Hundreds of thousands of people protested against President Maduro in Caracas. Christian Veron, Reuters
PJ Media: Oil Reporter Details How Riches Have Ravaged Venezuela
WASHINGTON – Venezuela and Norway offer virtually opposite outcomes in the management of oil wealth.
Norway’s 5.3 million citizens are now entitled to nearly $200,000 each, money that has accumulated from a $1 trillion fund the government carefully set aside and managed through the country’s massive oil and gas wealth. In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez was once in a position to be giving away hundreds of thousands of free cars and houses to his citizens. Today, Venezuelans are lucky to have enough food to eat.
On Tuesday, Raúl Gallegos, a journalist who covered Venezuela’s oil industry for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, described how once-oil-rich Venezuela has been destroyed by corruption, wealth mismanagement and an addiction to spending.
Speaking at the Cato Institute, Gallegos relayed details from his book, How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela, which offers a history of rulers bent on excessive spending.
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WNU Editor: Venezuela is not the only country that has squandered away its wealth .... but it is unique in that its fall occurred so quickly, and the destruction that it has wrought has impacted almost everyone in the country.
