A clarification on your point: specifically socialist economic policies (gov control of enterprise) are to blame. It's not as if the government decided to tax the rich to provide social welfare and then the country went into a downward spiral.
The main issues I think have been rampant government corruption under Chavez's cult of personality and the papering over of economic problems with oil money. There are many stories of Chavez basically buying votes with oil revenues. Having a huge source of essentially free money let the government operate like a sports star fresh out of college, buying expensive houses and cars, until the money dries up and they promptly go broke.
The main issues I think have been rampant government corruption under Chavez's cult of personality and the papering over of economic problems with oil money. There are many stories of Chavez basically buying votes with oil revenues. Having a huge source of essentially free money let the government operate like a sports star fresh out of college, buying expensive houses and cars, until the money dries up and they promptly go broke.