Re: Why has the free market left South Americans poor

On 10 Dec 2005 16:07:38 -0800, "COHENMARVIN" <cohenmarvin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Latin America is embracing radical leftist economics. I wonder if this
>is because the free market has not solved the problem of extreme
>poverty among many of its inhabitants.

The institution of private property in land is not compatible with a
genuine free market.

>On the other hand, socialist
>policies like those advocated by Evo Morales of Bolivia, or Hugo Chavez
>of Venezuela, have never worked.

Capitalism and socialism make the same fundamental mistake: not
distinguishing land from capital, and publicly created value from
privately created value. Socialism's results are only worse because
privately created value is larger.

>Still, has the free market failed?

The real free market -- free from landowner privilege -- has not been
tried.

>And if so, is that the reason this
>is happening?

The big probem is that a tiny, idle, immensely wealthy minority owns
almost all the land, and they typically pay little or no tax on it.

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" about sums up the rest. It's
astonishing how much harm soulless, amoral greed robots can inflict on
innocent people without being held accountable, just by using the
indirect, anonymous mechanism of economic rent.

-- Roy L
.

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