bulk of development aid or government supplied capital gets squirreled away by elites
Development aid and GS Capital has been a waste of time, as we can see from the results. It adds to a lot to Swiss Bank accounts, and builds summer palaces in the south of France.
About the best you can do with it, IMO, is build the needed infrastructure. Roads, water, sewers, Electrical, etc, all the "Utilities". I remember reading about the Russian's desire for Tractors for their farms, and Henry Ford telling them that what was needed was roads and trucks.
What DeSoto is talking about is to give the poor economic freedom. The Freedom to get out and make a buck, "and may the Devil take the hindmost." They need the knowledge that if they make a buck they can keep it, build with it, expand a business with it, and have it worth a buck at the end of the year.
You can see this all over the World. Hong Kong had this type of opportunity, and became rich. Taiwan remained a poor country as long as it was tied to us. A combination of our aid, their socialism, and the mainland leadership. When we recognized China, and cut them off, they were forced to open the society in order to survive, and became an "Asian Tiger."
The failure in South American really concerns me. Does a culture based on Spanish values have a built in problem with installing an open, Capitalistic, society? I think it is still an open question. But South America, over all, is much better off now than they were before they opened up their Societies as much as have, IMO.
Asia does not seem to have as many cultural problems with it. They tend to go toward "Mercantilism," but not as much as the Spanish Cultures.
Ultimately, Sweden will have to shed some of its socialism to stem its decline
European Cultures are rapidly going down the welfare toilet, especially as the "Dead Hand" of the EC gets more involved. NZ is a good example of what happens to a Euro culture that goes overboard with welfare and reforms. They almost went under in the '80s, put in a very Libertarian Government, got partially well and started making some money, and voted the welfare right back in. Now they are going under again. Not a pretty picture. And not a good forecast for the EC future.
a tax system that limits capital availability to the poor that is inevitably championed by Social Darwinists under the guise that the elites create jobs but the poor would squander the capital in unproductive ways, which is why they're poor to begin with.
I don't know of any countries that have any luck taxing the poor. The poor don't have any money to tax. If they get a little money they hide it under the mattress. What DeSoto is talking about is giving the poor a chance to take that money out from under the mattress and use it as capital. Immigrants here in the States would love to go back and set up business's with money they have saved in their original countries, and many of them do. More of our Businessmen would love to be able to go to these countries and set up business's But they need to know that the Government there will protect them. Right now, most of the Governments that need the most help will attack anyone who comes in.
Social Security and Medicare helped elderly US retirees to lower poverty rates
As you know, it is a "Ponzi Scheme", taking from the young to give to the old. We have been able to afford it up to now. As the "Old Farts" like me increase in number, it will become harder to handle, but it looks doable over the rest of my lifetime. :^) |
