Lessons America Must Learn From Venezuela

How much money do you need to buy a bag of rice? If you live in the South American nation of Venezuela, you need over 2 million bolivars to buy a 2-pound bag of it. The paper bills weigh more than the rice itself.

About 10 percent of the country’s population has fled as refugees. People are trying to escape the kinds of economic conditions usually associated with war. The only free market in the country is the black market, so nearly everyone in the country engages in criminal activity on some level.

It is a failing state, and there isn’t even a war to blame it on. So what happened? As late as 2001, Venezuela was the wealthiest country in Latin America. How did this nation become an economic and humanitarian disaster zone?

This economic and political meltdown has some important lessons that even we in the United States had better heed.