21. A Warning for America
At a time when the United States is being pulled to the left, when the meanings of words are being changed by our leaders, and events of history are being erased, we should pay attention. Yes, now is a time in America when traditional values are being abandoned in the face of a barrage of conditional gifts, platitudes, coupled with future bribes and promises of a better life, by none other than our federal government. What is true? Can our government deliver? For these reasons, it might behoove us to look at what has happened in Chile over the last few years.
Stephen Moore penned an article in the March 31, 2021, Epoch Times that should serve as a Warning for America. It particularly resonated with me because I was in graduate school studying economics in the late '70s and early '80s at the time that the miracle of Chile unfolded.
Chile embarked on one of the boldest free-market economic reforms in history—the so-called Chicago Boys, a group of Chileans that studied at the University of Chicago, instituted economic reforms that imposed US-style property rights, lowered the tax rate to a flat 15%, privatized all state-owned companies, privatized social security, and stabilized chronic inflation. By 1991, Chile had political freedom, economic freedom, and human freedom, unheard of in South America. It was a miracle.
Mr. Moore states that for decades the “Chilean experiment worked better than anyone could have imagined.” In a study by Alex Kaiser of the Cato Institute spanning from 1975 through 2015, Kaiser determined that per capita income in Chile had quadrupled to $23,000, the highest rate in all of South America. As a result, from the early '80s through 2014, poverty in Chile had dropped from 45% to 8%, unheard of in South America.
Moore points out that “the Marxist and Intellectual class of Latin America always hated the free-market reforms in Chile.” Moore correctly summarizes “in 2013 the Marxists invented a false narrative in Chile of “inequality”, “capitalism is evil”, “rich getting richer”, “poor getting poorer.” This false narrative infiltrated all of Chile’s cultural institutions: It went like this trust government to fix these inequalities. The media, the schools, the universities, the arts, the unions, and the Catholic Church bought into the false narrative friendly government if given the power would correct the inequality.
Moore notes, “Is any of this sounding familiar to our situation today?” In 2013, based on these false narratives and false promises of the benefits of government redistribution, a Marxist won the Chilean presidency. All the free-market reforms that had nurtured independence and self-sufficiency among Chileans were systematically disassembled and “spread the wealth” platitudes took their place. By October 2020, voters approved a rewrite of the constitution placing property rights and the rule of law subservient to Marxist redistribution. Using the Marxist promise of equality for all, the government could take your property and your money as well as influence your earnings.
The Chilean economy is now in economic freefall. The poor are getting crushed and those that could, have pulled their money out of the economy. Ironically, the Marxists have arrived at their desired “equality”: Like Venezuela, nearly everyone in Chile is suffering except a handful of Marxists who are in power. Moore makes the point that this is what our children should be studying in school.
The Chilean experiment of freedom and liberty ushered in by the “Chicago Boys” in the 1980s was reversed by a Marxist-style clampdown based on envy and greed to purportedly obtain equality at the cost of the freedom to choose. This led to the destruction of the open-market economy and its replacement by a centrally controlled Marxist regime with its supreme authority of redistribution. An authority that has made many more Chilean people dependent and destitute. As dependence increased, the government grew even more powerful. The policies that forced people to become more dependent came at a huge cost of much higher taxes, confiscated property and assets, censorship of opposing views, and abandonment of many private activities.
Maybe we in America should pay attention. We must look beyond the false words of our leaders who are merely saying what we want to hear. Look at the reality that is unfolding around us for the truth, not the politicians' words.
For example, “critical race theory”, “woke”, “transgender equality”, “military diversity officer”. Are our Federal Government's words promising a better life, what they appear to be? Is an attack on an economy based on merit a way to achieve “DEI equity”? Or is it really DIE?
We should not be lulled in by politicians that hijack our needs for their own purposes. The great amounts of borrowed and printed money to fund these political power grabs over states and individuals today come with a huge future cost to our children. Was the $1.9 trillion Covid relief really Covid relief? Does the first phase of the so-called “Infrastructure Bill” at $2.25 trillion really improve our infrastructure? Was the Chips act needed or does it merely guarantee more inflation? Is the inflation Reduction Act merely a cover for more destructive environmental development? How will they be paid for with the debt expected to approach $36 trillion by the calendar year end? Can we afford increased taxes at this time that don’t nearly pay for this huge overspending? Or must we cut expenses before mother nature does it for us? Is this just another Government power grab? Today Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump are both promising not to change our welfare system which composes over 65% of our budget and growing. Interest payments on what we owe and defense spending will soon total at least 25%, leaving 10% to run 11 government agencies. Our dollar is backed up only by out-of-control debt. Why are Biden and Trump promising us payments we no longer have? We must remember that Government’s present gifts and future promises to improve our lives are conditioned upon our currency not declining. That the inflation we just suffered was due to the declining value of our currency and our presidential candidates, if we trust what they say are ensuring the decline will continue. Giving the federal government the ability to make more of our decisions for us, as well as federalizing some of the decisions our states have independently made. Is not wise. We must be mindful of what our government doesn’t tell us. When the federal government takes over our individual and local decisions and responsibilities, our freedoms to choose are also relinquished and it is this freedom once lost that is much harder to regain. Tragically, we have been lied to by the worst group of politicians for over 40 years. A group that has led us to falsely believe that we are entitled. A group that continues to promise us gifts from a broken, near-bankrupt nation to obtain their power. Time is precious and we have a very short time to figure it out before we lose the nation.
Have a blessed week!
Tony Christ Feb 8, 2024