Chile's 'Chicago boys' making a comeback in Brazil
BY PAULINA ABRAMOVICH (AFP) 1 HOUR AGO
They were the architects of the "shock" economic politics that some claim galvanized Chile's economy under the Augustin Pinochet dictatorship.
Now the so-called "Chicago Boys" are back with a bang under far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro's government in Brazil where it's hoped their neoliberal policies will save an asphyxiated economy.
Two years after the US-backed coup d'etat that deposed the democratically elected socialist leader Salvador Allende in 1973, economists with postgraduate degrees from the University of Chicago convinced military dictator Pinochet to apply their policies to fix the failings of the previous administration.
After a crash in gross domestic product of 12.9 percent in 1975, the disciples of the ultraliberal economist Milton Friedman launched a recovery program that privatized some 400 companies, reduced the public sector and almost completely liberalized the economy.
In a second stage, health, education and pensions were largely privatized.
More:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/chile-s-chicago-boys-making-a-comeback-in-brazil/article/543697
sandensea
(21,627 posts)The shock treatment that caused it - sharp budget cuts, massive utility and fare hikes, abandonment of state-run firms before they could even be sold, etc - wasn't the Chicago Boys' doing, true.
But they were implemented by Opus Dei econ. professor Jorge Cauas with the very purpose of laying the groundwork for privatizations, deregulation, and the rest of the Chicago plan (enacted by Sergio de Castro).
As you know, while a boom followed in the late '70s, that too was followed by another collapse in 1982-83 (30% unemployment).
Chile might have in fact not recovered from that one so easily had it not been for Reagan - who granted them generous debt restructuring terms and most-favored nation trading status (almost derailed by the cyanide-laden grapes, the product of poor pesticide regulations in Pinochet-era Chile).
It's worth recalling that Reagan denied Argentina's Alfonsín (who, unlike Pinochet, was a true democrat) any of these benefits - and in fact actively pressured the IMF and World Bank to take a hard line.
So much so it even caused friction between the World Bank (which favored a more amenable approach), and the IMF (which favored pushing Argentina into a collapse in order to force them to privatize everything).
The IMF, as you know, won. But only thanks to Reagan and Bush, who sided with their shock doctrine-style policy.
Thanks for finding this, Judi. A great read for anyone who wants to better understand South American economics.
Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)Your post was replete with information I'd never discovered yet, and it's amazing. The Reagan maneuvers and their impact were never revealed to US American readers through our own corporate media, and I had never heard about the lack of standards for agricultural producers on how they managed their food production. Shocking and shameful. So ferociously capitalistic of them, unfortunately.
I most surely appreciate your ability to share information here regarding the Americas which is totally unassailable. It's what we crave, since we have learned how little of the truth actually makes it through the programmed, premeditated corporate "news."
sandensea
(21,627 posts)You're a font of knowledge on Latin America as well as science, zoology, world history, current affairs - you name it.
Plus, your advocacy is steadfast and tireless.
Here's hoping we can have more good news than bad to share about this world of ours. And that we can still make sense of it all!
2naSalit
(86,586 posts)SharonAnn
(13,772 posts)My late husband was Chilean and we visited his family frequently. I know a lot about this.