The Venezuelan government announced on Sunday that it will raise the minimum wage by 50 percent as part of efforts to combat inflation.
Socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed that to shield workers from the world’s highest inflation rate he will install a minimum monthly salary of 40,683 bolivars. This is equal to $60 under the state’s currency exchange controls, or just $12 on the black market.
“To start the year, I have decided to raise salaries and pensions,” he said on his weekly TV and radio program. “In times of economic war and mafia attacks … we must protect employment and workers’ income.”
In addition to a wage hike, Venezuelan consumers will also receive an additional food bonus of roughly $93.
How exactly will Venezuela pay for the pay hikes? It’s simple: the central bank turn on the printing press, says Opposition lawmaker Jose Guerra.
Although the government reports that the inflation rate was 181 percent last year, opposition officials and economists outside of the impoverished socialist paradise pegged the number at more than 500 percent. Meanwhile, the national economy weakened by another 12 percent.
For those who believe that raising the minimum wage and printing money do not come with any dire consequences, Venezuela’s economic collapse is further proof that hiking the minimum wage and inflating the money supply breed disastrous results.
Of course, since Maduro blames the nation’s downfall on a “capitalist conspiracy,” many leftists, millennials, celebrities and SJWs will still contend that Venezuela is a paradise because of socialism.
When will people ever learn that socialism is a failed experiment of the 20th century?
Why don’t they raise interest rates? This is absurd economics.