Venezuela continues to reap the benefits of socialism as it celebrates the title of being the country with the highest inflation in the entire world. Add to that the hunger; shortages of basic items; misery; repression; political arrests; and murder Venezuelans have been enduring and it’s a wonder the rest of the world does not turn socialist.

Karina Martin reports in PanAm Post:

Socialist Venezuela Ends 2017 with the World’s Largest Inflation Rate: Nearly 3,000 Percent

Venezuela ended 2017 with four-figure hyperinflation reaching nearly 3,000 percent, according to the financial consultancy Ecoanalítica.

Though President Nicolás Maduro’s regime won’t admit to the inflation problem, the ever-increasing price of the dollar is enough to devalue of the country’s money significantly. According to the DolarToday website, Now, it’s at 111,413.23 bolivars.

The Maduro regime has not published economic data since 2015, and blames the United States and the international financial system for sabotaging the country’s economy.

The price of the most basic goods in Venezuela cost 13,883,365 bolivars (US $125), which is equivalent to more than 70 minimum wage salaries — equivalent to 177,000 bolivars (US $1.5 ).

Monthly inflation reached 81 percent in December, on top of food and medicine shortages caused by price controls, low production and a lack of foreign exchange for imports.

“Venezuela produces a mere 30 percent of its demand for food,” Economist José Toro Hardy explained. “There are no dollars with which to pay their debts. They have the highest inflation rate in the world. They are about to default. They are isolated and the regime is losing money.”

The desperation in Venezuela is so bad that many Venezuelans are forced to dig through the garbage in search of food.