....It's not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick—and Haitians in houses of straw—when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down. In 1973, the year the proto-Chavista government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Chile was an economic shambles. Inflation topped out at an annual rate of 1000%, foreign-currency reserves were totally depleted, and per capita GDP was roughly that of Peru and well below Argentina's....
....For his trouble, Friedman would spend the rest of his life being defamed as an accomplice to evil: at his Nobel Prize ceremony the following year, he was met by protests and hecklers. Friedman himself couldn't decide whether to be amused or annoyed by the obloquies; he later wryly noted that he had given communist dictatorships the same advice he gave Pinochet, without raising leftist hackles.
Hit the link at the top to read the whole thing. Well worth it.
2 comments:
This has interested me for some time, as you may know. I've finally done some research and found the exact thing as the author.
Interesting, later when Pinochet and his cronies were gone and they had a less dictatorial more 'people friendly', Friedman's attitude was "Of course, economic freedom always bring societal freedom... DUH!" Well, I added the "Duh!"...
ugh... not "they had a less dictatorial", but should read: "Chile was less.." I type faster than I think sometimes... and hit "enter" even faster.
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