But as we like to point out in these articles, there's always an apocalypse somewhere. We're talking about countries in which life was fairly normal a few years ago, until the day when everything fell apart. Today's example: Venezuela. Once on the road to becoming an economic powerhouse, Venezuela is now one of the poorest and most dangerous countries on Earth. We sat down with one citizen to learn what happens when your country's economy and government just... stop working. 6 - Any Economy Can Suddenly Collapse

Above and below are pictures of our source's local grocery store in the middle of an average day: Nothing but Doritos. Worse than nothing at all, really. Those weren't taken on the eve of some big national drinking party. Food simply ... doesn't show up anymore. On the rare occasions the stores have stock, people queue up in block-spanning lines that would make Weimar-era Germans wince. All to get their hands on flour, soap, or the almost-mythical Coca-Cola. They debate sightings like it's some sugary Bigfoot. Our source took that picture illegally, by the way. Photos of bread lines, he says, "'promote discomfort and give a bad name to the country.' I faced the risk of receiving a ticket or having my camera taken." That's what zoom lenses are for. This is the part where you think, "Well, that's what you get under radical socialism. But that could never happen in America!" But u ntil recently, their grocery stores looked the same as yours, except with more accent marks in the product names. Now, Venezuelans are only legally allowed to shop twice a week, and they have to hope they pick a day when looters don't show up. There was no evil commie conspiracy; just a spiral of bad decisions. We're not saying it's likely that you're going to wake up one day and go through the same thing where you live, but it's not impossible. An economy can be a fragile thing. Be happy you can order groceries online ... for now. But disaster creates opportunity. One of Venezuela's few growth industries revolves around helping people with money avoid the worst of the scarcity. Bachaqueros ("voracious insect," basically, so it's not a respected gig) buy up as much as they can find, and then resell it on the black market. Our source explains, "A carton of milk sells for one dollar. The bachaqueros sell it for eight to nine. That undermines the economy, because normal people can't get those products. The minimum wage most people get is not enough." Bachaqueros befriend store owners and cashiers to get around fingerprint-enforced purchase limits. Your average Joe can only buy two cartons of milk a week ... unless he goes to the bachaqueros, who dodge those rules to stock up. You can also pay bachaqueros to stand in line for you, which sounds like laziness until you discover that a line can stretch for six hours. It's reached the point where social media is used to discuss toilet paper strategy. "You can ask on Instagram or Twitter. People will find you, and you can buy in bulk. We have 50 rolls on hand, and we stock up every time we can, because we don't know when there's going to be a shortage again. The most common alternative is to shower right after going to the bathroom. The smallest denomination of money is used for toilet paper, because it's worthless ." We're fairly sure that wasn't a figure of speech. 5 - You Suddenly Can't Leave The House After Dark