Fascinating & depressing situation in Venezuela: No water, a dead main currency, and a state-approved scam cryptocurrency
First off, there's a crisis in Venezuela right now, and it's getting relatively little attention.
Tap water is very hard to come by, forcing people to band together to hire a company to dig wells near their properties, or to literally spend all day filling up empty jugs at trickling springs in the area.
Most days, water doesn't flow at all.
This affects both the rich and the poor, except the rich can afford to drill wells to supplement their almost nonexistent water supply.
People can't take showers, they can't wash their clothes, and they can't wash dishes. Armed soldiers are sent out to the streets to quell protests about the water situation.
Not surprisingly, this crisis is the result of an incompetent and corrupt communist government. They once had a world-class water system, bringing ample water from far-off reservoirs over huge mountains, but over time, those pipes have cracked and broken due to lack of maintenance.
Late at night, if surprise water shows up in local pipes, people bang on each other's doors to quickly fill up their containers or inflatable water supply pools, before the water vanishes again.
In the meantime, the currency is a disaster.
The Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte -- the second incarnation of the Bolivar, has suffered from hyperinflation this year. In early February, one Bolivar Fuerte was worth about 10 US cents. Nowadays, one million Bolivar Fuertes will get you 4 US dollars. Not joking.
The government's response has been twofold.
They've lopped off 5 zeroes from the Bolivar Fuerte and created a new currency callled Bolivar Soleano, which took effect on August 20. 100,000 Bolivar Fuerte will get you one Bolivar Soleano. However, hyperinflation is continuing, and this new currency isn't likely to change much.
Earlier this year, they also introduced a supposed cryptocurrency called the Petro. It is supposedly tied to Venezuelan oil reserves, but there is no proof that's true. The Petro has been called a "scam" and "created out of thin air" by nearly everyone observing from the outside, including the cryptocurrency community. In March, Donald Trump issued an executive order forbidding Americans from buying the Petro, citing that it's a way Venezuela is trying to dodge US sanctions. It seems that Trump has a point, as the Petro was created with the help of Russia for exactly that purpose.
Anyway, it's a complete mess over there, and is yet another example of communism failing to work in practice.
