How oil revenue enabled kleptocracy

Venezuela's collapse is about way more than socialism and oil. Ryan McBeth breaks down how a resource-rich nation became a cautionary tale on our doorstep.

Welcome to what we're calling our "Out of the Loop" episodes, where we dig a little deeper into fascinating current events that may only register as a blip on the media's news cycle and have conversations with the people who find themselves immersed in them.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1269

On This Episode of Out of the Loop:

• Venezuela's collapse wasn't caused by a single villain or policy — it happened because oil money replaced accountability. Institutions were hollowed out, competence was swapped for loyalty, and when the cash dried up, the regime compensated with control instead of reform.
• Hugo Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution" brought real benefits early on — redistributing oil wealth and challenging entrenched elites. But the gains depended entirely on high oil prices, and when those collapsed around 2010, hyperinflation, shortages, and mass migration followed.
• Venezuela matters strategically to the US because it sits near the Panama Canal and Gulf Coast refineries — making it a pressure point for energy markets, migration flows, and criminal networks. China and Russia have both moved in, treating the instability like an open house.
• Nicolás Maduro wasn't so much a supreme leader as a traffic cop managing competing mafias. The country's power structure fractured into factions — military, political, criminal — each with its own incentives, making any clean transition extremely difficult.
• Venezuela's story is a reminder that resource wealth without strong institutions becomes a trap — but it also shows that populations who've experienced democracy and prosperity tend to push back. That memory of better times can become the foundation for rebuilding.
• And much more!
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