Tag Archives: Latin America

Venezuela’s House of Cards

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“The story of the Venezuelan economy and its troubled currency, the bolivar, can be summed up with the following phrase: ‘From bad to worse’—over and over again. Yes, the ever deteriorating situation in Venezuela has taken yet another turn for the worse. In a panicked, misguided response to the country’s economic woes, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has requested emergency powers over the economy. And the Maduro government recently announced plans to institute a new exchange rate for tourists in an attempt to quash arbitrage-driven currency smuggling.”

http://www.cato.org/blog/venezuelas-house-cards

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Jeff Berwick on Bloomberg TV: Galt’s Gulch Chile and Bitcoin

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“Jeff Berwick is interviewed on Bloomberg TV about Galt’s Gulch Chile and Bitcoin. Many businesses such as Subway and Shopify are accepting bitcoin and Jeff is very optimistic about it’s future.”

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Venezuelan President Maduro ‘to expand price controls’

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“Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he plans to extend price controls to all consumer goods, if he is given powers to govern by decree.  In a televised address, Mr Maduro said that he wanted to set legal limits on businesses’ profit margins.  His announcement followed the seizure on Saturday of shops accused of selling electronic goods at inflated prices.  The National Assembly is expected to vote this week on his request to govern temporarily by decree.  The president demanded there be ‘zero tolerance with speculators’ in his speech broadcast on Sunday. ‘This is beyond usury, this is theft,’ he added.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24897407

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Maduro’s ‘occupy retail’ cry comes as Christmas gift

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“Christmas seemed to have come early in Venezuela as snaking lines of sleep-deprived people formed outside fancy stores and soldiers stood on guard after President Nicolas Maduro ordered the army to ‘occupy’ a chain of electronics stores that was ‘hoarding goods with the objective of hobbling the country’s economy’.  In a nationwide crackdown, which started on Friday night, top managers of the Daka chain were arrested and its stores forced to sell products at much cheaper prices. ‘We’re doing this for the good of the nation’, said Mr. Maduro in a televised speech, accusing the country’s elite of waging an economic ‘war’ against Venezuela with the help of Washington.”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/maduros-occupy-retail-cry-comes-as-christmas-gift/article5337063.ece

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Inflation, Shortages And Economic Turmoil: Venezuela On The Brink

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“Earlier this month, in another attempt to ensure ‘happiness for all people,’ Maduro began to hand out Christmas bonuses, in preparation for the coming elections in December. But political campaigning is not the only reason for the government’s open-handedness. The annual inflation rate in Venezuela has been rapidly rising in recent months, and has now reached a staggering 54 percent (not accounting for possible under-estimations). Although not yet officially in hyper-inflation, monetary expansion is pushing Venezuela toward the brink.  In such an environment, paychecks need to be distributed quickly, before prices have time to rise; hence, early bonuses.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/inflation-shortages-economic-turmoil-venezuela-brink-1470274

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Galt’s Gulch Chile: First Libertarian Community Accepting Bitcoin

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“Galt’s Gulch Chile is a self-sustaining organic farming community located within the mild Mediterranean microclimate of central Chile. This realization of John Galt’s vision holds title to over 11,000 acres of pristine land with nearly 800 liters per second of registered underground and surface water rights. Galt’s Gulch Chile presents, for the first time, the opportunity to purchase real estate with the revolutionary new virtual currency bitcoin.  Galt’s Gulch Chile spokesperson Jeff Berwick, founder of StockHouse, TDV Media & BitcoinATM, has played a significant role in the early stages of bitcoin. Berwick has been on Fox News, CNBC & Bloomberg to discuss the rise of bitcoin.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/galts-gulch-chile-becomes-first-115057438.html

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Black Market Dollar Exchange Sparks Argentina Luxury Sales Crackdown

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“Argentines who buy a car valued at more than 350,000 pesos ($58,600) will now be required to justify the transaction with the Financial Information Unit, the nation’s money-laundering watchdog, according to a Nov. 11 decree.  Argentina is boosting its currency controls as consumers faced with 25 percent annual inflation turn to everything from luxury cars to gold and bitcoins as a store of savings. With the black market offering holders of undeclared U.S. currency 3.8 pesos more than the official exchange rate of 5.9764 pesos per dollar, demand for premium cars from Volkswagen AG’s Porsche and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is causing a 33 percent jump in imports this year.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/porsche-911s-at-39-off-spurs-argentina-crackdown-on-peso.html

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Have Bitcoin To Burn? Next Stop Could Be The Farm

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“One farm open to the idea is La Nay Ferme in Provo, Utah.  Owner Clinton Felsted says he began using bitcoin when a crew for the documentary Life on Bitcoin approached him about accepting the currency. Now he’s working on a more user-friendly bitcoin payment method that should be up and running by February for consumers buying his fruits and vegetables.  Bitcoin is most popular in the U.S., but farmers outside the U.S. are warming to it as well. One of the first to sell greens in exchange for virtual currency lives in Argentina.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/11/12/243970494/have-bitcoin-to-burn-next-stop-could-be-the-farm

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Venezuela Stock Market Up 313% In 2013

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“The Venezuela Stock Market is now up 312.62% for the year to date in bolivar terms, though only 181.63% in official rate dollar terms because of a February devaluation, but still making it the best performing stock market in the world.  Real returns in the unofficial dollar market are less. On January 1, one US dollar could buy approximately 20 bolivars in the unofficial black market. On Friday in Cucuta, Colombia, across the Venezuelan border — where the unofficial market in bolivar/dollars is not illegal — one US dollar could be sold for 46 bolivars.”

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=1106716&CategoryId=10717

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Argentine Stocks Rise on Speculation Country to Boost Reserves

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“The central bank’s board approved a resolution to restrict local lending to the seven largest grains exporters, forcing them to obtain foreign currency financing, which may bring $2 billion into Argentina by year end, said two people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be named because the resolution hasn’t been made public. Reserves have tumbled $10 billion to $33.3 billion this year to a six-year low as the nation increases energy imports and uses the funds to pay foreign debt.  Banks will only be able to lend 0.3 percent of their total lending portfolio to companies that export 75 percent of their output and have more than 200 million pesos of outstanding bank loans, the people said.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-05/argentine-stocks-rise-on-speculation-country-to-boost-reserves.html

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