Venezuelan Inflation

You want to know what hyperinflation looks like? In Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro raised the minimum wage by two million bolívars. It was one million and now it is three million. Food vouchers went up from 1,555,500 to 2,196,000. Pensions went up 3,000,000. If you are wondering, 3,000,000 bolívars is $1.14 at the black market rate.

The National Assembly, of course made up of the opposition, believes the inflation rate to be 24,600%. This crazily high number seems reasonable when a president is throwing around millions of the currency in an effort to keep up with the increases in prices. Tarek El Aissami has decided that another way is to send the army to check prices. Soldiers with rifles stand at the markets.

Remember five years ago when it was 49.4%? That seemed pretty damned bad. Now it is literally more profitable to make purses out of money than to use the money itself.