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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Justicialism?

We're not dictators, we're justicialists.

I've got to admit that I never even knew that Peron thing in Argentina had a name other than Peronism, kind of catchy, but not so much so as Justicialism. KT is on a crusade to get us to stop calling Obama a socialist and instead label him a justicialist. Although I believe that Obama is secretly a socialist and justicialism is a way station on that Road To Serfdom, I lack the evidence to know what is in his heart, and have limited proof of this right now. However, I think we can all agree that the economic results of justicialism are about the same as for socialism. From the Wikipedia article on Argentina's debt restructuring:

Argentina went through an economic crisis beginning in the mid-1990s, with full recession between 1999 and 2002; though it is debatable whether this crisis has ended, the situation has been more stable, and improving, since 2003. (See Economy of Argentina for an overview.)

Argentina defaulted on part of its external debt at the beginning of 2002. Foreign investment fled the country, and capital flow towards Argentina ceased almost completely. Argentina was "left out of the world." The currency exchange rate (formerly a fixed 1-to-1 parity between the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollar) was floated, and the peso devalued quickly, producing massive inflation.

Socialism, justicialism, leftism and statisms of all ilk have the same end result, economic ruin. This because freedom works best. In America, we still have a problem, even if we are not remotely socialist, which I will continue to repeat for effect:

The size of government has become a threat to our prosperity and our freedom.
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2 comments:

  1. K T CatJune 22, 2010 at 6:07 AM

    Thanks for the link! The reason I'm trying to get people away from the socialist - communist - Nazi analogies is that they are so easy to knock down. Losing that argument, which facts dictate you will, dilutes the power of your real point - "The size of government has become a threat to our prosperity and our freedom.
    "

    Peron cared about the poor. He wanted to improve their lot in life and he was willing to break and bend the rules to do so. It might be argues that Peron and Justicialism was actually successful in Argentina. Conditions for the poor were dreadful at the start of Peron's reign. Even if that was true, Justicialism still can't work here because we're starting at such a different point.

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  2. DeanJune 22, 2010 at 8:10 PM

    There are always other variables to consider as well.

    I have no doubt Hugo Chavez considers himself a Christian humanist (look, another term) and his concern for the poor in his country is sincere.

    However, even his soup kitchen Socialism (and another!) runs into snags when kleptocrats in his midst horde tons of food from these people and his meddling in energy policy causes electricity prices to sky-rocket.

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