Trickle-Down Effects Of Rapidly Deteriorating Venezuela

This includes Venezuela, where the situation is particularly dire. Much more than any other country, Venezuela has social, political and economic problems that are at once intertwined, intractable and exasperated by oil’s ongoing slump. For years, Venezuela has been plagued by high crime rates, acute levels of economic inequality, and a barely functioning justice system. The government has always leveraged its profound oil wealth to keep a lid on these problems and prevent them from manifesting into more widespread social unrest, and, for the most part, that effort has been successful, achieved via a series of subsidies covering essential goods and services, such as gas, food and medical care. More….