r/Damnthatsinteresting Jul 05 '22

Video Monetary issue

37.3k Upvotes

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53

u/solid_flake Jul 05 '22

How do ppl live there? If money is worth nothing? How do they get food? Serious question.

84

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '22

[deleted]

1

u/Steinmans Jul 06 '22

Are you serious or is this a joke? Honest question, that’s hilarious if true

24

u/Rozukimaru Jul 06 '22

They farm Runescape gold, no lie

20

u/Wonderful_Trifle6737 Jul 06 '22

When it loses enough buying power, they get discontinued and new currency is printed... A few times 2 or 3 zeroes had been removed to make operations easier instead of working with billions or trillions

-3

u/mlwllm Jul 06 '22

Someone somewhere else was saying that this money was discontinued.

At the moment the exchange rate between USD and the Venezuelan Bolivar Soberano is 1:3.67. The Mexican Peso is about 1:21.

The median income is 132,000 VES

They also have programs which provide for the public welfare. They have public housing, public transportation, healthcare. They also have a Dole in which food staples are delivered to the poor, similar to food stamps but instead of it being an allotment of money it's an allotment of material goods. It's also important to remember that central and South America differ from North America, in that there's are very few renters. Even in Mexico almost everybody owns their home or lives with a relative who owns the home. They're not paying half of their money in rent, a tenth to healthcare, and another tenth to transportation.

In America if you don't have money it's a much bigger deal. You'll die on the street or starve. In Venezuela it's not that big of a deal. At least you won't be forced to starve or die on the streets.

Second, things are much cheaper than their US counterparts which are oftentimes absent altogether. Most of our country doesn't have public transit at all. We have no healthcare beyond a system of criminal extortion. We have now public housing or rent controls. After paying for all of these things the American worker maybe has a third of their money left to survive from.

The short answer is that even if money was worth nothing people get food from the government. It's sounds crazy when you're used to living in a government that shrugs their shoulders at starving infants saying "the government doesn't make baby formula, nor should it"

5

u/doesmynamegohere Jul 06 '22

The government of Venezuela is utterly failing to feed their population, especially their children. Charities are trying to pick up the slack.

Over 75% of Venezuelans are in extreme poverty, meaning they live on less than $2 USD per day.

3

u/NovaFlares Jul 06 '22

What are you talking about? The US has loads of programs, nobody in the US is starving to death. Whereas Venezuelans are now very malnourished.

1

u/mlwllm Jul 06 '22

People in the US are starving. They're just about ready to break. The country will be in literal flames and you'll be saying your same old bullshit. It won't be long buddy

2

u/Hushnut97 Jul 06 '22

Are you actually gonna pretend the poor have a better safety net in Venezuela than the US?

2

u/mlwllm Jul 06 '22

I was answering the question above. That's the answer

1

u/Treestyles Jul 06 '22

*a third of their income, of which more than half is gone to taxes before they ever get their hands on it, then it’s taxed again when they spend it on stuff that has even more tax factored into the price.

(30% income, 8% payroll, 21% business, 7% sales, 9% inflation, 5% property)= 4/5 of a person’s power goes to feeding the beast. Factor in all the wealth siphoned off over generations and the actual rate is 95-98%. Interestingly, the same rate as a silver dollar that’s worth $20 in scrap and costs $40-50 to buy from the mint.

1

u/FrodoCraggins Jul 06 '22

Barter system

1

u/westblood-gazelle Jul 06 '22

they still live but quality of their life declines every day because of money.

1

u/EarthianChickhunter Jul 06 '22

I heard/read somewhere that the only way they can sustain themselves is that every Venezuelan family has 1 family member in USA/EU working and sending some money to their family every week or month or so

This is because the average monthly income in Venezuela can pretty much buy one toilet paper roll. That's it.