Corbyn’s paradise lost

THE scale of Venezuela’s self-inflicted economic catastrophe is so vast that it’s almost impossible to comprehend.

According to the International Monetary Fund, inflation in Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite Marxist utopia could reach one million per cent between now and the end of the year.

To put it in context, this means a loaf of bread which sells for £1 now would cost £10,000 by December. In other words, your money (and any savings you may have) would be almost worthless.

But there is also a darkly comic, Orwellian side to this unfolding tragedy.

One of President Nicolas Maduro’s brilliant wheezes to help solve the financial crisis is to increase the minimum wage for all workers by 3,000 per cent.

Worthy enough of course. But as almost every industry in the country has ground to a halt, who does he think will pay them?

There are Soviet-style food queues, soaring unemployment, a dire shortage of medicines – and a shocking rise in police brutality as protest is ruthlessly suppressed.

Once among the richest countries in South America thanks to its huge oil reserves, Venezuela has become a basket-case.

As all socialists eventually do, Mr Maduro has run out of other people’s money. And anyone thinking of voting Labour in the next election should heed this parable well.