How come Venezuela has all this petroleum but still have a high poverty rate?

Question

I am just curious about this topic. I know Venezuela has all this millions of gallons of petroleum, but why are most of its pople under poverty?

The same with Mexico. Is it because of their government or why?

Answer 1

Venezuela has had millions of poor people for 50 years, Hugo Chavez has been in power for 8. It's worth considering that perhaps he's not entirely to blame for the country's poor situation.

Corrupt government certainly deserves a significant portion of the blame for the situation of Venezuela's poor, but international oil companies also siphon significant portions of Venezuela's oil profits out of the country.

Perhaps the primary reason that Venezuela's poor remain poor, is that Venezuela has a lot of oil. It seems counterintuitive, but the fact that Venezuela has a lot of oil means that it hasn't needed to develop a functional economy. Rather, it simply relies on oil revenues. Oil revenues are amongst the most easy to divert to corrupt business leaders and politicians.

Answer 2

Marxism causes extreme poverty no matter how rich in resources the country is. The biggest and most blatant example is Russia. Before the "revolution", Russia was rapidly becoming the economic and industrial superpower of the world. Had their government not been overthrown, THEY and not the United States would be the world's superpower. Likely, they would never have allied themselves with the Nazis and there is a good chance that the Axis powers would never have formed, preventing World War II. Without the military need of that war, the US would not have industrialized so rapidly or so thoroughly.

But, the revolution DID happen. The Russians allied themselves with the Nazis and the Axis formed (something they would regret). The paranoid Marxists killed much of their military leadership. The Nazis, showing what a spectacularly bad idea it is to ally yourself with evil people, immediately moved to invade and enslave them. They failed, of course. But, did Russia learn its lesson? Nope. They would cruelly put to death hundreds of millions of people for no reason whatsoever beyond terrorizing the population into obediance. The rest ended up impoverished beyond belief, living under conditions very much like slavery. What a utopia these Marxist create whenever they get any power whatsoever.

Russia still has the resources. Still has all the elements needed to make something of themselves.

But, they still haven't learned their lesson. So they live in poverty. So does Cuba. So does most of China. And do does Venezuela.

Mexico is damn close to a socialist takeover (did anyone notice that Fox was unable to give his speech in public due to safety issues). Those elements keep Mexico impoverished.

Answer 3

Well, this was the case long before Chavez was in power, so it certainly is not because of him. Chavez's supporters would claim he is trying to change that. Time will tell if it is really more of the same, or if he actually does make some good changes. Foreign intervention certainly will not be very helpful in any case.

Answer 4

In both cases, the governments take all of the profits, keep most for the in-crowds, and give very little to the peasants. Keeping them in poverty keeps them in line.

Answer 5

The government collects all of the money, and does not allow it to "trickle down" to the citizens. In order to maintain power over the people, the gov't holds all the money--he who has the gold makes the rules :)

Answer 6

Yes, it's because of their government. You will see this start happening here within the next few years. This is caused by cutting taxes for the rich, while continuing to mount financial burdens on the poor and eliminating the middle class.

Answer 7

Yep. There are many countries with great natural resources that are poor because of bad governments and corruption.

Answer 8

its the same in saudi, iran, iraq, and a host of other countries with oil as a main source of income. i believe kuwait is about the only country that shares its wealth with the masses. dont quote me on that kuwait thing, its something i heard.

Answer 9

Because the government keeps it all for themselves. They are even more corrupt than the U.S. if you can believe it.

Answer 10

Socialism. It works wonders. It makes everybody poor.