Praise for Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

Praise for Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

Sure, like his Commie predecessor Salvador Allende, he had his faults, but his economic legacy has made Chile the richest per-capita, healthiest, least corrupt country in South America. Compare it to Venezuela today. Liberals hate being told this. Their hero is the "martyred" Allende, of course. But under Allende, inflation was running at 1,000 percent, whereas thanks to free market reforms introduced by Pinochet - taking advice from Milton Friedman's "Chicago Boys"- the Chilean economy thrived. We saw the differing results of this from two earthquakes - the one in Haiti in January 2010 that claimed nearly a quarter of a million lives; and the one in Chile a month later which, though 500 times more powerful, claimed just over 700 lives. Why? Because rich economies can afford to build earthquake-proof buildings. Impoverished ones dependent for their survival on international aid alone cannot.

Socialism just does not work; not here, not in Chile, not in Haiti, not in Venezuela, not in Cuba, not in China (which is abandoning Communism), not in Soviet Russia (which no longer exists), not in North Korea (which has less than 5% of the South's GNP). So why do we have an entire political party and its leader dedicated to Socialism? Because it, at least temporarily, keeps them in power by buying votes. Abandon the Democrats to their own devices and California, New York, Michigan, perhaps Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Illinois will all be forced to declare bankruptcy. Should be some bargains available in those states again, one of these days.

PS: When Milton Friedman collected his Nobel Prize, he was heckled by leftists for having advised so repugnant a regime. He wryly noted that he had Given Communist dictatorships the same advice - but strangely, no one attacked him for that.

PL Booth, The Blue Eye View of MO, 2/18/11