Desperate Venezuela Begins to Sell Its Gold Reserves.

[Free Vulcan]

Venezuela’s gold reserves have plunged to their lowest level on record after it sold $1.7 billion of the precious metal in the first quarter of the year to repay debts, reports FT.

The country’s gold reserves have dropped almost a third over the past year and it sold over 40 tons in February and March, according to IMF data.

Venezuela began selling its gold reserves in March 2015, according to IMF data. At roughly 367 tons, Venezuela had the world's 16th-biggest gold reserves, according to the World Gold Council. In contrast, China and Russia both added to their gold holdings this year, the data show.

The Venezuelan economy has been in freefall as a result of its socialist policies that have suffocated market activity and mad money printing going on by the Venezuelan central bank.

Read more: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2016/05/desperate-venezuela-begins-to-sell-its.html

[Suppressed]

Venezuela’s gold reserves have plunged to their lowest level on record after it sold $1.7 billion of the precious metal in the first quarter of the year to repay debts, reports FT.

Sorry, Venezuela, but this spiral doesn't end.  Time to reload a saved game.

[geronl]

Dirt poor but they can scrape up the cash for military exercises...

https://devilexcrement.com/2016/05/22/venezuelas-health-crisis-will-be-long-lasting/



EXCERPTED

While we have all heard the calls for medicine xx or yy in Twitter or Facebook, what needs to be understood is that this is not only a crisis today, but something which will have an impact on the health of Venezuelans for years to come. The people above in the pictures, wasting their time and Venezuela’s money are not only ignoring those that die everyday due to the lack of medicines, but they are also sentencing many others to die in the future, due to the absence of the most basic medicines for health problems that can be easily controlled or managed.

These same people, are making daily decisions in Venezuela about which pharmaceutical companies can get limited foreign currency, which are based on their own ill conceived plans for the the development of the Venezuelan economy.

Today, Venezuelans find that even the most basic antibiotics can not be found. Why? Because it is not only that the foreign currency approved is limited, but that there is no health management concept involved in deciding which products get or not foreign currency.

EXCERPT

Take simple things, like disinfectants and antiseptics. There are a number of them which are only found in insufficient quantities thesedays, such that hospitals have to shut down areas and operating rooms, because there is no way to guarantee that patients can be held in these areas without disinfecting them first. This implies that operations are postponed, patients sent home and people simply die, because simple procedures that will prolong their life can not be provided safely.

Sometimes, not even the reagents needed to perform simple blood tests can be found and patients are turned away even before they can tell why it is they are not feeling well. Sometimes they have to wait weeks before they can have what is considered a simple exam in most, if not all, countries of the world.

Playing hide and seek during military maneuvers. Hope the guys is not allergic, there are no antihistamines either.

[Oceander]

Ain't socialism grand. 

[driftdiver]

Ain't socialism grand.

Did they run out of other people's money?    Where are Sean Penn and Danny glover now