American companies tired of seeing their earnings badly hurt by Venezuela’s crumbling bolivar currency system, can – with the stroke of a pen – get rid of much of the problem. Ford Motor Co, wrote off its entire investment in Venezuela last month when it took an $800 million pre-tax write down, the company said in response to questions from Reuters. By taking the hit all at once, it allows Ford to avoid the drip-drip of losses from Venezuela that have hurt the earnings of some of the biggest American companies in the past year.