Venezuela Is At The Edge of A Dangerous Precipice. Merry Christmas.
Source: redicecreations
Venezuela has had it tough, and it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and one of the ways President Nicolas Maduro is reportedly attempting to remedy the economic and political situation is by - no joke - moving Christmas to November.
Santa Solution: President Maduro points out his most serious face to demonstrate how sure he is of this plan.
Hopefully moving holidays around will make Venezuelans jolly about their circumstances. But what they probably want for Christmas is a few rolls of toilet paper. Will San Nicolas deliver?
More from Business Insider...
---
A Few Bizarre Anecdotes That Show Venezuela Is At The Edge Of A Dangerous Precipice
By Linette Lopez | Business Insider
Hugo Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, is getting desperate.
Today, he is supposed to announce new measures to reform the Venezuelan economy — an economy that, for the last 12 months, has had an average inflation rate of almost 50% and faced shortages of staples like toilet paper.
What’s worse, is that the 2014 budget the Venezuelan legislature proposed last month basically ignores all those facts, and bases its allocations on an inflation outlook of 26-28%.
Meanwhile, there are signs everywhere that Maduro is grasping at any possible shred of political legitimacy he can get his hands on. Last month, he asked the legislature to grant him special powers to combat corruption and economic sabotage.
It can’t be stressed enough — he is no Chavez. So his administration has to compensate.
And here are some bizarre ways he’s doing it.
The country has created a ’Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness’ to combat despair. Maduro’s opposition responded that the people will be happy when they have something to eat.
For the "sake of happiness", the Ministry moved Christmas up to November 1st — this may also be an attempt to jump-start some consumption. As Venezuelan paper El Universal points, out, it also could also be a way for the government to give its ministers some cash in the form of early Christmas bonuses right before election day on December 8th.
[...]
Read the full article at: businessinsider.com
