What Can Zimbabwe Learn from The Venezuela Paradox ?

G

goldsilverratio

International Monetary Fund estimates that Venezuela’s man-made disaster has resulted in the nation’s CURRENCY to lose 99.7 per cent of its value from the start of 2012 to the end of 2016 ?
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It was the same man-made disaster story in Zimbabwe ? Only the order of magnitude was worse? Zimbabwe finally abandoned the Zimbabwe Dollar in February 2009 ? With unemployment above 80 percent ? The World Food Programme has warned that 1.1 million Zimbabweans could need food aid before the next harvest in 2019 ?
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https://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/venezuela-s-government-cuts-a-sorry-figure-1.2163103
https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/11-million-zimbabweans-will-need-food-aid-warns-wfp-20180831
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If all of the above is true? Then what can Zimbabwe learn from Venezuela’s paradox? The paradox is Venezuela’s People are HUNGRY ? But farmers can’t feed them ?
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Outside the capital of Caracas in the countryside of Venezuela, there’s everything a farmer needs ? Fertile land, water, sunshine and the cheapest gasoline in the world ?
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However instead of the CHEAP GASOLINE spurring growth in domestic agriculture ? Growth has been strangled ? Sugar mills nationalized since 2005 are paralyzed or producing below capacity ?
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The decision to be the producer, processor and distributor ? Has resulted in an inefficient agricultural bureaucracy ?
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Accelerated nationalization of farms and the seizing of more than 10 million acres of land ? Has resulted in domestic food production plummeting ?
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Economists are warning that Venezuela’s disaster is MAN-MADE ? The disaster is the result of CURRENCY DISTORTIONS ? Farm nationalizations, expropriation of factories and the takeover of food distribution ?
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...6e0451a96fd_story.html?utm_term=.d1fb2a35d44e
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Zimbabwe's New Rising Star, Professor Mthuli Ncube has reportedly said that American investors are showing interest in the Southern African country, following a meeting with them in New York
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"At the oversubscribed Zimbabwe investor forum, over 100 American investors, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merill Lynch, JP Morgan showed interest in bringing capital to the newly-reformed Zimbabwe," Professor Thuli Cube quoted as saying.
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Keep in mind Zimbabwe is home to The Victoria Falls, billed as the Greatest Falling Curtain of Water on the Planet? Making it one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World?
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https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimba...st-in-zimbabwe-says-finance-minister-20180925
 
Zimbabwe starts to look at it own Paradox? Plenty of Fresh River Water? But not plenty of food to eat or Export for Foreign Currency ? Keep in mind Venezuela has its own Paradox ? Plenty of Petrol ? But not plenty of Food to eat or Export for Foreign Currency ?
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At the official opening of the VICTORIA FALLS Agricultural Show, Zimbabwe indicated that food exports may help the country earn the much needed FOREIGN CURRENCY it NEEDS ?
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Foreign currency is one of the many ingredients that may be needed to REINTRODUCE the Zimbabwe Dollar? ( Use of the Zimbabwean dollar as an official currency was effectively abandoned on 12 April 2009 )
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https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimba...africas-breadbasket-says-vp-chiwenga-20181001
 
Zimbabwe INVITES BIDS for NATIONAL AIRLINE ?
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Zimbabwe has invited BIDS for the state-owned AIRLINE as it pushes ahead with drive to PRIVATIZE and END state funding to firms ?
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Air Zimbabwe said on Monday, November 12, 2018 ?
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The AIRLINE is among dozens of state-owned firms, known locally as parastatals, that are set to be partially or fully PRIVATIZED in the next 9 months ?
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https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL8N1XN1NL
 
zdreg said:
I read it quickly as parasites.:D
More...
That's exactly right. If these African nations stop letting foreign investors come in a leech off of African resources then those governments wouldn't fail so damn much. And then African leaders turn around and invest in foreign ventures when they have major problems amongst the people in those nations. I'd never give these clowns a single red cent of my money.
 
There are tangible parallels between Venezuela and Zimbabwe, it seems. In both cases, after nationalization of the means of production, production collapsed. When a country has its own sovereign fiat currency, it is productivity that backs the currency. If productivity collapses, for whatever reason, the value of the currency will collapse. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe wanted to reward his freedom fighters, for noble reasons, by nationalizing Rhodesia's very productive farms and giving the land to his freedom fighters. Unfortunately the freedom fighters had little experience in modern farming, and farm production plummeted. Now Zimbabwe has, finally, understood what caused the value of their money to collapse, and they are trying to attract knowledgeable farmers back to Zimbabwe. Because of their history, this may be a difficult sell.

It seems Venezuela's problems are similar. Both countries had noble intentions as they fought to right injustices. When one class of citizens owns most of the resources there is bound to the social problems. A precipitous solution, such as taking the means of production from the few who control it and have the know-how to make the factories and farms work and then giving these seized resources to those who don't have the necessary know-how, is a recipe for disaster. Equally disastrous is the putting of formerly productive resources in the hands of government officials who likewise lack the necessary expertise to manage them efficiently. There are much better and more gradual ways to deal with imbalances in the ownership of productive resources.

The experience of Rhodesia and Venezuela should serve as a warning to other countries not to let the distribution of resources get too lopsided in the first place by paying attention to the need for high quality public education and expansion of opportunity for all. The best approach is through natural acquisition made possible by education and expansion of competency, opportunity and healthy competition.

Pernicious trends in a society, such as growing regulatory capture, wealth distribution lopsidedness, and deterioration of public education, can be unfortunate results of our instinctive human greed. These are the early warning signs of social unrest down the road. Eventually there will be a reaction, but if the reaction is like that in the former Rhodesia, and now in Venezuela, a country will end up being worse off still. The time to act is when the warning signs are evident, but before the important stabilizing institutions of government have begun to collapse. Deteriorating social conditions are a fertile ground for demagogues who, if allowed, will wreak havoc with civilities and bring their own special brand of destructive forces to bear.
 
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