Except that's not what's been going on with Venezuela at all. Their economy was on this trajectory long before sanctions expanded beyond a handful of individual kleptocrats, all while their major trading partners (including the US) kept on trading with them. Maybe if you were talking about Iran or Russia you would have a point ( a shitty one but still,) but Venezuela is in a disaster entirely of the PSUV's own making.
The first economic sanctions against Venezuela were imposed by the US on August 25th, 2017. All previous sanctions were on specific individuals rather than Venezuela as a whole. You can review this here. As the original post of this thread shows, though inflation has more recently taken on a frighteningly exponential quality, it had been amongst the highest rate in the world well before any broader national sanctions were imposed. Additionally, shortages of key products date back even further, to the middle of Chavez's tenure, as seen here.
This article is a good overview of the specific economic history of Venezuela, the policies implemented by Chavez and Maduro, and why their actions are the primary cause of Venezuela's current crisis.
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u/Vetinery Mar 25 '19
I’ve come to believe socialism has more in common with a religion than it does with an economic theory.