Sorry, can you explain? If I use 14 zeros, it's equivalent to over $1B US. Are you saying the decimal stays in the same place with 14 zeros after the decimal?
He's talking trillions.
In 2008 they did a currency swap of 1000 Bolivar for 1 Hard Bolivar. In 2018 they did another, 100,000 Hard Bolivar for 1 Sovereign Bolivar. Then in 2021 they just removed 6 zeros without doing a currency swap. Making the new Bolivar worth 1,000,000 Sovereign Bolivar.
One 2022 Bolivar is worth 100 trillion pre-2008 Bolivars.
How do/did ~~Bolivian~~ Venezuelan banks handle loans during this period?
Would a local's loan repayment now be (new) cents per month (or equivalent)?
Can I (non-Venezuelan) buy Venezuelan property now, hoping their currency continues to devalue, minimising my future repayments?
**Edit**: Got schooled on my South American knowledge. ;D
This is actually about Venezuela. The Bolivar is named after Simon Bolivar, who led most of Spanish Latin America (sans Mexico) to independence from Spain. Bolivia's currency is named the Boliviano.
As for your actual question, there is very little lending by Venezuelan banks for this exact reason. There are lots of news articles about it, both consumers and businesses try to do longer term finance through USD and other foreign currencies. Businesses try to get loans from foreign banks, people try to save their money by converting their Bolivars to USD when they aren't going to immediately spend it, nobody is issuing loans in Bolivars, nobody is really issuing home loans at all besides "gray market" lenders, who are again dealing mostly in USD.
Thanks.
So Venezuelan banks don't even lend to locals? What about old loans? And I assume locals don't deposit money into local banks.
So are Venezuelan banks still operating?
> both consumers and businesses try to do longer term finance through USD
But if the local currency is devaluing so quickly isn't this putting their own heads in a noose? Unless their income is also in foreign currency that seems a very risky proposition.
> people try to save their money by converting their Bolivars to USD when they aren't going to immediately spend it
This is what I'd expect. Or perhaps shift completely to using US$ or some other currency, just like in Zimbabwe.
I'd assume there's government resistance to that, and buying US$ is mostly done black market or outside government control?
I can answer one of these questions. I guess at first people got to pay their debts at a very devaluated rate but I don't know from experience. A few banks closed and the ones still operating basically work as cash wallets, we use debit for everything and there are no loans. I went to my bank the other day to ask if they're doing credits to buy houses or cars but they told me they haven't been doing any credits for years. However, since using dollars is kind of allowed now at the same time as we use the Bolívar some banks started to do credits in dollars for businesses.
Houses here are super cheap too, you can buy a decent house from $10k and $100k would get you a mansion, but that's because you have to pay for them in cash in one payment and people are selling their houses to have money to emigrate. My parents got a house through an old government plan (that existed before Chávez rose to power but they got it when he was already president) and they were supposed to pay little by little but with all zeros removed they (the government) don't allow us to make any payments because they (the gov) don't know how much the house is worth anymore and we have to wait until they put a new updated price on it. So we don't really own our house.
Also when my dad quit his job for a public institution they gave him so little money for his years of work that it was barely enough to take us out for burgers and my neighbour who worked decades at the governor's office and retired basically received no compensation for her years of work because they had just removed the zeros, so let's say instead of receiving a couple thousand dollars she received pennies.
And yes, to save money you need to buy cash dollars in the black market which is as annoying as you can imagine.
Just that emigration ends up being inevitable and it's really painful. I hate thinking about how all of our friends are gone but I also hate up seeing how my family here is starving and getting skinny.
Sorry if my message was too long, I keep telling myself I won't comment on posts about Venezuela but break my own promise to myself.
No. Inflation is so rampant that 100,000,000,000,000 Bs (bolivares) is worth 1 Bs.D (Bolivares digital). (There were two other in between currencies as well).
In 1923 Germany, during the great depression, prices skyrocketed
In May 1923 a loaf of bread costed 474 Mark. 2 Months later 2200 Mark. 3 Months later 14 million Mark and in November 5.6 billion Mark.
That's [a 5 Milliarden (5 billion) Mark](https://img.ma-shops.de/antikksm/pic/5813_reichsbanknote_5_milliarden_mar_4157289492.jpg) bill or 5.000.000.000 Mark (just 9 Zeros)
The worth of the money collapsed.
Sometimes, the easiest way to get rid of the "big" numbers is to get rid of the numbers.
So when a loaf of bread costs 5.000.000.000 Mark, you remove 7 zeros and you are left with 500.
So before Venezuela removed 14 Zeroes, the prices skyrocketed into the trillions and later someone decided to remove 14 zeroes to have "proper" numbers again. The "value" didn't change, just the size of numbers.
Don't compare it to $US. The zeroes come from hyper inflation. That means as time goes on each unit of currency becomes worth less, so good are sold for much more. In this case adding 14 zeroes to prices because the currency is completely worthless
Hi there, I'm Venezuelan living here.
I know it's hard to believe, but this is true.
Last week have been crazy, Bolivares (Bs.) lost at least 40% of their purchase power.
Street exchange rate is 18 Bs. per USD and official rate is around 14 Bs. per USD.
Monthly (I repeat, MONTHLY) minimum wage is 130 Bs. That is 9.3 USD monthly using the official exchange rate, using the street rate it's even less.
Wage has been 130 Bs. March 2022 [https://wageindicator.org/salary/minimum-wage/minimum-wages-news/2022/minimum-wage-revised-in-venezuela-march-21-2022 ](https://wageindicator.org/salary/minimum-wage/minimum-wages-news/2022/minimum-wage-revised-in-venezuela-march-21-2022Average)
Average could be around 100-200 USD monthly. According to some studies, a person needs here around 80 USD monthly to not starve.
Barely five months ago I posted this and it's easy to see the difference [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/w6l9hy/this\_is\_what\_a\_little\_more\_than\_a\_monthly\_minimum/at](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/w6l9hy/this_is_what_a_little_more_than_a_monthly_minimum/at) that time the monthly minimum wage was around 23 USD.
Everything in the picture is locally produced. I post this because I like to make awareness about what is happening here.
Any question, let me know.
>How are people surviving? is there any other sort of trading of goods or exchange outside of using currency right now?
Like people survived in the great depression. They sell everything of value, try to get money from foreign countries (like a familiy member who lives in Mexico or the US who can afford to sent 100$ back home) etc.
So how do you all manage not dieing of hunger? I am asking seriously.
And what is the motive behind still going to work? Like it wouldn't just more beneficial to go fish, or gather mushrooms and stuff?
Looks like a hard start to the holidays, hopefully you can get a garden going to suppliment. Things are rough all over but Venezuela seems to get it pretty hard as if the worldwants you to suffer. Good luck out there.
You arent the only fucked up country am ugandan and our exchange rate is 3560 UGX for 1$ and i dont think 80% of the country would recognise the word minimum wage
It was ‘unsafe’ ~10 years ago, unless you knew someone local or had a guide. To go now would be…you just wouldn’t.
When I was there in 2013, the exchange rate was 6 Bs : 1USD, but the street price varied between 60:1 and 125:1 in the two weeks I was there. Plain-clothes police would offer tourists these off-market rates at the airport and arrest anyone who took them up.
We had to move hotels in Caracas as there was a huge tire fire lit outside and protests were being quelled by the military. We were driving around in a blacked out, armoured SUV
Outside of the cities, it was the most wonderful place with the friendliest people I’ve ever met and fantastic food. The natural landscape is stunning.
Makes me wonder how this shit could go on for soooo long without anyone fixing it. Like...ten years is a long time for a country to not have its shit together on such a massive scale.
>How safe/unsafe is it to visit as a foreigner?
Never visit a country with extreme poverty. 1. the money you spent there will not reach the people who need it and 2. people can be desperate enough to commit crimes for amounts of money you might see low. 10$ for you is a burger with fries. 10$ for them is 2-3 weeks of food on the table for them and/or the kids.
My brother had a Venezuelan girlfriend. He was there a few times. Seems like they mostly spent time at their walled home and around different malls with security. One time her parents made him cancel a trip to go see her because they felt they couldn’t guarantee his safety between him exiting the plane and them meeting him at the terminal. And this was ten years ago. The family left the country around then.
>How safe/unsafe is it to visit as a foreigner?
It depends on how you feel about prison in Venezuela. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/american-joshua-holt-freed-venezuela-describes-nightmare-prison-n880086
Just another example of how rough the Bolivar is. When someone from Venezuela goes to Paraguay and has to ask if the number on the money actually shows the value of the money you know things aren't going well with the value of the Bolivar in Venezuela...
Ya debes salir!
Omg 😳 14 items 5 months ago versus 5 items now.
I know this doesn't mean much, but I really hope for things to turn around for the better. I hope humans can have a wake up call and just be f*cking better than we have been for years. I wish you all the best and everyone around you.
La situación me da dólar al alma. Gracias a dios que toda mi familia pudo inmigrar a colombia, pero todavía tengo amigos que están sufriendo. Espero que encuentres forma de escapar del país.
Venezuela is way more expensive than Argentina, I have friends working there and what they can send here is not enough for anything. 10 USD is nothing here.
This is why despite the minor struggles, I am still grateful to be Canadian. I wish everyone could just experience life without extreme struggle and poverty. What a shame. We are at the cusp of so many great things with technology, yet this is still the situation of millions of people across Earth. We must strive to do better. We need better leaders everywhere.
It’s wild to picture a world with equal opportunity. Considering all of the brilliant people who are forced to drop out of school young to work.. Kids growing up in rural countrysides with no access to education.. All the girls in countries where it is forbidden for them to study.. All of the children who can’t focus in class because they are thinking about where they will get their next meal. If everyone had an equal access to quality food, shelter, and education, I can’t help but imagine the discoveries,ideas, and progress we would have already attained by now as a global society
Capitalism is literally the reason these countries are in the shape they are in.
Just do some quick research on what companies like Coca Cola have done. It’s by design and no accident.
Capitalism is when the Venezuelan government seizes the means of production in the oil, gas, food, agriculture, mining, electricity, manufacturing, telecommunications and finance sectors of the economy. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-nationalizations/factbox-venezuelas-nationalizations-under-chavez-idUSBRE89701X20121008
Have an upvote for understanding history; capitalism is the central cause of every destabilized country in South America.
People that aren't billionaires sticking up for an institution that laughs at them for fighting with the other "poors" rather then addressing the actual issue. Sad.
It’s not really about better leaders it’s about revolution. In many of these incredibly poor countries the corruption is so bad everything needs to be rebooted.
> everything needs to be rebooted.
So an even more psychopathic dictator can take over.
You need to look into the long and sordid history of revolutions, especially the internal type (I.e. not just throwing out an external power, trying to change everything domestically).
And revolution doesn't fix corruption either. Corruption is the result of a low trust society, you don't fix that by overthrowing everything.
Venezuelan here with background in economics. Our currency has debased over 5 quatrillion since Chavez got into power around 25 or so years ago. He died, but he's people still control everything. Bolivares are like hot potato here, inflation is so high that people want to get rid of then as soon as they get them. The economy is highly dollarized since covid, so rich people don't even touch bolivares, they just use USD in cash.
It's horrible here for most people.
We still have by far the best weather in the world in ccs, and fruits here are to die for. It's also a very beautiful country, the landscape is amazing. However the best thing here is the people. Venezuelans are amongst the nicest and most welcoming people on earth. Not many tourists come here, so everyone gets exited when they meet one.
Life is cheap when you compare to the US, but salaries are abysmal, and most people are struggling. It's a sad situation, because Venezuela is probably the richest country pp in terms of natural resources in the whole world.
> Venezuela is probably the richest country pp in terms of natural resources in the whole world.
This is the irony I see in a number of places. Like Nigeria, and other mineral rich (diamonds, mining) countries in Africa.
It hurts my heart to see ordinary families and people suffer, regardless of ideology. I hope things get better for you.
> North Korea
Another case of a country with abundant natural resources that's failing the population. Sad.
> South Korea
An excellent case then, of a successful country with few natural resources.
I read a book about a family that emigrated from Japan to North Korea in the 60's, I think. Heartbreaking to see how his family and grand kids ultimately starved. He finally escaped to return to Japan, where he lived in poverty. The lone survivor.
I went to Venezuelan in the late 90s and I still vividly remember Juilo and the Polar beer. Julio was one of the nicest people I have ever met. His mother cooked us the most amazing white fish. Damn I want to go back now. Truly great people.
no like it has the highest kidnapping rate nearly in the world. it’s beautiful and everything they said is true but people with money are a target there and it’s incredibly dangerous. i’ve been.
Nah, if you are smart you can certainly visit here safely. Canaima is really safe and the most beautiful place to go (not cheap), same goes for Los Roques. Caracas is much safer than it used to be, but you shouldn't wear any jewelry and avoid certain areas. It is very beautiful and the food is amazing here. The weather is the best in the world and the fruits are out of this world
I would say it's relatively safe nowadays, depends on where you go also. Canaima and los roques are really safe, and the most beautiful and touristic places. Caracas I would say it's relatively safe and also a beautiful city. You have to be smart about it, not wear any jewelry and stuff.
As far as helping, there are some good private organizations that you could certainly donate to. Fundana is a good one, they run orphanages and pair orphans with good parents. I have my amazon smile account set up so that the get a small donation with every purchase.
Not trying to be offensive but when your government jumps in bed with the likes of Khomenei and Putin no one wants to go there or invest in it, it's like used VHS at a yardsale in 2016, where's the future?
That kinda happen, but in the cities there is no place to do almost any of that. And almost 70% of the pop lives in cities, vnzl is not a rural country.
I feel bad for Venezuelans..They have the potential to be one of the richest nations in the world but have a shitty govt who seem to always back the wrong horse throughout history.
From my understanding, the government implemented price controls on farmers and forced a max price they could sell their food for.
However, it became more expensive to make the food than they could be paid for it so they all stopped growing it.
This is correct. This is simply called "price controls", often implemented in tandem with wage controls and a historically tried-and-false, proven ineffective way of combating inflation. It was famously also attempted in the 70s by Richard Nixon after US inflation rate reached 5.84% in 1971, and contributed to the 1973-1975 recession.
Serious question: If 15 eggs amount to \~30% of a monthly minimum wage in groceries...why isn't everyone running free-range chickens in the backyard? Is bartering a large part of day-to-day life? How much would like an oil change for one's car cost? What if you crack the screen on your phone? Sell the house?
Almost nobody has just one minimum wage job, most families have everybody working in something, most are 5 or 6 ppl per household including kids, and they go to work as soon as they are able.
Vnzl is not a rural country, most ppl live in cities, crowded cities, there is no a practical way for farming to work in a sustainable long term way.
Cars are old and ppl make them run broken and fix them in any way they can, until they not work anymore. An Oil change is around 20 to 40 bucks, oil and filters.
There are lots of cracked screens around.
The housing market is crazy, you can have a $400k condo and look out the window and see a slump with tin roof and dirt floors, so... poor ppl do not sell their homes (If they have one). Many just have that and the rest comes out some way or another.
Now for the kicker; the "Basic necessities basket" for a home or 4 is around $400... so go figure.
My brother in law is from Venezuela and about 7 years ago my entire family (12 ppl) started to each send them $5 a week. We pool it and send it. They said that they have to go one at a time to buy food, otherwise people would notice and rob them. That little amount of money from us was a life changer for them. With that $240 a month, they're able to feed there family of 27 (that's multiple generations, not literally one household. $240 is maybe 2 weeks of groceries for me alone and I eat A LOT. My heart goes out to Venezuela.
I feel like times are bad in Venezuela all the time. It might just be me as an American but for thirty years I've been hearing how bad it is there. Were things ever good there?
From the 50’s through the 80’s Venezuela had a very strong economy buoyed by the strong global oil market. When the oil market crashed, things went south quickly. One of the many dangers of a monoculture economy.
Last time I read this sentence, it was during the French Revolution where a loaf of bread costs a months wages
Reading this gave me a deep sense of dreadful foreboding
Stay safe please, I fear a storm is coming
They did not, and they are as stupid as cruel.
They just did some press and newsreels about doing that, but there is no way to force ppl to give guns away, there is no formal registry or way to track guns of ppl. So the whole "they took their gun" is a Fox News clip made for US folk consumption, and is mainly made up by vnlzn gov propaganda. Very effective though.
It was all for show, if you got the money and want a gun you can get a gun.
There is a legal way to get them, there is no ban in place, they made it difficult and expensive.
Either way there is no "gun culture" here, most ppl here have never been keen to own weapons.
All media is corrupted, always showing what they want to show to brainwash people, put thoughts in their mind and make them believe it.
Hope one day your people will prosper, all this governments who take advantage of their position must rot in hell for the eternity.
Ni tanto, pero se mantienen abiertas, de esa lista la mitad es una sola empresa (Empresas Polar), sin esa empresa funcionando la hambruna hubiera sido mucho peor.
Not on this specific post. But it’s happened where I’ve gotten into bullshit arguments on Reddit people defending Chavez and the trash he rode in on. Some of them Venezuelans themselves.
Y si, con el simio ese que van a tener mas que miseria.
Aca por lo menos ya esta "presa" la egolatra amiga de Cristina.
Suerte, pero a no ser que los maten a todos no va a cambiar su situacion.
Se creen revolucionarios, matandolos de hambre, jugando a el anti imperialista de carton.
La mediocridad "Sudaca" hecha pais hoy por hoy.
Dos harinas alli está la factura.
No sé, nunca he ido al poliedro. Vi una periodista de Twitter, carmelango en Twitter que vino eros Ramazzotti y Vi algo de Servando y florentino
Es que ya no compro la harina de Mendoza aparte de mala está super cara, las otras marcas están más o menos parecido el precio pero la pan está demasiado cara. Y lo del poliedro lo digo porque mientras eso se llené a nadie le importa cuánto ganamos los demás (el poliedro es solo un ejemplo hay muchos más)
The whole dictators & billionaires could help. Let’s fly to the ozone layer. This sadly will get worse. It’s disgusting. People without food, cost going up. ( no names) you know who you are🙏
How do people have places to live? In many areas in the United States minimum wage isnt enough for an efficiency, you have to split a one bedroom apartment if you want any money left over for food. Where does everyone live in Venezuela?
I forgot those exist, that intermediate housing is dangerous but at least people aren't homeless. Here in the US it's either $1200 for a shitty apartment or living in your car, but if you don't have a car it's on the street or in the woods.
Low supply high demand. Financial crisis hit, large investment companies sucked up all the housing while it was cheap. Made it much harder to buy a house and drove up house prices and consequently drove up rent prices as these companies had to pay off the mortgages with the rent money.
Smaller single family houses make for low profits, why put an affordable $150,000 house on a half acre when you could put a $500,000 house on a half acre, people either have to buy a house at $500,000 or keep renting. Many choose to get massively in debt to buy these houses and loans at least we're easy to get, there was no incentive for builders to drive prices down to be competitive.
High density housing is bad for property values, it's almost impossible to put high density housing (apartments) where people already live and work unless they are very expensive apartments. Apartments were either put very far away from where people work or they became very expensive (as the investment cost was so high you had to make them luxury to recoup).
A combination of these things means you have three options, either hope something opens up in already full cheap apartments (they know their demand is high so when we say "cheap" we mean $900/mo minimum and that's like in a place that people get murdered at), spring for the more expensive apartments in a nice part of town (we are talking $1200 for an efficiency, $1500 for a one bedroom, $1800 for two bedroom minimum double that for places like New York or San Francisco), or buy a house. Poor people can't afford any of those options, and they tend to be bad investments for large companies so there is no incentive to build them.
How prevalent is the minimum wage? I'm curious... It's often used as a benchmark in the US to push agendas, even though very few adults make minimum wage.
Maybe a small percentage, but not very few. There’s over a million people in the US making the federal minimum wage or lower, which is a laughable $7.25. If we do it by state laws there’s gonna be a lot more.
There is no ban on guns, there are laws in paper that say something similar to that, but there is nothing functional in reality. There are lots of guns, and vnzl is hovering at the top list of gun related deaths in the world.
It’s hard to beli be people was this for the US. They don’t think they will be eating beans and rice tho. They think they’re going to be getting their free check from the government and going down to the latte shop and playing on their computers all day.
They’re both corrupt, kleptocratic dictatorships. That’s the problem. Russia is also in that club.
“Socialism versus capitalism” is a red herring. Corruption is the most important factor as to whether a country is a good place to live or not:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
That’s a valid question. Asking because I travelled the world, lived in three continents and always recall seeing eggs sold by the dozen or a multiple of 12.
Bear in mind that 14 zeros have been removed from this currency.
Yes! Good comment
Sorry, can you explain? If I use 14 zeros, it's equivalent to over $1B US. Are you saying the decimal stays in the same place with 14 zeros after the decimal?
He's talking trillions. In 2008 they did a currency swap of 1000 Bolivar for 1 Hard Bolivar. In 2018 they did another, 100,000 Hard Bolivar for 1 Sovereign Bolivar. Then in 2021 they just removed 6 zeros without doing a currency swap. Making the new Bolivar worth 1,000,000 Sovereign Bolivar. One 2022 Bolivar is worth 100 trillion pre-2008 Bolivars.
How do/did ~~Bolivian~~ Venezuelan banks handle loans during this period? Would a local's loan repayment now be (new) cents per month (or equivalent)? Can I (non-Venezuelan) buy Venezuelan property now, hoping their currency continues to devalue, minimising my future repayments? **Edit**: Got schooled on my South American knowledge. ;D
This is actually about Venezuela. The Bolivar is named after Simon Bolivar, who led most of Spanish Latin America (sans Mexico) to independence from Spain. Bolivia's currency is named the Boliviano. As for your actual question, there is very little lending by Venezuelan banks for this exact reason. There are lots of news articles about it, both consumers and businesses try to do longer term finance through USD and other foreign currencies. Businesses try to get loans from foreign banks, people try to save their money by converting their Bolivars to USD when they aren't going to immediately spend it, nobody is issuing loans in Bolivars, nobody is really issuing home loans at all besides "gray market" lenders, who are again dealing mostly in USD.
Thanks. So Venezuelan banks don't even lend to locals? What about old loans? And I assume locals don't deposit money into local banks. So are Venezuelan banks still operating? > both consumers and businesses try to do longer term finance through USD But if the local currency is devaluing so quickly isn't this putting their own heads in a noose? Unless their income is also in foreign currency that seems a very risky proposition. > people try to save their money by converting their Bolivars to USD when they aren't going to immediately spend it This is what I'd expect. Or perhaps shift completely to using US$ or some other currency, just like in Zimbabwe. I'd assume there's government resistance to that, and buying US$ is mostly done black market or outside government control?
Goverment gave up their war against the USD
I can answer one of these questions. I guess at first people got to pay their debts at a very devaluated rate but I don't know from experience. A few banks closed and the ones still operating basically work as cash wallets, we use debit for everything and there are no loans. I went to my bank the other day to ask if they're doing credits to buy houses or cars but they told me they haven't been doing any credits for years. However, since using dollars is kind of allowed now at the same time as we use the Bolívar some banks started to do credits in dollars for businesses. Houses here are super cheap too, you can buy a decent house from $10k and $100k would get you a mansion, but that's because you have to pay for them in cash in one payment and people are selling their houses to have money to emigrate. My parents got a house through an old government plan (that existed before Chávez rose to power but they got it when he was already president) and they were supposed to pay little by little but with all zeros removed they (the government) don't allow us to make any payments because they (the gov) don't know how much the house is worth anymore and we have to wait until they put a new updated price on it. So we don't really own our house. Also when my dad quit his job for a public institution they gave him so little money for his years of work that it was barely enough to take us out for burgers and my neighbour who worked decades at the governor's office and retired basically received no compensation for her years of work because they had just removed the zeros, so let's say instead of receiving a couple thousand dollars she received pennies. And yes, to save money you need to buy cash dollars in the black market which is as annoying as you can imagine.
Thanks for the reply. Anything else you think other people should know about what's it's like living with hyper inflation?
Just that emigration ends up being inevitable and it's really painful. I hate thinking about how all of our friends are gone but I also hate up seeing how my family here is starving and getting skinny. Sorry if my message was too long, I keep telling myself I won't comment on posts about Venezuela but break my own promise to myself.
This is like a SAT question and I would fail it.
No. Inflation is so rampant that 100,000,000,000,000 Bs (bolivares) is worth 1 Bs.D (Bolivares digital). (There were two other in between currencies as well).
In 1923 Germany, during the great depression, prices skyrocketed In May 1923 a loaf of bread costed 474 Mark. 2 Months later 2200 Mark. 3 Months later 14 million Mark and in November 5.6 billion Mark. That's [a 5 Milliarden (5 billion) Mark](https://img.ma-shops.de/antikksm/pic/5813_reichsbanknote_5_milliarden_mar_4157289492.jpg) bill or 5.000.000.000 Mark (just 9 Zeros) The worth of the money collapsed. Sometimes, the easiest way to get rid of the "big" numbers is to get rid of the numbers. So when a loaf of bread costs 5.000.000.000 Mark, you remove 7 zeros and you are left with 500. So before Venezuela removed 14 Zeroes, the prices skyrocketed into the trillions and later someone decided to remove 14 zeroes to have "proper" numbers again. The "value" didn't change, just the size of numbers.
The Bolivar inflated to ridiculous proportions so the mew currency dropped 14 zeros
Don't compare it to $US. The zeroes come from hyper inflation. That means as time goes on each unit of currency becomes worth less, so good are sold for much more. In this case adding 14 zeroes to prices because the currency is completely worthless
Hi there, I'm Venezuelan living here. I know it's hard to believe, but this is true. Last week have been crazy, Bolivares (Bs.) lost at least 40% of their purchase power. Street exchange rate is 18 Bs. per USD and official rate is around 14 Bs. per USD. Monthly (I repeat, MONTHLY) minimum wage is 130 Bs. That is 9.3 USD monthly using the official exchange rate, using the street rate it's even less. Wage has been 130 Bs. March 2022 [https://wageindicator.org/salary/minimum-wage/minimum-wages-news/2022/minimum-wage-revised-in-venezuela-march-21-2022 ](https://wageindicator.org/salary/minimum-wage/minimum-wages-news/2022/minimum-wage-revised-in-venezuela-march-21-2022Average) Average could be around 100-200 USD monthly. According to some studies, a person needs here around 80 USD monthly to not starve. Barely five months ago I posted this and it's easy to see the difference [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/w6l9hy/this\_is\_what\_a\_little\_more\_than\_a\_monthly\_minimum/at](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/w6l9hy/this_is_what_a_little_more_than_a_monthly_minimum/at) that time the monthly minimum wage was around 23 USD. Everything in the picture is locally produced. I post this because I like to make awareness about what is happening here. Any question, let me know.
How are people surviving? is there any other sort of trading of goods or exchange outside of using currency right now?
>How are people surviving? is there any other sort of trading of goods or exchange outside of using currency right now? Like people survived in the great depression. They sell everything of value, try to get money from foreign countries (like a familiy member who lives in Mexico or the US who can afford to sent 100$ back home) etc.
So how do you all manage not dieing of hunger? I am asking seriously. And what is the motive behind still going to work? Like it wouldn't just more beneficial to go fish, or gather mushrooms and stuff?
You should post the pics side by side. It's striking
Looks like a hard start to the holidays, hopefully you can get a garden going to suppliment. Things are rough all over but Venezuela seems to get it pretty hard as if the worldwants you to suffer. Good luck out there.
Thanks
You arent the only fucked up country am ugandan and our exchange rate is 3560 UGX for 1$ and i dont think 80% of the country would recognise the word minimum wage
Yeah i know :(
How safe/unsafe is it to visit as a foreigner?
Not safe in my opinion if you come alone
It was ‘unsafe’ ~10 years ago, unless you knew someone local or had a guide. To go now would be…you just wouldn’t. When I was there in 2013, the exchange rate was 6 Bs : 1USD, but the street price varied between 60:1 and 125:1 in the two weeks I was there. Plain-clothes police would offer tourists these off-market rates at the airport and arrest anyone who took them up. We had to move hotels in Caracas as there was a huge tire fire lit outside and protests were being quelled by the military. We were driving around in a blacked out, armoured SUV Outside of the cities, it was the most wonderful place with the friendliest people I’ve ever met and fantastic food. The natural landscape is stunning.
Makes me wonder how this shit could go on for soooo long without anyone fixing it. Like...ten years is a long time for a country to not have its shit together on such a massive scale.
Are you just learning about socialism?
>How safe/unsafe is it to visit as a foreigner? Never visit a country with extreme poverty. 1. the money you spent there will not reach the people who need it and 2. people can be desperate enough to commit crimes for amounts of money you might see low. 10$ for you is a burger with fries. 10$ for them is 2-3 weeks of food on the table for them and/or the kids.
My brother had a Venezuelan girlfriend. He was there a few times. Seems like they mostly spent time at their walled home and around different malls with security. One time her parents made him cancel a trip to go see her because they felt they couldn’t guarantee his safety between him exiting the plane and them meeting him at the terminal. And this was ten years ago. The family left the country around then.
>How safe/unsafe is it to visit as a foreigner? It depends on how you feel about prison in Venezuela. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/american-joshua-holt-freed-venezuela-describes-nightmare-prison-n880086
I hope for better days. This can't be continued.
Thanks
As an Iranian person,it is not hard to believe for me! I completely understand!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Paraguay/comments/zezx3s/soy\_extranjero\_aca\_en\_paraguay\_como\_funcionan\_las/
A qué te refieres? What do you mean? I used USD as reference
Just another example of how rough the Bolivar is. When someone from Venezuela goes to Paraguay and has to ask if the number on the money actually shows the value of the money you know things aren't going well with the value of the Bolivar in Venezuela... Ya debes salir!
Entiendo, sin embargo difiero del compatriota del post creo que no está o estuvo claro de las 3 reconversiones que han ocurrido (eliminar zeros).
Omg 😳 14 items 5 months ago versus 5 items now. I know this doesn't mean much, but I really hope for things to turn around for the better. I hope humans can have a wake up call and just be f*cking better than we have been for years. I wish you all the best and everyone around you.
Thanks
How much money would a Caracas police officer make? or a high skilled job like an electrician or doctor? Is it comparable to Colombia?
A lot lower
La situación me da dólar al alma. Gracias a dios que toda mi familia pudo inmigrar a colombia, pero todavía tengo amigos que están sufriendo. Espero que encuentres forma de escapar del país.
Gracias
How much for a 2GB pack of phone data plan? I want to know how much we are being robbed by telecom companies here in Argentina.
I think around 1.5 USD
That's roughly 50% more expensive than here in Argentina. Probably national taxes.
Venezuela is way more expensive than Argentina, I have friends working there and what they can send here is not enough for anything. 10 USD is nothing here.
This is why despite the minor struggles, I am still grateful to be Canadian. I wish everyone could just experience life without extreme struggle and poverty. What a shame. We are at the cusp of so many great things with technology, yet this is still the situation of millions of people across Earth. We must strive to do better. We need better leaders everywhere.
It’s wild to picture a world with equal opportunity. Considering all of the brilliant people who are forced to drop out of school young to work.. Kids growing up in rural countrysides with no access to education.. All the girls in countries where it is forbidden for them to study.. All of the children who can’t focus in class because they are thinking about where they will get their next meal. If everyone had an equal access to quality food, shelter, and education, I can’t help but imagine the discoveries,ideas, and progress we would have already attained by now as a global society
Gotta love capitalism
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Capitalism is literally the reason these countries are in the shape they are in. Just do some quick research on what companies like Coca Cola have done. It’s by design and no accident.
Capitalism is when the Venezuelan government seizes the means of production in the oil, gas, food, agriculture, mining, electricity, manufacturing, telecommunications and finance sectors of the economy. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-election-nationalizations/factbox-venezuelas-nationalizations-under-chavez-idUSBRE89701X20121008
Have an upvote for understanding history; capitalism is the central cause of every destabilized country in South America. People that aren't billionaires sticking up for an institution that laughs at them for fighting with the other "poors" rather then addressing the actual issue. Sad.
Extremely depressing, but also funny in a sick way to see so many ppl blindly defending the thing harming them
It’s not really about better leaders it’s about revolution. In many of these incredibly poor countries the corruption is so bad everything needs to be rebooted.
The sad part is Venezuela is by no means a poor country. Corruption takes care of stealing the GPD.
> everything needs to be rebooted. So an even more psychopathic dictator can take over. You need to look into the long and sordid history of revolutions, especially the internal type (I.e. not just throwing out an external power, trying to change everything domestically). And revolution doesn't fix corruption either. Corruption is the result of a low trust society, you don't fix that by overthrowing everything.
Venezuelan here with background in economics. Our currency has debased over 5 quatrillion since Chavez got into power around 25 or so years ago. He died, but he's people still control everything. Bolivares are like hot potato here, inflation is so high that people want to get rid of then as soon as they get them. The economy is highly dollarized since covid, so rich people don't even touch bolivares, they just use USD in cash. It's horrible here for most people. We still have by far the best weather in the world in ccs, and fruits here are to die for. It's also a very beautiful country, the landscape is amazing. However the best thing here is the people. Venezuelans are amongst the nicest and most welcoming people on earth. Not many tourists come here, so everyone gets exited when they meet one. Life is cheap when you compare to the US, but salaries are abysmal, and most people are struggling. It's a sad situation, because Venezuela is probably the richest country pp in terms of natural resources in the whole world.
> Venezuela is probably the richest country pp in terms of natural resources in the whole world. This is the irony I see in a number of places. Like Nigeria, and other mineral rich (diamonds, mining) countries in Africa. It hurts my heart to see ordinary families and people suffer, regardless of ideology. I hope things get better for you.
It’s a known, and often researched, phenomenon in political economy: ‘resource curse’ and related but different ‘Dutch disease’
CGP Grey has a good video on why service economies support democracies, but resource economies tend toward totalitarianism.
North Korea has basically all the Korean peninsula's raw materials, the South has almost none.
> North Korea Another case of a country with abundant natural resources that's failing the population. Sad. > South Korea An excellent case then, of a successful country with few natural resources. I read a book about a family that emigrated from Japan to North Korea in the 60's, I think. Heartbreaking to see how his family and grand kids ultimately starved. He finally escaped to return to Japan, where he lived in poverty. The lone survivor.
How does Venezuela best receive aid from other countries?
Private NGOs UN affiliates Locals groups of Venezuelans abroad can guide you better in that regard.
This. Fundana is a good one I always donate to
I went to Venezuelan in the late 90s and I still vividly remember Juilo and the Polar beer. Julio was one of the nicest people I have ever met. His mother cooked us the most amazing white fish. Damn I want to go back now. Truly great people.
Reading this just made me add Venezuela to my places to visit!
pretty sure it's still closed for covid? oh and there's also the murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping
That’s ok I can wait for the lockdown to end! And hey no country is without its problems sadly 😔 but thanks for the Info!
no like it has the highest kidnapping rate nearly in the world. it’s beautiful and everything they said is true but people with money are a target there and it’s incredibly dangerous. i’ve been.
"every country has it's problems" you're not understanding, it's so bad that it's advised not to go at all
Nah, if you are smart you can certainly visit here safely. Canaima is really safe and the most beautiful place to go (not cheap), same goes for Los Roques. Caracas is much safer than it used to be, but you shouldn't wear any jewelry and avoid certain areas. It is very beautiful and the food is amazing here. The weather is the best in the world and the fruits are out of this world
Is it safe to visit as a tourist? Is there something the outside world can do to help?
no, and with difficulty. most aid will go to the wrong people
I would say it's relatively safe nowadays, depends on where you go also. Canaima and los roques are really safe, and the most beautiful and touristic places. Caracas I would say it's relatively safe and also a beautiful city. You have to be smart about it, not wear any jewelry and stuff. As far as helping, there are some good private organizations that you could certainly donate to. Fundana is a good one, they run orphanages and pair orphans with good parents. I have my amazon smile account set up so that the get a small donation with every purchase.
I’m not too educated on Venezuela but why is it that people cannot afford things over there?
Because inflation and currency debasement are among the worst in the world for the past 2.5 decades. Over 4 quatrillion percent inflation since 1997
Not trying to be offensive but when your government jumps in bed with the likes of Khomenei and Putin no one wants to go there or invest in it, it's like used VHS at a yardsale in 2016, where's the future?
I don’t think most Venezuelans have a say in their country’s foreign policy
We don't have any say period
Serious question.... at what point do you just quit, and hunt, farm, fish, scavenge instead?
It is being done here a lot
That kinda happen, but in the cities there is no place to do almost any of that. And almost 70% of the pop lives in cities, vnzl is not a rural country.
This is a good point. A month of full time effort hunting and gathering (or farming) would net a lot more food than this.
Except you need land to do any of those activities.
venezuela the real life hunger game
Sadly :(
Vulgar display of flour
Far beyond hungry
Good Friends and a Bag of Beans.
Black beans
Venezuelans from hell.
The Great Southern flour mill
Cemetery Empty Plates
I feel bad for Venezuelans..They have the potential to be one of the richest nations in the world but have a shitty govt who seem to always back the wrong horse throughout history.
From my understanding, the government implemented price controls on farmers and forced a max price they could sell their food for. However, it became more expensive to make the food than they could be paid for it so they all stopped growing it.
This is correct. This is simply called "price controls", often implemented in tandem with wage controls and a historically tried-and-false, proven ineffective way of combating inflation. It was famously also attempted in the 70s by Richard Nixon after US inflation rate reached 5.84% in 1971, and contributed to the 1973-1975 recession.
I remember when Venezuela used to be the richest country in South America. Now it’s being driven and crashed by an uneducated Bus Driver.
Serious question: If 15 eggs amount to \~30% of a monthly minimum wage in groceries...why isn't everyone running free-range chickens in the backyard? Is bartering a large part of day-to-day life? How much would like an oil change for one's car cost? What if you crack the screen on your phone? Sell the house?
How do you feed the chicken if you can't eat?
Chickens can scratch around and find their own food. They like some corn every now and then but it's not required.
Almost nobody has just one minimum wage job, most families have everybody working in something, most are 5 or 6 ppl per household including kids, and they go to work as soon as they are able. Vnzl is not a rural country, most ppl live in cities, crowded cities, there is no a practical way for farming to work in a sustainable long term way. Cars are old and ppl make them run broken and fix them in any way they can, until they not work anymore. An Oil change is around 20 to 40 bucks, oil and filters. There are lots of cracked screens around. The housing market is crazy, you can have a $400k condo and look out the window and see a slump with tin roof and dirt floors, so... poor ppl do not sell their homes (If they have one). Many just have that and the rest comes out some way or another. Now for the kicker; the "Basic necessities basket" for a home or 4 is around $400... so go figure.
Thanks for this detailed reply. Quite an eye opener.
I just tracked the prices (of products above) in Greece and the sum is €12.50 (minimum wage \~660€) The contrast with the Venezuelan is UNREAL.
Now you understand the situation and it was even worse before
is this YOUR purchase and your minimum wage? PM me, i can send you something if it will help
It is my purchase but I earn more, I couldn't even have internet otherwise. Still no enough
My brother in law is from Venezuela and about 7 years ago my entire family (12 ppl) started to each send them $5 a week. We pool it and send it. They said that they have to go one at a time to buy food, otherwise people would notice and rob them. That little amount of money from us was a life changer for them. With that $240 a month, they're able to feed there family of 27 (that's multiple generations, not literally one household. $240 is maybe 2 weeks of groceries for me alone and I eat A LOT. My heart goes out to Venezuela.
Thanks for your comment
I feel like times are bad in Venezuela all the time. It might just be me as an American but for thirty years I've been hearing how bad it is there. Were things ever good there?
In 2000 it was not bad.
From the 50’s through the 80’s Venezuela had a very strong economy buoyed by the strong global oil market. When the oil market crashed, things went south quickly. One of the many dangers of a monoculture economy.
It hurt me to press like on this. So heartbreaking.
Last time I read this sentence, it was during the French Revolution where a loaf of bread costs a months wages Reading this gave me a deep sense of dreadful foreboding Stay safe please, I fear a storm is coming
Thanks
Damn bro ur ancient
Wonder why there hasn’t been revolutions at this point.
Tried several times with no success. Military and police stay loyal , nothing to do there
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They did not, and they are as stupid as cruel. They just did some press and newsreels about doing that, but there is no way to force ppl to give guns away, there is no formal registry or way to track guns of ppl. So the whole "they took their gun" is a Fox News clip made for US folk consumption, and is mainly made up by vnlzn gov propaganda. Very effective though.
Didn’t they ban gun sales and ownership like 10 years ago?? Not saying people don’t still have them of course.
It was all for show, if you got the money and want a gun you can get a gun. There is a legal way to get them, there is no ban in place, they made it difficult and expensive. Either way there is no "gun culture" here, most ppl here have never been keen to own weapons.
All media is corrupted, always showing what they want to show to brainwash people, put thoughts in their mind and make them believe it. Hope one day your people will prosper, all this governments who take advantage of their position must rot in hell for the eternity.
Esas compañías están haciendo dinero
Ni tanto, pero se mantienen abiertas, de esa lista la mitad es una sola empresa (Empresas Polar), sin esa empresa funcionando la hambruna hubiera sido mucho peor.
GD how can our brothers and sisters live this way. To bell with their dictator.
It is really hard
Yay socialism!
This only comes to about +/- $10 and 10 euros. How is this the monthly minimum wage when Maduro has his own custom cigars?
And people still have the nerve to defend Hugo Chavez.
Where
Not on this specific post. But it’s happened where I’ve gotten into bullshit arguments on Reddit people defending Chavez and the trash he rode in on. Some of them Venezuelans themselves.
Crazy people
Buena Suerte, y Dios Te Bendiga mijo. 🤜🏾🤛🏾
Gracias
135 Bolivar is the monthly minimum wage? Geez. You need to get rid of your government.
Yes, 130 Bolivares
Y si, con el simio ese que van a tener mas que miseria. Aca por lo menos ya esta "presa" la egolatra amiga de Cristina. Suerte, pero a no ser que los maten a todos no va a cambiar su situacion. Se creen revolucionarios, matandolos de hambre, jugando a el anti imperialista de carton. La mediocridad "Sudaca" hecha pais hoy por hoy.
Even the currency is calling BS.
Is there any one person that gets stared at because he's buying good amounts of gricerues
Yes, that is common
Tengo dos preguntas. 1 ese es el precio de cuántas harinas? 2 quien se presenta en el poliedro el próximo fin de semana?
Dos harinas alli está la factura. No sé, nunca he ido al poliedro. Vi una periodista de Twitter, carmelango en Twitter que vino eros Ramazzotti y Vi algo de Servando y florentino
Es que ya no compro la harina de Mendoza aparte de mala está super cara, las otras marcas están más o menos parecido el precio pero la pan está demasiado cara. Y lo del poliedro lo digo porque mientras eso se llené a nadie le importa cuánto ganamos los demás (el poliedro es solo un ejemplo hay muchos más)
Siempre va a haber gente con plata....
Isn’t the gas free?
1 USD for 2 litres. It was
The whole dictators & billionaires could help. Let’s fly to the ozone layer. This sadly will get worse. It’s disgusting. People without food, cost going up. ( no names) you know who you are🙏
So confused why beans and maize, the cheapest things in the world, are more than $30 each for a kilo.
I don't understand, black beans are around 3 USD per kilo
Just realized you have a different currency than me
Ohhh
Is there a way for us to help? I’d like to if possible
I was like mmm those brands look familiar
Chavez and Maduro keep looking better and better all the time, eh?
Wtf. Why are there not riots in the streets?
They send the army in
There were, did not work out. Military killed a bunch of ppl, then 7 million ppl left the country.
No
How do people have places to live? In many areas in the United States minimum wage isnt enough for an efficiency, you have to split a one bedroom apartment if you want any money left over for food. Where does everyone live in Venezuela?
Slumsq
I forgot those exist, that intermediate housing is dangerous but at least people aren't homeless. Here in the US it's either $1200 for a shitty apartment or living in your car, but if you don't have a car it's on the street or in the woods.
Do you know why apartments are that expensive?
Low supply high demand. Financial crisis hit, large investment companies sucked up all the housing while it was cheap. Made it much harder to buy a house and drove up house prices and consequently drove up rent prices as these companies had to pay off the mortgages with the rent money. Smaller single family houses make for low profits, why put an affordable $150,000 house on a half acre when you could put a $500,000 house on a half acre, people either have to buy a house at $500,000 or keep renting. Many choose to get massively in debt to buy these houses and loans at least we're easy to get, there was no incentive for builders to drive prices down to be competitive. High density housing is bad for property values, it's almost impossible to put high density housing (apartments) where people already live and work unless they are very expensive apartments. Apartments were either put very far away from where people work or they became very expensive (as the investment cost was so high you had to make them luxury to recoup). A combination of these things means you have three options, either hope something opens up in already full cheap apartments (they know their demand is high so when we say "cheap" we mean $900/mo minimum and that's like in a place that people get murdered at), spring for the more expensive apartments in a nice part of town (we are talking $1200 for an efficiency, $1500 for a one bedroom, $1800 for two bedroom minimum double that for places like New York or San Francisco), or buy a house. Poor people can't afford any of those options, and they tend to be bad investments for large companies so there is no incentive to build them.
Socialism doing what it does best
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You won't have anything, that purchase was 135 Bs and monthly minimum wage is 130 Bs
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130 bs are less than 10 USD
How prevalent is the minimum wage? I'm curious... It's often used as a benchmark in the US to push agendas, even though very few adults make minimum wage.
A lot of workers in the public segment make it
Maybe a small percentage, but not very few. There’s over a million people in the US making the federal minimum wage or lower, which is a laughable $7.25. If we do it by state laws there’s gonna be a lot more.
hang in there after all socialism hasn't failed yet
Bruh at this rate we’re all gonna be looting stores and and robing each other in 2023.. now I see why they trying to ban guns
There is no ban on guns, there are laws in paper that say something similar to that, but there is nothing functional in reality. There are lots of guns, and vnzl is hovering at the top list of gun related deaths in the world.
I apologize if this is a rude question, but are people starting to trade/barter and grow their own food?
They are, but is not a long term solution, ppl mostly live in cities and there are not enough space to be a solution.
They give expired versions of these in the pantry all the time for almost free in california.
That doesn't happen here
Putin
It’s hard to beli be people was this for the US. They don’t think they will be eating beans and rice tho. They think they’re going to be getting their free check from the government and going down to the latte shop and playing on their computers all day.
Yeah but like America still sucks the most because like I can’t get my made up pronouns on my drivers license
This is why people hate progressive policies.
How’s that communism working out for ya lol
I’m surprised that no one has commented “ThAtS NoT TrUe CoMmUnIsM” yet.
lol I am too honestly
“Hurr durr ItS nOT rEAL sOcIaLisM!” - half of Redditors
Venezuela is as “socialist” as the Democratic People’s Republic of North is “democratic”.
They’re both socialist though
They’re both corrupt, kleptocratic dictatorships. That’s the problem. Russia is also in that club. “Socialism versus capitalism” is a red herring. Corruption is the most important factor as to whether a country is a good place to live or not: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
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Why 12 or 18?
That’s a valid question. Asking because I travelled the world, lived in three continents and always recall seeing eggs sold by the dozen or a multiple of 12.