Venezuela has lots of Socialism, no food and no money. And when I say, "no money", I mean that literally. The Socialist failed state can't afford to pay to print its own money.
Flashback: Socialism works until you run out of money to pay for the paper to print your money
Millions of pounds of provisions, stuffed into three-dozen 747 cargo planes, arrived here from countries around the world in recent months to service Venezuela’s crippled economy.
But instead of food and medicine, the planes carried another resource that often runs scarce here: bills of Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar.
The shipments were part of the import of at least five billion bank notes that PresidentNicolás Maduro’s administration authorized over the latter half of 2015 as the government boosts the supply of the country’s increasingly worthless currency, according to seven people familiar with the deals.
The central bank’s own printing presses in the industrial city of Maracay don’t have enough security paper and metal to print more than a small portion of the country’s bills, the people familiar with the matter said. Their difficulties stem from the same dollar shortages that have plagued Venezuela’s centralized economy
That means Venezuela has to buy bolivars from abroad at any cost.
There's no money. Inflation is out of control. The people are starving. The Socialist dictatorship is now a tyranny in fact. So it's time for some Bitcoin. Finally a Socialist cryptocurrency for the masses.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing on Sunday the launch of the “petro” backed by oil reserves to shore up a collapsed economy.
I'll give Maduro credit, this is the sort of crazy that Chavez would roll out.
The leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that “the 21st century has arrived!”
Forward! Hope and Change! Together we rise! Yes, we can!
“Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency,” backed by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves, Maduro said in his regular Sunday televised broadcast, a five-hour showcase of Christmas songs and dancing.
I'm not sure you can buy enough food on the darknet to feed millions of people. Otherwise it's a great plan. It's the only possible way to get foreigners to buy Venezuela's worthless currency.
The announcement bewildered some followers of cryptocurrencies, which typically are not backed by any government or central banks. Ironically, Venezuela’s currency controls in recent years have spurred a bitcoin fad among tech-savvy Venezuelans looking to bypass controls to obtain dollars or make internet purchases.
The Petro will be just like the Bitcoin. Except it'll be reserved for top government officials and all farmers, bakers and doctors will be forced to accept it. Or be shot in the street by Cuban snipers.