Stories about plummeting stock markets, a sputtering Chinese economy, and the yuan versus the dollar have dominated financial news over the past few weeks. Lost in the din: the economic disaster continuing to unfold in Venezuela.

Venezuelans face crippling shortages of basic staples as their currency, the bolivar, continues to inflate at breakneck speed.

Hyperinflation has rendered the bolivar practically worthless. A photo uploaded to Reddit of a man using a 2 bolivar note as a napkin went viral last week. Business Insider reported that based on the official exchange rate, the makeshift napkin was worth about 32 cents. But in reality, the man didn't waste nearly that much.

On the black market, the reality is completely different. You can get 676.88 bolivars to the dollar, according to dolartoday.com. That means holding food with a 2 bolivar note costs the holder less than a third of one US cent."

The government stopped releasing inflation figures in December 2014 when the annual rate reached 68%. In the absence of official figures, a Miami based financial analyst came up with a creative way to track inflation in his home country. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Miguel Octavio uses the price of cornmeal cakes known as arepas to track the devaluation of the Venezuelan currency. Over nine months, he has recorded a fourfold increase in what he calls his Hyperinflated Arepa Index. According to the Mises Institute, the makeshift index suggests a current inflation rate of around 400%. Some economists estimate the annual inflation rate is actually 808%.

The socialist government's meddling with the economy has not only spurred hyperinflation. Its price controls and central planning have also predictably led to shortages. The Wall Street Journal reports long supermarket lines for basic food such as milk and rice. Cooking oil, corn flour, sugar, sanitary pads, batteries, and even coffins are in short supply.