Why's Wall Street Pearl Clutching At Chile's Left Turn?

[DonCoquixote]

https://www.cracked.com/article_31540_whys-wall-street-pearl-clutching-at-chiles-left-turn.html

outside of the phrase pearl-clutching, this is an article that goes deep into the way Bloomberg and other "centrists" do their best to demonize anything remotely left, and ensure that people are scared into even criticizing the right on its excess, like oh, Pinochet.

[JHB]

1. The usual reason

Someone getting people to question why it's never called "redistribution of wealth" when wealth is redistributed upward.

[Wounded Bear]

3. And it's not Class warfare until we start fighting back...nt

[JanMichael]

2. 321 I'm waiting.

I'm almost positive thread will find certain people getting pissy about the left getting anywhere in this world.

That said I'm loving it!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. I'd be loving it more if it weren't just an article in Cracked magazine

But was, rather, in a publication with some real distribution like the NYT or WP.

Just saying.

[2naSalit]

5. Indeed.

Couldn't agree more.

[JanMichael]

7. The lefty is leading.

https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/english_editorials/1015420.html

[DonCoquixote]

8. ifthe NYT or WP did their job

they would have published this years ago

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. No disagreement my friend ;) nt

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. Libertarians tried their best to destroy Chile, with...

... growing poverty as their wealthy became more wealthy.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/13/why-is-inequality-booming-in-chile-blame-the-chicago-boys

Glad that they're turning it around!

Capitalism has some positive features imo, but it's always the more democratic aspects of it -- e.g., free markets with consumers deciding the winners and losers.

If libertarians like the Koch brothers could travel back in time, they'd probably even try to reverse the growing literacy in Europe (after the invention of the printing press) which resulted in a surge of technological innovations and scientific knowledge. "That privilege is only for the most wealthy! Go back to your fields, serfs!"

[Hortensis]

10. :) RW big business always pearl clutches at the thought of elections stripping

them of power, of course.

Haven't read it, but honest people are no doubt worrying that big discontent in a dangerous era when more democracies are falling than being created will take down Chile again. Since restoration of democracy in 1989, Chile's been one of Latin America's most stable and successful nations. We once considered moving there.

A little to the left, i.e., a stronger, people-oriented liberal influence brought in by the elections, and strengthening of some socialized institutions funded by capitalism, would be good, but this is an era when extremism is being fanned by bad leaders and used to take power. (Leaders who seek power by inciting populist extremism are always bad news. tRump's one.)

Bottom line, no one should just assume a far left "win" would lead to increased healthy socialism within Chile's previously stable democracy. That of course could be a good thing for Chile, but in this era elections have become a dangerous opportunity to kick aside what the people want and take over.

As here. Our swing to extremism in 2016 still threatens to destroy us, and Chileans, like some other countries, may be taking a warning from us. What I've read makes me wonder if alarm at a possible extreme left shift may just be overreaction to the demonstrations, with sensible demands that government serve the people better hopefully predominating. Issues like more water and medical care are big. We'll get to see, and best wishes for them.