Posted on 05/23/2016 12:38:17 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
In 2004, Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro launched the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas, a regional alliance of leftist leaders designed to subvert a hemispheric free trade agreement that the United States had been pushing for a decade.
Today Latin America's leftist ramparts appear to be crumbling because of widespread corruption, a slowdown in China's economy and poor economic choices. For the most part, leaders failed to create diversified economies capable of withstanding slumps. The welfare and pension programs that kept voters loyal proved unsustainable. Leaders in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia flouted democratic traditions by expanding or eliminating term limits and co-opted independent institutions with networks of patronage.
Washington can do more to help Central American and Caribbean nations find sustainable sources of energy, now that they can no longer count on subsidized oil from Venezuela. It also can support anticorruption initiatives that citizens around the hemisphere are clamoring for.
Yet, a brighter future for struggling Latin Americans cannot depend on the United States. Ultimately, that will require leaders who are accountable to their citizens, are willing to invest in long-term prosperity rather than their political brands and stand ready to acknowledge the colossal mistakes of their predecessors.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“Damnit! Socialism would work if there just weren’t any people!”
Another lesson in Human Behavior 101.
Amazing. There was a shift towards freedom when Reagan was around. Then the pendulum swung towards the left. I guess now is the time to swing again. Castro’s have one foot in the grave. Brazil’s leader impeached. Venezuela a basket case and the US having an important election. They might need leaders like Pinochet and other strongmen. This time we can make it stick-hopefully.
And the Left is on the march in North America. We are still moving toward government control of pretty much everything.
From the Slimes??
Let me go look outside... Wow look at that flock of pigs up in the air!
There must be a “gullible” gene.
There’s always someone coming along to promise free stuff and people fall for it. Amazing.
To understand government, understand human behavior.
I’ve already heard similar spin from left-leaning friends of mine. It’s not socialism that was the problem, see, it was just inept or corrupt leaders. Look at Sweden for a better example of the glories of socialism (but don’t look too carefully).
“It’s not socialism that was the problem, see, it was just inept or corrupt leaders. Look at Sweden for a better example of the glories of socialism.”
It’s partially true in the sense that nordic people tend to behave much more ethically than southern people. I would not be surprised if that isn’t genetic to a large extent.
Socialism would stand a better chance in countries where the population is intrinsically more moral. With the huge muslim migration, watch for socialism in Sweden to eventually have the same level of success as in Venezuela.
“To each according to their needs and from each according to their abilities” requires an incredible amount of selflessness, honesty, conscientiousness - angel like features that few people possess. In other words, socialism would work if people were not like they are.
The left simply refuses to accept the reality of human nature and it constantly tries to remake man to its ideal image - even if it has to kill him in the process.
And who knows, with advances in genetic engineering, one day they may actually succeed in manufacturing their ideal human beings, as predicted by Huxley’s “Brave New World”.
We are certainly headed in that direction.
More like 1984
That is EXACTLY what Kirsten Powers told Bill O’Reilly a week ago. I couldn’t believe it.
People in southern countries don’t have to work as hard for shelter, food, heat, clothes. Also, they don’t have to use brain as much to survive. My opinion
Which is bound to show up in gene selection sooner or later.
No, the USSR was like 1984, we’re definitely more like the brave new world.
I think Sweden owes its work ethic in large measure to the religion that they’ve mostly abandoned over the past few decades. Consider East Germany, as another example.
Inevitably, more and more of those that have a habit of hard work will come to realize what suckers they have been, and then the system will fall apart, just as socialist systems do. Either that, or they will devolve into a Communist system, where The People (i.e. almost everyone) become slaves to The State (i.e. the Party elite).
—From the Slimes??
Let me go look outside... Wow look at that flock of pigs up in the air!
—
Too funny. My sentiments exactly.
” Leaders in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia flouted democratic traditions by expanding or eliminating term limits and co-opted independent institutions with networks of patronage.”
What the hell does that even mean?
Right. the vaunted Swedish socialist model crashed in the early 90's, with mass unemployment, a real estate crash, and devaluation of the currency. Since then Sweden has had severe austerity, replaced with balanced budgets for the last 20 or so years. The "Swedish Model" didn't work out very well.
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