Could a TV series be made about the collapse of Venezuela and not identify socialism as the cause? Apparently yes. It’s Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan. The Foundation for Economic Education offers this short film as a corrective. “Jack Ryan, Season 2 does the world a tremendous disservice by using the real-life tragedy in Venezeula as the backdrop for its drama while ignoring the ideology that causes nothing but misery, poverty, and social collapse. Find out how Venezuela went from the 4th richest country in the world to one of the poorest in only a few generations, on this episode of Out of Frame.”
The BBC had a short segment on what it’s like to buy basic goods there. The government regulates prices in order to keep prices artificially low “for the good of the people.” The result is shortage. That’s standard Econ 101. Of course, political instability follows widespread shortages as night follows day, something CIA analyst Jack Ryan seems to have missed.