Fun times
If we can move away from markets briefly to the other side of the economy, I found this albeit older piece by a d00d named Robin Hahnel, who apparently is a pretty interesting spearhead for a libertarian-socialist(?) movement known as participatory economics. I used to think Chavez were people in England who wore knock-off Burberry, but no more.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/hahnel301107.html#_ednref4
Now I'd recommend skipping or not worrying about the beginning section, a somewhat self-righteous/congratulatory critique of the 'main stream media" etc. etc. that we've all heard enough before and cutting into the meat of the whole deal. We've beat around the Chavez bush before, but this seems a pretty interesting list of social policies in action that make me think a little better of the Chavismo outside of the man himself.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/hahnel301107.html#_ednref4
Now I'd recommend skipping or not worrying about the beginning section, a somewhat self-righteous/congratulatory critique of the 'main stream media" etc. etc. that we've all heard enough before and cutting into the meat of the whole deal. We've beat around the Chavez bush before, but this seems a pretty interesting list of social policies in action that make me think a little better of the Chavismo outside of the man himself.
posted by shrf at 12:09 PM
1 Comments:
On a similar note, I read recently an article in Foreign Affairs criticizing the Chavez regime for not helping the poor despite the massive uptick in govt spending. The report was written by a former Chavez economics advisor, albeit one eager to distance himself from the "leftist hardliners" in the Chavez cabinet:
http://fullaccess.foreignaffairs.org/20080301faessay87205/francisco-rodriguez/an-empty-revolution.html
"Well," I thought, "it wouldn't be the first time the state had aggrandized itself at the expense of working people." I read it with some sympathy.
Now, however, a report by the Center for Economic Policy and Research says that Rodriguez's article is either wrong or grossly misleading. For example, Venezuela's Gini coefficient has apparently actually fallen from 48 to 42, and poverty has been cut in half, from 55 to 27 percent.
Facts (in the hands of different parties) are funny things.
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