Bad results

Venezuela's government under Hugo Chavez (below, before his death in 2013) nationalized many privately held companies, pursuant to his socialist ideology. This was followed by "silencing of anti-government media" and increasing government control of the market place including price controls.

Nearly two years ago, as his replacement Nicolas Maduro took over, the currency was "crumbling," paper products and food were missing from store shelves, inflation was soaring.  A local attorney called the situation "depressing" and "pathetic."

Pathetic, because even then Venezuela was "a country with the world’s largest petroleum reserves and oil prices at nearly $95 a barrel, yet unable to supply basic goods because of its crumbling local currency and a shortage of U.S. dollars."

With the price of a barrel of oil this year about half that amount, Venezuela's economic problems look unsurmountable.

HuffPo says, "The self-acclaimed "socialist" regime, which in principle, stands for redistribution of wealth, has been irrefutably inefficient at converting oil profits into tangible social improvement . . [but] Hugo Chávez's fortune was estimated at 500 million US dollars."