there has been real value created in several industries. even in the auto industry cars are significantly better than 20 years. robbie however makes a valid point, if we have been buying these innovations with nothing but debt we can't afford, then what is the real value of this technology, and of these companies selling it. if we as country get back to fundamentally sound practices of saving for items, what happens to our economy. either way we will go through pains, the question to me is after the pain we will our economy be able to grow going forward. will people be able to save then purchase, or will the items that we are buying now that has driven our economy forward become effectively luxury items only being able to be bought by a very few. and how does that fundamentally affect the economy
By 1989 when most of this growth occurred the Chicago Boys were long gone. In addition the only reason why the 1982 recession was able to be weathered was because there was a military dictatorship sending out deathsquads to keep people in line. Finally, you're ignoring a critical feature of the growth in the 1980's and 90's - it wasn't the invisible hand working it's magic - rather there was a healthy dose of state intervention, such as in the state-owned copper company CODELCO, which remains nationalized to this day. In fact the same agency that sold off & privatized in the 1970's (CORFO) was busy creating companies throughout the 80's and 90's. Chilean Sea Bass (aka the Patagonian Toothfish) is served in restaurants today in part because of a fisheries industry started by Fundacion Chile....a public/private venture Again your understanding of this is typical of a lot of e-libertarians - about a millimeter deep. "If you deregulate it, it will be better" is simply not true if you examine the evidence in depth.
Maybe the its just the current American lifestyle that was propped up by easy credit is simply not sustainable, not when you have to compete in this global economy. Now that the credit bubble has popped, it will be long time for consumer demand to recover, and certain areas might never come back.
I think weslinder meant that controversial figures, and policies from the evil pinochet, did wonderful things for the chilean economy. So i guess his point is, that controversial conservatives can generate prosperous times for all. A great economy > any human life
