Earlier this year, the price of the Venezuelan Bolivar dropped, hard. One Bolivar is currently worth 0.000017 American dollars. When a nation’s currency loses it’s value to such a severe degree, society suffers significantly as a result. But just how bad is it?
The minimum wage in Venezuela is 177,507 Bs a month, as of November 2017. That’s $2.99 USD. I don’t know about you all, but three dollars a month is hardly livable for me. Unfortunately, many groceries haven’t adjusted fully to this extremely low wage. Two rolls of toilet paper will cost you 400,000 Bs, a two-liter of soda about 298,000 Bs, and a pound of beef costs 1,150,000 Bs.
You’d think people would be rioting and pillaging at this point, but it’s quite the opposite. Locals report that many residents are actually in denial. They don’t understand or accept the severity of the situation. They’d disregard opportunities to transfer to a different currency, be it crypto or silver.
You may be asking how people have been surviving this whole time. It’s primarily been based on goods and services. Many trade chocolate and cigarettes. Others are accepting cryptos in exchange for goods and car parts, which are later used to purchase supplies on the internet.
Others have taken to far more grave solutions. Some weak or elderly have chosen to commit suicide. They don’t wish to burden their families. Locals claim that the Venezuelan government falsifies the reported rate of suicide to mask just how bad things have become.
Situations like this are exactly what many preppers are getting ready for. A self-sufficient bug out location could be seen as a precautionary paradise, should something like the American dollar collapse.