So the Maduro government once again changed the local currency to a new name and new “value” and assigned the minimum wage that all employers must follow. But the forgot to tell employers how much people must make at higher levels.

If you are confused, let me explain. If you work in Venezuela, your salary is regulated by the Government according to a scale they came up with. So, if you are in custodial services & basic stuff like that, you get minimum wage. If you are a doctor, you make more than the custodian, but only what the government says you can make. It does not matter if your medical expertise sucks or you are the future Nobel prize: you make the same.

Now, any variations from the scale are severely penalized. They rely on workers to keep the company “honest” and not allow the owners to give special bonuses to the good workers because it would be unfair to others in the same bracket.

But when the government changed the currency and its value, they forgot to issue the new salaries. So, the companies in order not to be accused of unfairness and be sent to jail, they came up with a rather Solomonic solution: Everybody gets paid the same minimum wage.

As expected, a bunch of people are a bit upset, but there is little they can do. Their only hope is that the Government wakes up and produces the table and orders the companies to pay retroactively. And that has its possible consequences as the minimum wage was set too high for the economy and the government risks having companies shut down because they cannot make payroll.

And if you are asking why companies cannot downsize personnel to adapt, the answer is another great piece of Socialist solution: You cannot fire people unless very extreme circumstances. And they can appeal to a government ministry and you still have to keep them in the payroll till a decision is made.

And that is why companies rather shut down than deal with the increasing madness.