Why Venezuela Is The 'Most Miserable' Country In The World, Again

For the second year in a row Venezuela has topped the "Misery Index," an annual list compiled by The Cato Institute. The list combines data about a country's inflation rate, interest rates, and unemployment. It also factors any slides in GDP growth. In short, the reason Venezuela has held its position is that a bad situation has turned into a dire one over the past year — even in the past few months. Oil makes up 95% of the country's exports, and the price of the commodity has fallen by more than half since the last time Cato calculated "misery." Now the government is simply running out of money. More…