Well, the austerity scam worked. Now on to education.

[leveymg]

76. That failure was understood in the late '80s when Bush Sr. and the IMF allowed Pinochet to topple

Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2013, 06:26 PM - Edit history (1)

The hallmark of Friedman Supply-side economics and IMF Restructuring was privatization, austerity for the lower and middle-classes, and a push to export and sell-off assets that had previously been nationalized. However, the Junta never really progressed past the national security state model of development, and was in many ways still a closed state-controlled economy. Dictatorships are expensive to operate, and global bankers are pragmatic.

The Chilean economy under the dictatorship floundered, with both joblessness and costs of living increasing faster than any South American country in the years after the coup. Chile's failures to meet projections for growth of exports and profitability for multinationals caused a reassessment, and a dictatorship was viewed as unsustainable and unprofitable, so, neoliberal reforms and limited re-democratization were implemented. Pinochet lost his plebicite, and was pressured to stand down after 17 years of military dictatorship in Chile. But, not before the alternative of fascism was proven unworkable.

Chile under the neoliberal system of exports-driven development, a controlled democracy, private ownership with limited welfare state social services was closely studied as the model for restructuring Former Soviet Bloc countries and eventually adopted as the means to "reform" larger former Social Democracies of the west.