Venezuela Collapse Continues

Weirdly good news about terrible news: Various worries about economic and societal collapses are based on conversations and hypotheses. Venezuela is a real-world current case study. The country’s economy came to rely on oil for 95% of its revenues. When the oil price wars hit, the internal economy and government functions quickly ran into problems. While economic collapse is bad, it is rarely sudden. Even in the case of Venezuela, which is already experiencing rioting and looting, the process of collapse continues. However Venezuela gets itself out of their mess, it is at least a benchmark for the process of collapse. Almost every other country has more diversified economies, which further buffers economic swings, which slows collapses and provides more time for solutions. In the meantime, 73% of the population is in poverty, Coke has run out of sugar for making cola, certain airlines no longer fly there, inflation is probably going to exceed 700%, and GDP is probably going to be down 8%. Oddly enough, even in such dire circumstances, that means 27% of the population somehow isn’t in poverty, and GDP will still be four times greater than it was ten years ago. Reality is always messier and more confusing than the prognostications.

(Click on the graph for the link.)

“These Are The Brutal Emergency Measures…” – Quartz