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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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 Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:54 am Post subject: People before profits? South America rises. |
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An opinion from another one of those dastardly, leftist rags -- this time the International Herald Tribune (fellow travelers, for sure).  
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/28/opinion/edweis.php |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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It is an op-ed. 
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| The region's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, is also making history as he completes his first year in office. |
Doesn't say if he's making history in a good or bad way.
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| Some say this is just an oil boom that will collapse when oil prices drop, but the Ch�vez government has budgeted conservatively for oil prices that were about half of what they are now. |
Well at least that's one thing they're doing right. I like how the writer omits the fact that Venezula's oil earnings and spending are now more opaque than before Chavez.
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| In the end the Argentines were proven right. The economy shrank for only about three months after the default; it has since grown at an annual rate of more than 8 percent, pulling more than 8 million people out of poverty in a country of 36 million. |
What the writer is omitting here is the # of people who fell into poverty when the peso collapsed, and how much the economy decreased as well. For all we know, 10 million people fell into poverty during the peso crash. If that were the case, I wouldn't say Argentina's success is mind-blowing.
If the country had followed the IMF and world bank's "prescriptions" who is to say they wouldn't have lifted even MORE people out of poverty. |
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daskalos
Joined: 19 May 2006
Location: The Road to Ithaca
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| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:31 am Post subject: |
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Interesting that the timing of these plaudits for Chavez -- about whom I reserve judgement because I support what he says he stands for -- came a day or two before his decision to shut down opposition media outlets.
Wait, did I say I was reserving judgement? Okay, the jury's not back yet, but such a move is the hallmark authoritarian power mongers, isn't it? The earlier indications that he was/is just another populist demogogue seem to playing out.
If there's one thing I hate more than right wing authoritarian a$$holes, it's left wing authoritarian a$$holes, because they get to power on the basis of knowing better. They generally start out leveling the playing field and raising the standards of living for some millions of people, but they don't ever end that way.
And the comfortable, middle class people in other countries who knee-jerkingly sing their praises remind me of nothing so much as members of the American Communist party who never could come clean and admit that Stalin was nothing but a power mad butcher who didn't care one whit about the people.
But hey, Soviet Russia gave way to the glorious era of Putin, so I'm sure everything will work out in South America just fine. We should probably support this new herd of leaders unreservedly. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| daskalos wrote: |
If there's one thing I hate more than right wing authoritarian a$$holes, it's left wing authoritarian a$$holes, because they get to power on the basis of knowing better. They generally start out leveling the playing field and raising the standards of living for some millions of people, but they don't ever end that way. |
Why do you think that is, and, how should it impact what you "stand for"? |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| daskalos wrote: |
| I support what he says he stands for... |
Do you support overthrowing democratically-elected govts via military coup d'etat? |
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