A Different Role Model in the Election Silly Season
But as Jorge Castañeda, Mexico’s former foreign minister, points out, if they really wanted to support someone helping the poor, they would go to Chile. - the last line in a NYT op-ed What's Left of the Latin Left
I don't live there, and have never visited, but all the research I've done, and all the numbers I've seen, whether they be from left-leaning, right-leaning, official, or unofficial sources, indicates Chile is on the right track when it comes to developing a country that has a vital economy that promotes a free market without doing so at the expense of the poor and working people. Compare the decrease in poverty and indigence levels, and increase in access to health care, schooling, etc. for Chile since 1990 against any other Latin American country. Actually, compare it to ANY country in the world. And it sounds like their new "lefty" president Michelle Bachelet is going to continue the policies of earlier administrations. The big difference seems to be that she will increase emphasis on programs that assist the poor and average folks in moving towards greater self-sufficiency and well-being, such as schooling and health care access, and restrict the actions of the oligarchy that concentrate political power in the hands of the wealthy.
Seems to me the two major parties in the US could take a lesson. And in those rare occasions when we Americans look beyond ourselves for ideas, we might discover a country that borrowed from our playbook and showed us how the play is actually supposed to be run. They understand how to avoid command economy solutions in those sectors of the marketplace known as second best (where supply and demand is not the engine, like health care), without letting the free market run amok.
I don't live there, and have never visited, but all the research I've done, and all the numbers I've seen, whether they be from left-leaning, right-leaning, official, or unofficial sources, indicates Chile is on the right track when it comes to developing a country that has a vital economy that promotes a free market without doing so at the expense of the poor and working people. Compare the decrease in poverty and indigence levels, and increase in access to health care, schooling, etc. for Chile since 1990 against any other Latin American country. Actually, compare it to ANY country in the world. And it sounds like their new "lefty" president Michelle Bachelet is going to continue the policies of earlier administrations. The big difference seems to be that she will increase emphasis on programs that assist the poor and average folks in moving towards greater self-sufficiency and well-being, such as schooling and health care access, and restrict the actions of the oligarchy that concentrate political power in the hands of the wealthy.
Seems to me the two major parties in the US could take a lesson. And in those rare occasions when we Americans look beyond ourselves for ideas, we might discover a country that borrowed from our playbook and showed us how the play is actually supposed to be run. They understand how to avoid command economy solutions in those sectors of the marketplace known as second best (where supply and demand is not the engine, like health care), without letting the free market run amok.
posted by Wake of the Flood at 10:41 AM
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