What Could Possibly Be The Cause of This?

Have you noticed that stable democratic countries don't experience hyperinflation?

RUBEN GALINDO: Why should you be tied to any specific type of money if it's not working for you?

GONZALEZ: His website, AirTM, allows everyone in the world to trade currencies. He hires 25 people in Venezuela, including Mila. And then they all get an email.

GALINDO: This is the Ministry of Finance. What you're doing, we don't like it. And you guys should stop because if not, we're going to put you in jail for 10 to 15 years.

GONZALEZ: Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, doesn't want too many people to have U.S. dollars. And economists say this is actually a reasonable fear. If too many people have dollars, they might refuse to use the local money. This happened in Zimbabwe in 2008, and the government was forced to make the U.S. dollar its official currency.

And something really important happens when you adopt another country's currency. You lose your ability to print money when you need to pay your bills. Venezuela's government says they've arrested more than 200 people for exchanging money on the black market, and they are looking for Mila. This is why we're not using her last name.

MILA: The charge is fake exchange rate of the dollar - terrorism financiation (ph).

What's the cause of this?  Well, it starts with "s", and rhymes with "ocialism".  That, and a strongman government that thinks it's stronger than the laws of economics.

Update, 8/13/18:  Here's more from the Bolivarian socialist paradise:

Fuel in the oil-rich nation may be practically free, but motorists are finding it increasingly hard to keep their vehicles on the road. Petrol shortages are ever more common: motorists commonly wait for six hours or more in fuel queues...

 Now, the government is attempting to alleviate the fuel crisis with a nationwide census of vehicles, and though officials have not been forthcoming with specific details, the president, Nicolás Maduro, has said it will lead to “rational” fuel use.

Even more government control.  I'm sure that will work.  But let's return to our story:

Meanwhile, the bolivar, Venezuela’s currency, is practically worthless, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting that inflation will reach one million per cent by the end of the year....