing all of Venezeula's gold reserves in London illegally. Not to mention USA failed coup.

[@josedelgado5148]

I left Venezuela a year ago and there's a correction I want to make on this video. The gas prices situation changed after the pandemic, now you need around 20 dollars to fill up your tank. That is not so bad compared to, for example, New York, but is not the cheap gasoline we had a decade ago. Good video.

[@THEMAX00000]

New York, another example of a corrupt leftist government

[@fatkhurohmana5937]

it's expensive because people can't get for money

[@dustywagon298]

And the lines

[@guillermom2365]

Just to compare a bit, in Uruguay it’s about 90 dollars.

[@cloudyblaze7916]

America is currently plagued by the hydra-headed evil duo of inflation and recession. The worst part about this recession is that consumers are racking up credit card debt. In April alone, credit card debt went up 20% while rates have doubled in a year. Inflation is so high that consumers are literally taking debt for basic life necessities. Collapse has indeed begun..

[@adenmall7596]

Collapse is generous 1st time in our history with a full generation that wasn't taught financial literacy, civics, Google fixes their problems if their parents don't do it for them. Reckoning for participation trophies is incoming.

[@evitasmith6218]

The best course of action if you lack market knowledge is to ask a consultant or investing coach for guidance or assistance. Speaking with a consultant helped me stay afloat in the market and grow my portfolio to about 65% since January, even though I know it sounds obvious or generic. I believe that is the most effective way to enter the business at the moment.

[@evitasmith6218]

@@hushbash2989 I personally work with ''Eleanor Annette Eckhaus'' she covers things like investing, insurance, making sure retirement is well funded, going over tax benefits, ways to have a volatility buffer for investment risk. many things like that. Just take a look at her full name on the internet. She is well known so it shouldn't be hard to find her.

[@bsetdays6784]

She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran a Google search for her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing

[@DizzleDog]

@@adenmall7596It was the boomers that apparently gave participation trophies. It’s not like the children gave themselves trophies lol

[@Omer1996E.C]

It's not oil that destroyed Venezuela, but the bad management of scarce resources. In fact, resource management is the reason for the success and failure of almost all economies

[@MrMannyhw]

The people destroyed their own economy. Especially the free hand outs from government. They not smart compare to Norway.

[@rondonalves2897]

'bad management' = socialism. old ideas that don't work and that keep businessmen away from the core of the economy.

[@YourBlackLocal]

That’s literally what the video is about.

[@Distress.]

​@@YourBlackLocal yeah but the title is bad

[@KevinJohnson-cv2no]

@@Distress. I assume they put emphasis on oil because seeing that word activates neurons in the mind of the average "I'm American but hate America" joe; as opposed to putting the spotlight on Venezuela's disastrous socialist policies.

[@WildermanJNM]

It feels so weird living in Venezuela and watching this video in 2023. This feels like a 2019 video. All of the things said in this video are true and it's a very well researched account of our economic disaster. But it's obsolete. Many things said here aren't really true in present-day Venezuela

[@williamlloyd3769]

What changed?

[@WildermanJNM]

@@williamlloyd3769 a lot of things. One of the main changes is the fact that in the present, Venezuelan economy is pretty much entirely dollarized. Although it hasn't been done officially, pretty much everything in the country is sold in either American Dollars or Colombian Pesos if you live near the Venezuela-Colombia border. And since now the country is pretty much entirely run in American Dollars, the price fixation in currency exchange is a thing of the past, you can just freely and openly buy and sell dollars for the actual price of the currency and not a fictional price the government sets. You can even deposit dollars in banks and have bank accounts in foreign currency, which was illegal before. Hell, you can even buy dollars at the Central Bank (which is entirely run by the Estate) and they'll sell it at market price. Also now the economy has been slowly opening up, you can see new businesses bubbling up everywhere you look in Caracas (where I live). Also gas prices are now set at the normal international price so what he says about us having the cheapest gas in the world is no longer true. This has come with its own badge of problems (mainly the fact that anyone that works on something that only pays in bolivars, like most public workers, have been left behind by the system and still live in the 2018 nightmare) but I'd say it's been mostly positive. Things aren't "good" but at least most of the population isn't dying of hunger anymore, which is a pretty low bar but it's what we had gotten used to.

[@Quickshot0]

It's good to hear some things are finally turning around in Venezuela, things have been really grim there for far to long.

[@alerav4826]

I don't think the video is wrong, the title is "How oil destroyed Venezuela" as, in the past, not about how Venezuela is doing in the present.

[@davec8153]

@@alerav4826 It's wrong because most viewers of the video will finish watching it with the impression that Venezuela is still like that (if not for the comments). If not wrong, it's still extremely misleading, even if "technically correct".

[@DanielGonzalezL]

Venezuelan here. We've basically stopped using our currency. Everything is USD now.

[@josephgospa4031]

Yes, unofficial currency not supported by the government.

[@dfaro8453]

How is the economy right now?

[@josephgospa4031]

@@dfaro8453 How do you think it's, venezuelans still trying to reach US and other countries, last time I checked there were over 5 million people who left the country after 2016. It will not improve until a change in government is made and it may take years to recover from this disaster called socialism when in reality is communism.

[@Gaboarincon]

I am from Venezuela and I remember when I began to understand what oil and revenue was, back a few years ago. Couldn’t get in my head why was I living in such country with such resource at hand…

[@1Dylan1]

Heck yeah brother burn down that forest and pollute that coastline! Oil FOR THE WIN!

[@tinyleopard6741]

​@@1Dylan1 That's simply because people don't want to live primitively, it's difficult.

[@gaim44]

@@tinyleopard6741 That's simply because people don't want to live primitively....so burn it all to the ground...lol

[@VoltairesRevenge]

All these “I am Venezuelan” posts are more fake than a Gucci bag on AliExpress.

[@GeorgeN678]

Venezuela : the worst economic storm in history Lebanon : Hold my arak habibi

[@darlingtonolelewe1212]

Nigeria: Hold my beer (2024)

[@miliba]

Lebanon: Nitrate storage goes BOOM

[@Gabryel501]

Communism is the biggest cause of poverty in the world

[@angellestat2730]

Venenzuela is the Worst of all those, Nigeria, Beirut, Lebanon, none of them had the fall or inflation that Venenzuela had. Workers in the public sector live with 1 dolar by month (or less). There are two economies, those who can afford dollars and those who need to buy anything that the goverment "sell".

Meanwhile Hungary:

[@biocapsule7311]

It's basically like every single-industry town or settlement, except on a national level. When a mine run dry in a mining town, the town dies. But on a national level, the government have the capacity but not the know-how to turn things around.

[@slevinchannel7589]

"Some More News" has covered this, and his 'pervy-Incentive'-video-Series is of course a Thing.

[@sebucwerd]

The oil is still there to be mined

[@grantmccoy6739]

It's not the capacity to produce resources that is the problem. Venezuela is still rich in natural resources and other commodities. It's the economic sanctions, obviously. If you can't import anything because you're money no longer has international value, you're economy is going to crash.

[@sebucwerd]

@@grantmccoy6739 That's not sanctions, that's money printing

[@quisqueyanguy120]

@@grantmccoy6739 It's not the economic sanctions, is economic mismanagement of resources and prices. You can lift all sanctions today, ten years will pass and NOTHING WILL CHANGE. Because it is the same people that created the problem that are still in charge.

[@Nhkg17]

All the economic problems are just the result of politics and corruption... I have a friend from Venezuela and I remember her writing to me about the protests against Chavez. But as things got worse, her whole family fled to Europe. Luckily her family has Italian ancestors and therefore Italian passports, so getting into the EU was no problem for them.

[@juanm8582]

Against Chavez? Long time ago bro. I remember when he lost the election to give himself absolute power. Me and my bro were screaming at the TV out of JOY lol. We were kids. He still made himself a GOD through Congress. Sad times.

[@visitante-pc5zc]

Hiw about the elephant in the room: socialism?

[@Nhkg17]

@@visitante-pc5zc Socialism could easily work in Venezuela with oil revenues. Venezuela was relatively rich. Even the opposition, at least from the American perspective, was very socialist. For me, Socialism is the right thing to do, but it must not be overdone. Extremes like the US and Ireland, where although the macroeconomic data is great, most people are still not well off, are not good either.

[@hanklesacks]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@Nhkg17Most ppl have never been well off, neither under socialism or feudalism. Ppl having a large social safety net doesn't equate to them being well off, it's the volume of goods and services being produced. Government owned and controlled enterprises lack the incentives to force enterprise managers towards efficiency and innovation, which ultimately ends up hurting the population u claim to be trying to help.

[@VoltairesRevenge]

@@visitante-pc5zcSocialism works well in Sweden. Go complain there.

[@jerry3790]

This is why economists assume people will act selfish. It’s completely unrealistic to assume that everyone will get together to bail out a corrupt government

[@altrag]

Not really. Economists tend to assume that people act 'rationally', which is often framed as selfishness because we like to believe that capitalism is the end-all, be-all of economic theories. In reality, its not proven itself all that much better than any other system. Its a myth we tell ourselves because we happened to be on the winning side of the cold war, and the American owner class has been propagandizing us about the glories of capitalism ever since but most of it is just that - propaganda. For anyone who still believes capitalism is the utter pinnacle of economics, you're welcome to go find a copy of "How capitalism never fails" by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. I'll wait. What kills countries isn't the economic system - its the political system. Letting too much power collect in the hands of too few people who have carefully excised any checks on their power will eventually have a bad idea and the whole thing comes crumbling down. Even if that bad idea came with the best of intentions, the outcome remains the same.

[@atomicmelodies]

If the government acts selfishly as well, that's going to reflect on the people. No one is going to help an entity they can't trust

[@altrag]

@@atomicmelodies That really has little to do with it. The government is a reflection of the people, not the other way around. Even with authoritarian rule, a government can only go against the will of the people so much before they start facing revolt so widespread that their military can't even put it down.

[@Jose04537]

@@altrag The did revolt, the government just killed and jailed enough people. Same with Syria, same with Hong Kong, same with Iran. Pretending revolts can toppled a government is naive. Not even an armed civil war could dethrone Assad.

[@noldo3837]

Well, neoclassical economy also expects everyone to act rationally, everyone to have perfect information, and no monopolies. Look around. Oligopolies or monopolies like Amazon or Google ruin any real market for decades, people are anything but rational (Hello, Apple and Nike fans), not to forget housing crisis.

[@CGKey]

Unless the only intention of Polymatter here is to talk about the past and not the immediate present of Venezuela, this video is now outdated. The situation regarding currency exchange, gas prices and many other things have changed (in some cases for the better). Still, this is a really good description of 2013-2019, arguably the single worst economic crisis Venezuela has gone through.

[@codingwithflavio8534]

Absolutely, the Gas prices are now more expensive and the government rate of 0.06 $ per liter is almost impossible to obtain for example.

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@codingwithflavio8534 Inflation, huh? Some More News has covered this, and his 'pervy-Incentive'-video-Series is of course a Thing.

[@garinpeyro]

well yeah gas is now more expensive but you still have 1000 car long lines on gas stations. minimum wage is 6$ a month but a family of 4 needs around 200 to just cover the most basic needs.

[@gokulvshetty]

you must definitely be a Socialist no?? that is why you are so irritated when your Shameless Socialist comrades are exposed to the point of being butt naked 😆😆

[@svenskaz3428]

How much money Maduro is paying you?

[@AkkumuLBC]

Being born and raised in Venezuela I can confirm that literally everything about this video is correct. Like, no wonder a lot of venezuelan people are leaving the country and pretty much all of them have accepted that it's on the best of their interests to never go back to Venezuela. Instead, they get their family members out of there one way or another, whether it's getting a contact that can get them through the border to wherever they're going (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, etc) or just going Hail Mary and crossing the border illegally by themselves. Here in Peru there's at least 1.6 million venezuelans, with ~1 million of them living in Metropolitan Lima (myself included) and I'm yet to see a single one of them wanting to go back to Venezuela, despite any struggles they've gone through (or sometimes any struggle they're currently going through). Great video btw. PS: I wanna invite any coñoesumadre who says Venezuela is fine, that the blame is on the population, or that I can't be venezuelan if I can write fluent english to take their racist-ass to Venezuela and try to live there for a year, no USD/EUR/etc allowed.

[@luisacosta54]

Venezuela is fine everything is fine you're a far right nutjob if you say otherwise. The oxymoron of saying venezuela is doing fine while at the same time saying is bad because of sanctions 🤑

[@codingwithflavio8534]

I am also Venezuela, that which I did not like about the video, is that he didn't accurately adress the level of corruption of the government and that we have been living under the same dictatorship for 25 years.

[@JarbasCoqueiro]

The population has its share of blame for believing in Hugo Chavez and socialism

[@ok0_0]

@@JarbasCoqueiro true

[@Yodalemos]

There's a lot of ignoring US interferance going on here...

[@jorgepalacios5449]

I'm a Venezuelan migrant and I cannot thank you enough for this video. It summarizes everything very well in a knowledge pill long enough not to be a trouble and not too short to leave several stuff outside. Thank you. I cried because people need to know this all around the world. THANK YOU

[@chinesevirus-ix3yr]

Go home and fix it

[@funveeable]

This video and you miss the real problem. The Venezuelans people voted for this corrupt government. The government bribed them with sugary words and then destroyed the election system so they couldn't be removed.

[@A_D624]

​@@chinesevirus-ix3yrthe same issues are occurring in the US. Government favors handouts and inflation.

[@simba8665]

​@@chinesevirus-ix3yr where are you from?

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@Santiago-sh3cq According to multiple Venezuelans in the comments above, this video is highly outdated. Their economy still isn't great, but a lot of the info here only describes the situation upto around 2018 or 19.

[@winyoutube]

0:23 that price for gas in Venezuela is partially true. The majority of gas stations and the majority of people get gas for 2 $ / gal. Only very few gas stations you have subsidize price and you have to wait from 8 hours to 2 days to get it because the line of cars is huge and when the gas in that station ends, the next gas truck to fill the gas station will arrive many hours later

[@0the0ambient0]

Oil certainly contributed to the problem, but poor leadership that has maintained a strangle-hold on power is the true issue. Any country in South America that admires how Venezuela is run is out of their mind.

[@felipearenasbarr]

Unfortunately this seems to be happening in all of South America. Funny how every country in SA is left-winged right now, but Uruguay and Ecuador. (ignoring the presence of France, Surinam and Guyana in the region)

[@driss3946]

Being right or left wing doesn't mean anything at all in the end. Colombia has been right wing for all its history (up until now), and it's still a middle income economy performing as well (or bad) as any other country in the region.

[@g.araujo1043]

Well, basically the whole world kinda "forced" my country - Brazil, to elect a guy who is our version of Chavez.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@felipearenasbarr Being left-wing doesn't automatically make you Venezuela, except in the minds of paranoid Americans or fundamentalist libertarians.

[@felipearenasbarr]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn Well, when too many countries have the same kind of political ideas/ideology and they support themselves and their leading political parties as they are the ones who they share ideas with, each political party could start gaining a strong defense and support from other governments. I get your point and agree with you that being left-wing won't make you Venezuela, but when too many countries share the same ideology, there's few chances or it'll be harder for one of those countries to change ideology by elections, as their leading party will be supported by the entire reaming of the continent, via propaganda,... I was about to write a few more lines but it's late in here, cya. If you wanna argue something or idk just reply again to me and I guess youtube will notify me

[@economicsinaction]

The joys of oil money can go as quickly as they came

[@heraldomedrano1417]

There lazy people.

[@economicsinaction]

@@heraldomedrano1417 And Venezuelans weren't lazy in the 1970s and 80s when the economy was booming?

[@g.araujo1043]

Funny how Venezuela was the only oil dependent country that went broke, dont you think ? This clearly shows that oil prices crash is not what caused the venezuelan crisis.

[@mhdibm7515]

What many don't know is that a very similar but less severe situation has happened here in sudan and nothing seems to be improving

[@DEPR188]

Your description about the nature of Venezuelan oil is wrong. As far as I know, it’s located way inland and the logistics required for transportation are tough. It’s also a heavier kind of oil that requires a degree of specialization at refineries, so it’s not so easy as you make it sound.

[@CGKey]

It's not as hard either, proper infrastructure and foreign investment would make it one of the easiest to extract.

[@MiloTheFirst1]

in the XX century plenty of oil ducts were build for transportation. and beeing inland is way easier to transport from than the artic ocean or the middle of the dessert which are the other examples he used to compare

[@DEPR188]

@@MiloTheFirst1 I’m not saying it’s impossible. I understand one problem is to transport it to the ports in a cost-effective manner, where it’s then shipped to customers. And there’s also the complexity about refining it. Not all refineries can process this oil in a cost-effective way, so not all countries are willing to buy it. Again, my point is that the video was a bit misleading on this regard, making it seem that it’s way easier than it is. In my opinion, one big mistake from the Venezuelan government was to assume that the US (their main customer at the time, and the ones that had the most adequate refining capacity for Venezuelan oil), were always going to be forced to buy their oil. So Chavez destroyed his commercial relationship with the US, forcing them to look elsewhere, and invest heavily in shale oil extraction technology, thereby drastically reducing their reliance and demand for Venezuelan oil. The Venezuelan government also seems to have failed to retain key people with expertise on all of the disciplines to manage and operate the industry, within the above-mentioned challenges.

[@Itried20takennames]

Well any business has its challenges, and I am sure oil extraction has some, but don’t think the video made it sound like you could hand dig an oil well in a backyard, and even with some issues to refine..,.if a country happens to be over am oil reserve, they got lucky.

[@elephantgrass631]

"SoCiAlIsM WoRkS We jUsT DiDn't dO It pRoPeRlY!"

[@ericescoto435]

The sad part Mexico is next Venezuela situation is real sad

[@JuanAlejandroRaveloUrbaez]

I've been watching your videos for around a couple years and I'm glad you made one about a subject so personal and close to me as my country. Yet, it's bittersweet; because is not as consistent as it could've been, and this is a missed chance to explained how a democratic collapse can derivate in a huge economic breakdown and that lead to a humanitarian crisis. If you wanted to focus only on the economy rather than the policies I could understand but the current situation is the product of 25 years of chavism where both are deeply intertwined (like China) and that the process was progressive and not sudden (like Ukraine). In any case Big thanks for bringing attention to one overlooked issue during the last decade, O hope this is just one out of a three.

[@angellestat2730]

Si, totalmente, desde la perspectiva de este video, el culpable fue "cambio de precio del petroleo internacional", lo cual eso fue solo el empujon a una lista de terribles politicas, la verdadera causa fueron decadas de politicas socialistas.

[@leoF_0312]

Dude, did you ever see every other video in this channel? He WON'T blame Bolivarian "revolution". Ever. Mismanagement of PDVSA, an state-run oil company and a monopoly, and giving away money for free? No, that was not the cause. "Everything is 'muricas fault. Shale oil and sanctions, both from 'murica. Chavez and Maduro best managers ever" script, as usual.

[@Mitjitsu]

You know your countries economy has been poorly run when it's done worse than a war torn nation.

[@grantmccoy6739]

It helps when meme technology makes tanks obsolete. Because winning wars are easy, if physics doesn't matter. It's almost like, the whole thing is a charade, just like this riveting Venezuelan drama.

[@myaccount2400]

Make a video on economic crisis of Pakistan

[@LucA-dm7st]

Would love something like an accompanying PDF with graphs for all these concepts

[@sebastianorta77]

This video would've been accurate in 2017, now the situation is very different for good and bad

[@funveeable]

Every youtuber who talks about why Venezuela is poor will lay out the step by step procedure of how it happened but they never mention why it happened or how to avoid it. This is why history always rhymes, because people are often too dumb to recognize a pattern or think more than 2 steps ahead.

[@grantmccoy6739]

@@funveeable almost like the essay is missing it's conclusion.

[@SergyMilitaryRankings]

​@@funveeable too many right wingers just blame socialism

[@funveeable]

@LadyGaGa is hot because that's what it is. We right wingers understand how dangerous it is but it is super seductive to dumb people. That's why right wingers don't exist in socialist societies. They are all dead.

[@josephgospa4031]

@@funveeable True. They purposely avoid to speak about venezuelan government involvement and responsibility in the actual disaster for many reasons.

[@krisbockman2864]

Always look forward to your vids!! work in the oil patch so very interesting for me to learn about dynamics of oil with economies/geopolitics, ie who supplies who with hydrocarbons, who holds reserves big or small of hydrocarbons, how they are put to use and how dependent different nations are and how efficient they are, how they can be used defensively and aggressively in geopolitics aswell as how the different kinds of hydrocarbons play roles (Condensate, natural gas, sweet/sour reserves, heavy/light reserves, even how australia utilizes coal seam gas. Would love for you to make a video on Canada’s privelaged position with fresh,clean water resources and how that could be a boost or curse to Canada as a global geopolitical player and how it could effect there economy (possibly exporting water intensive crops to drought ridden nations?) just ideas. Keep making great videos!

[@charlesbeaudry3263]

Printing money makes sense when you are close to the printing press. The only limitation is the cost of printing all that money. Eventually the cost becomes prohibitive and the currency must be abandonned.

[@wickendiana8310]

I love people trying to blame all on the Us, complete ignoring the poor management of Hugo chvazer and Nicolas maduro

[@DsFk80s]

The venezuelan citizens love Hugo Chavez and Maduro. So please respect their decision.

[@wickendiana8310]

@@DsFk80s they dont most of dont, i live in Colombia more than 2 and half million people have fleed here, almost all of them hate him to death and wished democracy was re-established

[@DsFk80s]

@@wickendiana8310 Thats what they told you. The US is there for the oil not for the people. If they care so much for the poor, they won't go to war with poorer countries like Vietnam.

[@wickendiana8310]

@@DsFk80s what? There are no foreign drilling operations im fairly sure, ive been talked with ex oil workers from Venezuela, most oil in the US is produced at home, if the US wanted venezuelan oil there would be no sanctions

[@DsFk80s]

@@wickendiana8310 Exactly. Their SANCTIONS cause others to suffer. Like I said what do they care about the people. So leave these people alone.

[@cesarcardoso4265]

I'd love for you to make a similar video about the Cuban economy. A lot of the terrible decisions you described here were taken directly from the Cuban government's playbook.

[@castorchua]

Cuba has had all the sanctions and no oil to sell... and still exports doctors!

[@cesarcardoso4265]

@@castorchua and charges for it while the doctors get almost none of the money.

[@gtbkts]

Thanks for the awesome content and great video!!!

[@jciamretired9767]

great report and analysis :)

[@tarcal87]

The intro mentioned some living in luxury hotels, and I was waiting for that one to be explained

[@triniboy775]

'Oil' did not destroy Venezuela's economy, bad government policy did. Although you alluded to this fact in the video all of the blame for the country's current problems were put on the current people in charge which is only partly correct. The reality is that successive Venezuelan governments going all the way back to the 1930's have instituted bad policies which have been detrimental to the Venezuelan economy. For the sake of the people who live there I hope things return to normal.

[@OscarMarquez]

Right, the government and politicians stole the profit for themselves, families and friends. They didn't care about the other people.

[@wealthiness]

socialist rules did

[@maazahmedpoke]

Unilateral American sanctions did

[@Andrescxli]

@@maazahmedpoke No dumbass, socialism did.

[@OscarMarquez]

​@@maazahmedpoke The American sactions not matter because there are many superpowers helping Venezuela like China and Rusia, but even with their help the bad and corrupt government and politicians are crashing the economic.

[@jeeee3f]

Oil didn't destroy them

[@ADHD_Lothario]

Tons of people in Venezuela play a game called RuneScape so they can sell the game currency and feed their families

[@Idkhowtofkinread]

Lol

[@chinesevirus-ix3yr]

Lmao electricity or food. I play games

[@weird-guy]

Never played it , it is still that popular, and if they can sell to Yankees the Better 😂

[@cattysplat]

Legit great way to get your hands on USD, selling runescape stuff to americans.

[@alvaroga1n]

Would be very nice if you made a video about Dominican Republic and Haiti and how they are drastically different even though they are in the same island

[@angellestat2730]

Starting from their "independence", those who said... we can rule our self! Lets kill all whites.

[@Dweeble233]

Actually they are NOT very different. Both are impoverished nations in very similar circumstances.

[@chinesevirus-ix3yr]

​@@Dweeble233 Google earth their border. You will see trees on one side and barren on the other. One ruled by animals the other by humans

[@albertmendez2262]

@@Dweeble233 No, dude. They do NOT have similar circumstances. Haiti literally had its president assassinated less than 2 years ago and it’s government in turmoil. The DR is much more stable even if it is still a latin american country.

[@Dweeble233]

@@albertmendez2262 There are differences to be sure. However to me once you leave leave the resort areas, its all the same. Poor, impoverished people in dilapidated housing around whom you don't want to stay too long. Its kinda like watching two homeless people argue over who's cart has more rust on it😄

[@neilsbruno9842]

The truth is they have bad or no leaders. The masses (the people) must also take responsibility and are to blame for voting for and supporting terrible leaders with bad policies. People sadly vote with their emotion's and do not use their brains.

[@XA1985]

My friend wanted to go to Venezuela for a vacation 😅, I told him if he lost his mind

[@castorchua]

The chicks are hot

[@cattysplat]

Fastest % speedrun to getting robbed after landing off an airplane.

[@john9353]

At 5:26 the graph goes from 1993 to 1998 and then to 1994?

[@ILoveGames690]

''how bad economics destroyed Venezuela" Argentina: "hold my beer"

[@rommelmoh]

Same as my country. We bought a car and after using it for 8years we sold it back with 50% profit .Avg salary of doctor is not more than $150 per month. It is so crazy.

[@ftknmlo]

yea but rent is like $2

[@whitenat]

banger video as always

[@anthonymanderson7671]

This is just really a sad true story of Venezuela. I pray that this country will prosper once more again.

[@jhonklan3794]

They need to abandon socialism. As much as people blame Chavez, he was ultimately beholden to his people who demanded that he give them oil profits. Instead of making a rainy day fund or investing in better refining capacity which would have staved off collapse when the oil price dropped. Not only that but the Venezuelans refused to sell to America. In spite of America paying above market rate. Instead they sold it to china at loss and bought back the oil after it was refined.

[@gaim44]

@@jhonklan3794 No brother blame capitalism and wait for it the CIA

[@thomashenebry8269]

Not until you get rid of the nearly illiterate bus driver dictator.

[@Octovisuals]

Not as long as there's a communist/socialist power, sadly...

[@_mario_2985]

Where did you find any game theory course on Brilliant?

[@jacobkuntflapp]

I'm from Australia our current price per gallon at the moment is closer to $8. 20 years ago it was around $4

[@heraldomedrano1417]

Here in Florida, USA is about 3.25

[@weird-guy]

In my country now the cheapest you can get is about 6€ a gallon but at one point was at 7,48€.

[@nekomakhea9440]

"no smart politician denies free money to the voters to save for a rainy day" *Norway has entered the chat*

[@moritamikamikara3879]

No smart politician in Latin America

[@erikkovacs3097]

It's almost like centralized planning of the economy has never worked anywhere it has been tried. If only we had a name for this phenomenon....

[@Octovisuals]

Correct, never works. Any it's called communism of socialism. Also collectivism, interventionism, statism, totalitarianism...

[@jonpaul3868]

"us sanction" no country with oil reserve ever be poor, unless.. they were casted by the world power.

[@lilytea3]

0:00: Cars in Venezuela don't depreciate and gas is extremely cheap. 1:13: Shortages of basic goods and rolling blackouts have caused 30 million people to struggle to survive. 1:43: 7 million people, a quarter of the population, have fled the country. 5:00: Venezuela had a higher per capita GDP than Spain or Greece in 1970, but suffered from boom and bust cycles due to oil dependence. 6:40: The government's solution to the economic crisis was to print more money, leading to hyperinflation and the devaluation of the currency. 7:48: Price controls were implemented, causing shortages and further economic instability. 9:30: Venezuelan companies faced difficulties in buying and importing goods due to restricted access to foreign currency. 10:20: The government's exchange rate was significantly lower than the market rate, leading to a black market for currency. 11:03: Corruption and arbitrage allowed individuals to profit from the broken system, exacerbating the country's economic problems. Recap by Tammy AI

[@technetium9653]

11:20 infinite money glitch

[@tvm8-_-466]

Water is more expensive then oil in Venezuela

[@castorchua]

It is in many first world countries too

[@BearElTio]

ThNk you for the video, since covid seems like Venezuela disappeared from the news and the world

[@garinpeyro]

I can see plenty of comments saying that the video although accurate is outdated and its out of tune with present time venezuela. Dude i live here and i couldn't tell you what is going on most of the time. At least appreciate that someone is bringing some light to what brought us into this hole in the first place.

[@acreking9680]

Venezuela is interesting. During their history they seemed to be the only country in their region that resisted wave after wave of authoritarianism that swept other Latin American countries away into dictatorship. They were able to mainatian a democracy and were much richer for it... until the 90's. Thats what makes it so tragic. It is a reminder that democracy is at all times tenuous at best. Stay strong Venezuela 🇻🇪

[@secrets.295]

Dictatorship isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact the recent examples of the Middle East actually shows democracy is terrible for them. The problem with Latin America is not democracy or dictatorship, it's mostly due to socialism.

[@TheAnnoyedHumanist]

​@@secrets.295 The only socialist nations to have existed in Latin America have been Cuba, Nicaragua, and Grenada, so no, your assertion that socialism is Latin Americas problem is completely baseless as few of those countries have even practiced a socialist economy

[@jirou6228]

Singapore is a successful dictatorship country

[@jirou6228]

​​@@secrets.295most of those country are not socialist, they're just corrupted... you should learn more about Socialism is not as bad as people make it seem... corruption is the true culprit

[@malachaiuys711]

*There are blessings in disguise in this world but also curses-*

[@josiechaney9010]

Thank you for this! Trying to understand Venezuela’s decline seemed impossible in the morass of political posturing. Now I have at least a realistic idea of the mechanics of that particular rollercoaster. 👍🌸

[@jamesharris184]

You really need to increase the audio speed when you listen to this, just a tip. Thanks for posting.

[@sanghoonlee5171]

There is no wealth so great that bad management can't destroy it in no time at all.

[@Khofax]

Can you do a similar video for Lebanon? TLDR: in 2019 1$=1,500LBP Today (goes up every day) 1$=90,000LBP with not a single meaningful reform to slow the hyperinflation down.

[@larryc1616]

Ghoson needs to be captured there

[@jc6781]

Bad Economics didn't destroy Venezuela, INCOMPETENCE DID !

[@kuljeetsingh9]

I like how the narrator started by Venezuela sounding as a paradise and by the end connecting those 'virtues' to poor decisions..

[@f1sh_539]

0:52 thats a hell of a way to introduce a topic lmao

[@grantmccoy6739]

Pretty sure the real reason is like you subtly mentioned, US sanctions. Since the USD is the global reserve currency, US sanctions are particularly crippling to an economy that is not self sufficient in all aspects. It's honestly true that lack of faith or confidence, in the system can break it. When everything is kept cheap for the sake of everyone, but people capitalize off of this desperation, you reveal the problem with human beings living in a society, human greed. Unfortunately, the use of money itself always proves to be the weak link in any attempts to challenge inequality. Capitalism is the most easily corruptible system, because of the inherent power that money provides. So if you wanted to control the prices artificially, you can run into this problem of corruption. However, it's also true that just because corruption can exist, doesn't mean it must. People are always the problem. Honestly though, you didn't really point out any reasons why Venezuela is in trouble. You just pointed out what they are doing about it. The only thing you really said was sanctions, and you basically only mentioned it, as if it wasn't relevant. It's obviously the real problem. Something US presidents do that is maybe worse than war, is economic sanctions. It's "peaceful" but it's absolutely not diplomatic, it's savage and cruel. You end up punishinh the entire country because a authoritarian is in control. It's totally unethical. And no amount of oil money can turn the desert into Switzerland. It was literally one of the first things you said, and it totally set a precedent for everything else to follow.

[@mikitz]

Venezuelan quantum currency: it can simultaneously be worth anything between 0 and 1 USD, depending on who or what you are.

[@grasworxTTGameplan]

this is a hit job that totally excludes the impact of unilateral (and illegal) sanctions; omits the fact that CITGO assets; Central Bank gold deposits in London were seized. Talks about "importing doctors" and omits that this was done in a non-cash exchange for oil and gas

[@ethownzbh]

This puts me in mind of the adage "a snake eating it's own tail".

[@AndorranStairway]

Venezuela is a prime example on how electing populist idealogues as leaders isn't the best idea. Worst economic mismanagement I have ever seen, all thanks to Hugo Chavez.

[@MiloTheFirst1]

the populist policies and economic crisis related to oil prices have been there since the 60's . Chavez just took it to another level of greed by implementing the monopoly in currency exchange and get his allies astronomically rich at the cost of inflation and scarcity for the people

[@MinkieWinkle]

populism was not the problem. socialism was.

[@SpazzyMcGee1337]

​@@MinkieWinkle Scandinavia seams to use socialism well.

[@mario9133]

@@MinkieWinkle They often go in hand. Look at your neighbor, Brazil. Look at Lula, responsible for what it said to be the largest ever modern era corruption scandal. "Elected"... or so they say. I don't believe he was "elected" to anything but, there he is.

[@TheMajorStranger]

@@MinkieWinkle Socialism was not the problem, US sanctions shredding your economy was.

[@realShikha885]

Famous tankie argument: Its all because of US.😂😂👌

[@chadb2582]

How does everyone forget the US sanctions which also has not helped the situation

[@akshaytiwari40a79]

Great Video...Hope the crisis is resolved soon.

[@pedromora9927]

Cars do depreciate (but at a slower pace I guess) and gas is $0.5 per liter, so a full tank would be around $40

[@nineonine9082]

Wow coming from OSRS I knew things were rough, makes me wonder if what they need is a good dictator, just someone to take control and get things done, but not a bad one like you always get.

[@the_expidition427]

They had everything free, except they didn't do it right this time. Having shortages means things are not on the shelves no matter how much money you have.

[@shauncameron8390]

Exactly.

[@vicious3526]

Socialism is the best weight loss strategy there is with the average Venezuelan losing 25 pounds in one year.

[@noldo3837]

Problem is that neoclassical fairytale about free market solving everything is as same unproven and failing, only a bit slower. Also there is no free market in the world of Amazon and Google, where, absurdly, the Republicans are protecting the monopolies (doing as much evil as they cas, as usual), while "neomarxist ultra-left" Democrats want to return some competition.

[@godspeedmax6038]

In this day and age the best thing to do is to strive for complete self sustenance. And whatever it is u don’t have, try to deal with the most reliable partners u can find. Because if you’re going to be subject to sanctions, it will ultimately crush your economy. Valenzuela was doing the right thing in taking care of it’s ppl. But it needed to round out its export capacity. Chavez relied exclusively on oil, which as a commodity, is inherently volatile.

[@reis1185]

Never mentioned the sanctions

[@eulier1]

As a Venezuelan this is know as the Dutch disease and combine that with companies (venezuelan, colombian, mexican owners most of time) earning government contractors that overcharges them while invest it overseas rather that in the country. Now with US & EU sanctions on some of those owners, now they need to live in the country while trading with more "friendly" countries (China, Iran, Turkey, Russia, OPEP members, just to mention a couple). I enjoy your videos, right now unable to dedicate too much time to your channel due to record my learning process on Finances, Business and Tech, but in any case, best of luck and success.

[@angellestat2730]

you are an idiot if you think that the issue are private companies!!! Your issue was several years of socialism. Still is..

[@atanasarnaudov8253]

My girlfriend is Venezuelan and I visited the country in January. Bolivars are used as change or when you are paying by card. Everything else is in USD. And it's expensive, often more expensive than Bulgaria, where I am from, on a salary that's 1/10 of ours. Everything made in Venezuela is cheap, make no mistake, but as the video said, the country produces so little it hardly matters. Communism - not even once!

[@SR-wm1kr]

COLONIAL MENTALITY MA NIKKA

[@osheridan]

​@@SR-wm1kr...huh?

[@world55581]

The extraction cost of oil chart is horribly outdated. Canadian oil sand extraction costs have plummeted in the last decade. A lot of projects can produce oil at 35-45 dollars a barrel Same thing with shale

[@032603032603]

Sweet truck! Have you seen the Ram 1500 TRX? Also, Uncle Addy was right about the the tiny hat people.

[@riton349]

Imagine scalping groceries

[@MiloTheFirst1]

it is not funny when you live through it

[@antipoti]

Wow, I had no idea Venezuela has so unique and severe problems.

[@angellestat2730]

those are not even the 1/100 of the problems that the country has.. The average salary is 24 usd. Venenzuela biggest issue was not oil prices.. that is incredible silly, the biggest issue of Venenzuela was a lot of years of socialism.

[@SergyMilitaryRankings]

​@@angellestat2730 that is absolute Nonsense, Venezuela was socialist for years before economic issues, the issues started after Maduro took power, the biggest problem is the sole reliance on oil and government mismanagement blaming socialism just shows you don't know what you're talking about

[@angellestat2730]

​@@SergyMilitaryRankings all socialist advocates are unable to understand the most simple rule, that things you do in the past has consequences in the future! If you go party over all year consuming all your capital or taking debts.. You will said that the problem was not that year (which you lived your best life) it was the fault of the next year when you need to pay out all the bills and mistakes you did in the previous year? I do not think you will be so silly to think that, so why you think this way with the government, where the only difference is that things you do has longer term consequences. Not only that, even in the last 3 or 4 years of Chavez government things were pretty bad, maybe you did not notice because you may have a government aid for doing nothing. But companies notice, that is why nobody else invested in the country anymore, in fact the opposite, you had companies leaving Venenzuela. Why someone would invest in a country where the government takes more than the 70% of what you earn, it gives you nothing in return and your private property can be expropriated by the state. Not only that, part of those funds you give to the state end in the pocket of those who has no job, so why someone would work if they can receive the same doing nothing? That is why all countries in the world with the highest economic growth or quality of life are the ones with the highest index of economic freedom. The opposite of what Chavez did with all his politics. You would not find a single counter example to that rule I just give you, is like the law of gravity. If at this point you do not understand why you fall, then keep doing the same to see what happen when you hit the ground.

[@SergyMilitaryRankings]

@@angellestat2730 lmfao 🤣 your arguments are laughable and just wrong, also countries with highest economic freedom like Hong Kong and Singapore have the HIGHEST levels of income inequality, your argument is nothing like a scientific principle, you have no idea what you're talking about, countries like Norway and Denmark that have heavy government regulation in the market and very high taxation have some of the lowest income inequalities, highest standards of living and highest happiness ratings and general low crime, pure free market is just as toxic and useless as pure socialism, the best system is a combination of the two, a heavily regulated free market economy with massive government ownership. Again your point about socialism being the problem has no basis in reality, Venezuela was socialist for years without problems, the problems for Venezuela was government mismanagement and failure to diversify its economy, it has nothing to do with socialism, I also love how you free market goons suck of capitalism, completely failing to understand that a big reason why countries like Cuba and north Korea struggle to manage is not because of communism but rather because they are sanctioned into oblivion, the USSR was the second largest economy (even though it was sanctioned by the west) a big reason for its failure was that the government spent the majority of its wealth on military spending, which it needed to do because the US threatened it's very existence, the US invaded many countries when communism was spreading and supported dictatorships as long as they didn't support communism, The US and it's puppet masters the rich, can't let socialism succeed because they would lose control, which is why countries that are communist are sanctioned by the US, this doesn't even begin to touch on the fact that the privilege experienced in first world free market economies, is only done because of capitalist exploitation of third world labour.

[@angellestat2730]

​@@SergyMilitaryRankings 30 years ago, in Singapore were "equal", equally poor. Then they opened the economy and most citizen went from pushing the cart (literally) to a salary higher than Germany. Why it matters if someone gains millions vs the "poor" who gains 5000 usd by month. That is still hundreds of times higher than Venenzuela. It is also wrong to measure "money on bank" as a parameter for equality. You need to measure needs that can be satisfied. For example, Bill Gates has his personal plane, his own tennis court, several cars, houses, own cinema, etc. But he can not use all his houses or cars at the same time. Someone in Singapore even in the "poor spectrum" according to them, they can eat fine, they can rent a Tennis court, they can fly somewhere on vacation, they can use their own car or just paid for movility, they have a house and they can go to the cinema. They also have all those needs cover. Something that on Venenzuela you dont. You dont even know if you will be alive the next year, due high insecurity, lack of medications, etc. *countries like Norway and Denmark that have heavy government regulation in the market and very high taxation* What? there is no doubts that you like "socialism" because all the data you think you know is all wrong. Check the economic freedom of Norway and Deemark or any nordic country, they all are in the first 30 places. Most taxes are applied to consumption, not to production.. (look how progressive..). That is why it is much cheaper to set and run a company there than on Spain or most places in the world. Companies do not pay you severance pay if you are fired. That is why foreing or their own citizens keep investing there. Their levels of health care only work because they have 0 corruption. This is because the state has almost no power over the funds they manage, politicians are extremely regulated and limited on the things they can do (norway example, they can only use 2% of the funds they have only if it is an emergency, because those funds belong to the people), not the state as all socialist countries. Even with this, their economies does not growth as fast like those countries with higher economic freedom. *Venezuela was socialist for years without problems* Again, you have a very short time frame to measure consequences. Something you do now in a country can have consequences 5, 15 or 30 years in the future. Venenzuela, Cuba and Argentina were the top economies of all Latin America in the 50s, you think it is casuality than all of them broke after several years of socialism? The same with east-west germany? Or north-south korea? Georgia and Russia? Economy free cities/zones in China vs rest of China? Where the difference in average salary is 7 times or higher. Is all casuality? Do you really think that? *The US and it's puppet masters the rich, can't let socialism succeed because they would lose control* Hahaha, yeah.. that is the socialism excuse, they always fail due someone else fault :P Having all incentives backward for progress may have nothing to do with their cause of failing. (sarcasm). When politicians are the common issue of any country performance.. what could go wrong by giving them more power? I leave you in your socialist panacea.. If you count unicorns.. that is a clue that you are dreaming.

[@balargus319]

Venezuela: Proof that no economic system is immune to stupidity.

[@reconnaisance]

“How socialism destroyed Venezuela” is a more accurate title.

[@Supremucy]

As an American who travelled to Venezuela in January of this year, a good portion of this video just isn’t relevant anymore. The economy is in a totally different place than it was five years ago. The Bolivar isn’t used anymore. They use the US Dollar. I never pulled out any Bolivars or ever even touched a note other than USD. In bigger businesses, my American CapitalOne credit cards worked no problem. I stayed in Los Naranjos and El Hatillo neighborhoods on the south side of Caracas. These neighborhoods were very upscale. The apartment complex I was staying in was had a huge pool, small gym, sauna, and a game lounge. There were rows of these 10-15 floor apartment buildings just like mine all throughout this area. New Toyota Fortuners. Malls with clothing stores like Kohls, fully stocked grocery stores, food courts, HIIT gyms, banks, phone stores, vape shops, theater, and a bunch of other stuff. Baseball is huge there and we went to a game between two of the major teams in Caracas. It was like any other sporting event. My Venezuelan buddies who knew the city brought me up to Chacao and Altamira neighborhoods on the north side and they were similar. I asked if Caracas and Venezuela is in a better state than it was the last few years and they couldn’t emphasize enough how it’s a night and day difference. They still blame the government for a lot of the corruption surrounding their natural resource management, but violent crime (murder, kidnappings, robberies) is many orders of magnitude lower. Businesses are becoming profitable and they are able to have faith in the future of their assets with a stable currency like the USD. The country has changed drastically over the last few years. Even two years ago, an American like me would’ve never been able to get a tourist visa. Now they’re giving out investors visas to Americans who are investing in properties or businesses. One of the guys I met is an American from Miami who bought a huge house there and got one of those visas. If this video was made in 2017, it would be pretty accurate. When you’re doing research for a video like this, there’s only so much current information you can get online. Not saying it’s all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s definitely a different time now.

[@carlosnino6476]

Outside the bubble of high class Caracas things are pretty different. It’s nowhere 2017 levels but shit still sucks lol

[@gondo2k2]

Dat Gane if thrones music at 10 mjns... Op!

[@hemantparakh6462]

I plan to Start a Rose Flower Payments Bank 🌹 in Venezuela so kindly suggest a suitable plan

[@dhoffman4955]

A nice survey of currency manipulation, but I believe the sanctions have a larger effect on the economy than the currency manipulation. Perhaps you can do a video on what led to the sanctions and the effects they have caused.

[@d16024]

Sadly, this is supposed to lift a country out of its economic issues ..

[@jonathanmillner]

"If you're watching this video, you're already a curious self motivated learner." Ya, I don't know. Most of the time, it feels like something I watch, and tell myself this is good because I'm learning something, but really, I'm doing that to avoid real work. Thanks for the compliment though :)

[@Octovisuals]

Don't ever underestimate knowledge. There's no better "real work" than acquiring it.

[@user-nx1xu3tk1q]

One thing you didn't mention, Venezuelan crude is horribly contaminated. Has the consistency of toothpaste.. requires very advanced refining. The US has those, but not everyone does

[@sanbetski]

What did saudi did well that venezuela did wrong?

[@sanbetski]

@Max goddayum. now off i go watch some history channels thanks for directing the way. and cruel how US did that, stiffling venezeulas own progress. us is the big brother of all countries lol

[@AM-zy6wf]

It is much complicated. During the democracy ,venezuela nationalized its oil ,but the oil's profits where so high that Venezuelan governments decided to subsidize everything even the bussiness there. When latin America in general and Venezuelan in particular enter in a crisis during the 80s because the fall of commodity prices and the rise of US interest rate that made the Latin Americans debt imposible to pay. The government had to cut expenses and the system collapse. Its dependence on oil had created a bussiness class so weak ,divided and desconected of politics decisión and a population dependent on clientelism. This made the economic restructure of the 90s imposible. It didn't have a bussiness class capable of helping in the restructure that brasil or Mexico had or the population disposed to lose today to gain tomorrow like in Peru. Venezuela without oil's revenues was nothing. In that ,economic caos and subsequently political caos. Hugo chavez come to power and uses the all-time high oil prices to buy the population like the democracy did ,but even more irresponsible, destroy the bussiness class trough expropriation. Venezuela became more dependent on oil that was in control of the state. In other words ,the state has the base of the nation (oil) in control and can create a coalition to sustain the transition from democracy to dictatorship. When oil prices collapse during the 2010s ,the game was over and venezuela was condemned.

[@watchaporia]

So its better to be a taxi driver rather than a doctor in Venezuela. Interesting

[@josegabrielaragozareyes8771]

Not anymore, but it did use to be like that, at the moment private doctors are making close to $4k on average

[@EmperorUwU]

Take this video as showing a picture of Venezuela during 2013-19, it is quite outdated and most of what is said here no longer holds true.

[@watchaporia]

I'm glad that the country is doing better!

[@shauncameron8390]

Venezuela = bigger Cuba.

[@SaniyaSachinm]

Thanks I got New KZbin Channel from this Video to Learn More Knowledge.

[@luismillanLM]

While most of this info is correct, it is outdated in many aspects, and inaccurate in others, some examples are the following: - Gas is only that cheap if you sign up for a subsidy (its convoluted), fill up at certain stations only, and often deal with 1 to 4-hour long queues, or even more outside the capital city; unsubsidized prices for readily available gas (if you manage to find stations with gas available) are at $1.80-ish per gallon (still cheap, but not dirt cheap/almost free like before) ---> Outside of the capital, the gas supply is highly unreliable and scarce, and in some regions even close to non-existent at times - Fingerprint readers in supermarkets and other food vending places are still there, but are seldom used for anything nowadays; initially they were a novelty to pay at shops without a card, or to use govt subsidies that were delivered via digital means or apps (yeah, we have an issue with credit and debit card availability, a scarcity of the cards, chips, and plastic itself, and it's still going to this day) - Supply issues for most foodstuffs are not that big of a problem anymore, but since the economy informally dollarized products became commonplace again, only far more expensive than they were when the govt tried to force price controls for everything - Rent prices are rising hard, but living in hotels -while possible at one time- was always a stretch too far in most circumstances In short, take a lot of this video with a grain of salt, as it isn't necessarily a lie, but inaccurate at large at present time (2023)

[@metalmilitia1890]

Economics explained did a very good piece on this as well and I remember them mentioning that Venezuela's issues stem from putting all their eggs in their oil basket. Their failure to diversify is key to their economic collapse, as you mentioned before with the low lows during rainy days

[@grantmccoy6739]

If that was true... what about Saudi Arabia, etc? It's definitely true that those oil exporters have close diplomatic ties to the USA. Venezuela on the other hand? USSR. I guess that kind of answers that question. Just consider Cuba, try to figure out why their economy has not grown since the 1950's (see if you can figure out that it's economic sanctions).

[@metalmilitia1890]

@@grantmccoy6739 I should have been a little more specific in that the anology used was to Norway, who also had a wealth of oil, but spread out their investments toward several sectors from the wealth they had accumulated through oil

[@larryc1616]

Saudi Arabia, uae, Bahrain, Russia will all permanently collapse when fossil fuel prices permanently collapses in 10 years due to lack of diversifying and lack of human infrastructure or higher education.

[@reddog5031]

@@larryc1616 I thought the Gulf states were transitioning into service centres ; setting up Futures exchanges, duty free ports, hotel chains and international airports. Would be an interesting video to cover it.

[@tommyscott9085]

​@@larryc1616What collapse in 10 years?

[@ryanjardee9235]

Interesting how the words "socialism" or "state-run enterprise" aren't used in this video at all.

[@FrankLloydTeh]

Ahh found a "socialism" comment. Ignoring that Norway is a successful oil rich country with very socialist policies. Try again. I believe what you are looking for is authoritarianism.

[@ryanjardee9235]

@@FrankLloydTeh Norway is not a socialist country. They just have a generous welfare state built off of the severance tax they levy on the oil industry. There is no government planning of the economy, and private companies are free to operate. In contrast, the Venezuelan government directly owns much of the economy and tries to centrally plan as much of it as possible. Hugo Chavez even described himself as a Marxist.