Posted on 10/19/2018 10:35:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Like President Trump, Brazil's likely new president, Jair Bolsonaro, is openly embracing free-market economics – the hardcore Chicago Boys kind that was last seen transforming Chile into a first-world country. The real stuff.
I'm going to argue that that's big, really big – not only because Brazil is a leftist sump of longtime culturally embedded socialism and dependency - but because hardcore free-market economics, the kind that turned Chile from a Venezuela-style hell-hole into a true first-world economy in a mere decade or two, has long been a dirty word in Latin America.
Bolsonaro doesn't care.
That is a demonstration of how tough and how Trump-like he actually is. Because for years, the left, led by leftist clowns such as Naomi Klein, have had the upper hand in demonizing these powerful free-market ideas as they controlled the 'narrative.' Bolsonaro's stance is a sign that times may be finally changing. But for years, since the left could never win economic arguments based on the merits, they've launched their attacks ad hominem style, criticizing free-market ideas for their association with the Pinochet military government of Chile, which was the government the Chicago Boys worked with, though they would have worked with anyone, and their results would have been the same. That abuse has always been nonsense, given the results, and little more than the work of Castroite propaganda and its offshoots, but it's also the very reason why the region has so much trouble climbing out of its hole.
Say you admire anything about Pinochet's free-market economy over there, and watch your career go down the drain.
This guy in Brazil isn't like that. He's immune to the withering criticism of the left because, heck, he admires Pinochet. He's out front about it. Try to demonize a guy like that.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON THE “CHICAGO BOYS” FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR:
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Boys
The Chicago Boys were a group of Chilean economists prominent around the 1970s and 1980s, the majority of whom trained at the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger, or at its affiliate in the economics department at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Upon their return to Latin America they adopted positions in numerous South American governments including the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90). As economic advisors, many of them reached high positions within those.
The Heritage Foundation credits them with transforming Chile into Latin America’s best performing economy and one of the world’s most business-friendly jurisdictions.
However, critics point to drastic increases in unemployment that can be attributed to policies implemented on their advice to fight inflation. Some (such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen) have argued that these policies were deliberately intended to serve the interests of American corporations at the expense of Latin American populations.
Peter Kornbluh states that in the case of Chile, American attempts to influence the Chilean economy ceased once the Chicago Boys had gained political influence; this may have been the true underlying cause of the subsequent increase in economic growth.
Thanks for explaining. The Chicago Boys description threw me off a bit. I just presumed she meant ‘tough guy or Mafia’ style.
I don’t trust anything referring to “Chicago” in it...except Milton Friedman, University of Chicago.
RE: I don’t trust anything referring to “Chicago” in it...except Milton Friedman, University of Chicago.
That’s the Pioneer of the Chicago School right there, the original Chicago Boy.
I think it is important to remember the other ingredient to economic success. Hernando de Soto wrote: “The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else” to explain that free trade and a lively economy are not enough.
This great book explains that being able to capitalize property is also invaluable to an economy waking from lethargy.
He shows why the poor in many countries keep gold, and other precious metals and gems, as the only repository of their capital. He explains how our western system of property rights allows the USA, the UK and other western cultures to collateralize property in a way the the poor latin nations and Arab nations cannot.
It’s a country that can really be something if they can get their act together.
Property Rights are but a subset of The Rule of Law.
The fundamental basis of prosperity.
An important distinction in the book I mentioned — covered in depth.
Closer to four and they are not quite first world yet although they are not far from it.
In the 1970's people were starving and first part of the 1980's people were going hungry. By the late 1980's people were well fed.
While people may not think that was a great achievement it is more then was the human race achieved in several thousand years.
But they understood that you need to start with the basics. Once you have people fed and housed with basic sanitation you can begin to make great strides forward.
Best thing Pinochet ever did.
That fact alone will make the Leftist heads explode.
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