Crude Nation

How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela

Raúl Gallegos

$63.95

Hardback

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English

Potomac Books Inc
01 October 2016

History; International relations; International economics; Political economy; Petroleum & oil industries

Beneath Venezuelan soil lies an ocean of crude—the world’s largest reserves—an oil patch that shaped the nature of the global energy business. Unfortunately, a dysfunctional anti-American, leftist government controls this vast resource and has used its wealth to foster voter support, ultimately wreaking economic havoc.

Crude Nation reveals the ways in which this mismanagement has led to Venezuela’s economic ruin and turned the country into a cautionary tale for the world. Raúl Gallegos, a former Caracas-based oil correspondent, paints a picture both vivid and analytical of the country’s economic decline, the government’s foolhardy economic policies, and the wrecked lives of Venezuelans.

Without transparency, the Venezuelan government uses oil money to subsidize life for its citizens in myriad unsustainable ways, while regulating nearly every aspect of day-to-day existence in Venezuela. This has created a paradox in which citizens can fill up the tanks of their SUVs for less than one American dollar while simultaneously enduring nationwide shortages of staples such as milk, sugar, and toilet paper. Gallegos’s insightful analysis shows how mismanagement has ruined Venezuela again and again over the past century and lays out how Venezuelans can begin to fix their country, a nation that can play an important role in the global energy industry. This paperback edition features a new introduction by the author.

By: Raúl Gallegos
Imprint: Potomac Books Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 666g
ISBN: 9781612347707
ISBN 10: 1612347703
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 01 October 2016
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Raul Gallegos, a senior analyst for the consulting firm Control Risks, has been a featured columnist for Bloomberg View, covering Latin American politics, business, and finance. He has been an oil correspondent with Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal.

Reviews for Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela

Raul Gallegos does a superb job chronicling Venezuela s myriad woes. No other account captures in such stark terms and vivid detail how calamitous the utter mismanagement of oil riches can be for an economy and society. Crude Nation tells a tragic, cautionary tale one with untold costs for most Venezuelans. Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank--Michael Shifter (02/24/2016)