There's much to be irritated by in Patrick McIlheran's recent blog post claiming that the Haitians would have weathered the earthquake better if only they were better capitalists like those in Chile.
But the Brawler had to admit he got a good chuckle out of this line:
Since 1986, Chile has been rebuilding the free market ruined by a flirtation with Marxism.
It's funny because at the time Paddy is referring to, Chile was run by famous Marxist killer Augusto Pinochet.
What is Patrick McIlheran (citing Investor's Business Daily) referring to?
Basically, Pinochet famously introduced radical free market reforms to the Chilean economy in the 1970s -- only to see the economy crater. What did he do?
Take it away, Greg Palast:
By 1982, the pyramid finance game was up. The Vial and Cruzat 'Grupos' defaulted. Industry shut down, private pensions were worthless, the currency swooned. Riots and strikes by a population too hungry and desperate to fear bullets forced Pinochet to reverse course. He booted his beloved Chicago experimentalists. Reluctantly, the General restored the minimum wage and unions' collective bargaining rights. Pinochet, who had previously decimated government ranks, authorized a program to create 500,000 jobs. In other words, Chile was pulled from depression by dull old Keynesian remedies, all Franklin Roosevelt, zero Reagan/Thatcher. New Deal tactics rescued Chile from the Panic of 1983, but the nation's long-term recovery and growth since then is the result of - cover the children's ears - a large dose of socialism.
To save the nation's pension system, Pinochet nationalized banks and industry on a scale unimagined by Communist Allende. The General expropriated at will, offering little or no compensation. While most of these businesses were eventually re-privatized, the state retained ownership of one industry: copper.
1986 marks tha point at which Chile changed tack. And since Pinochet stepped down until now, the government has been center left. And Chile's done all right! And McIlheran's praise of Chile's capitalism is humorous given that the heart of Chile's economy -- copper -- remains a state industry -- though one the new president does plan to partially privatize.
Anyone remember when Patrick McIlheran praised Pinochet for liberalizing the economy? No respect for the dead.
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