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Hello Fernando,
Been checking your blog with interest from time to time & recently picked up a couple of copies of your bookon your Thanksgiving sale, one of which I gave to my daughter & son-in-law for Christmas. Have enjoyed the good, practical information on both fronts. I reviewed the book on Amazon under "xxxxxxxx". So just a note of thanks.
As well, some time back as I was just starting to check out your site, I picked up a video at the library on the situation in Argentina, called "The Take", where workers took over closed factories & reopened them. Admittedly, it was done by some Canadian filmmakers that tend to be on the pink side, but it was a rather interesting look at the way some Argentinians dealt with both corrupt govt. and business owners who seemed intent on shutting everything down. I am a firm believer in the rights of the personal property owner, however from any perspective, the collapse was not a time for "business as usual".
I'd be interested in your take on "The Take". It would also be interesting to know what has happened to some of those companies in the ensuing years.
Thanks,
O
Moscow , Idaho
Hi O, thank you for your support and glad you liked my book.
I specially appreciate your Amazon review, thanks. For those of you that bought my book and liked it, a 5 star review at Amazon does help a great deal.
About “The Take” documentary, while I have recommended it and still do so as people have a better idea of what has happened here, and how ex president Carlos Menem’s (also a Peronist like Kirchner ) helped destroy the local economy, I don’t support in any way the new age socialist/communist approach by the creator, Naomi Klein and her husband.
You can watch it on Youtube"The Take":
Even in their website, http://www.thetake.org/, they refer to readers as “Dear Comrades”…
I don’t support communism or any of if modern revivals and off spins. I think these folks would find it enlightening to live in Cuba for a few years, on a Cuban salary.
Regarding your question. These companies don’t do well an sooner or later end up failing.
Particularly disappointing is what happened with the once famous Mahely air rifle and gun company. As a kid, having a Mahely .22 air rifle was the best thing that could happen to you. I plinked and shot countless birds with mine. Darn, that was a sweet air rifle, powerful an accurate. Mahely went bankrupt and became Cooperative Reno, run by the workers. The quality of the product went downhill fast after that. The lack of professional management is usually what causes the failure of these enterprises. Even if a capable person is managing things, communist philosophies don’t do well in business.
Its thanks to capitalism that we progress, the ability to do better for ourselves, to capitalize on our intelligence and creativity. If we can’t do that and we’re all just part of a machinery we’re no better than ants or bees. Communism is the most unnatural philosophy a rational being can embrace. Its no wonder that it fails so miserably every time. It has its uses though, the silly mass sometimes falls for it and ends up placing in positions of power people that amass great fortunes. Funny to see these authoritarian socialists, wearing expensive designer clothes, gold Rolex and thousands in gold jewelry contrasting so pathetically with their quasi communist speech.
The takeover of companies is also dangerous because of what it represents. Blur the line of what’s right and wrong and you end up with the problems we have here. People think they have the right to claim over property they don’t own. Look the other way when that happens and soon enough they are squattering in private property, demanding homes, welfare, etc.
Survival related? Of course it is, these are the problems we’re all dealing with world wide.
FerFAL
Watch the documentary (free on youtube) , know that its made by neo-commies, but most of all, understand what happened in Argentina. Capitalism didn’t destroy Argentina, Corruption did. And these leftist/liberal/socialists (whatever you like to call them) in the government right now are the most corrupt thieves we’ve ever seen.
13 comments:
People that grow up in happy, protected little first-world bubbles have no idea what life under communism or socialism really means.
Instead of rewarding ambition it demands submission. The government takes everything and gives back whatever it decides is appropriate, usually to compel political support. People have no options, no recourse and no control.
Unfortunately so many people embrace the idea in the US that they don't even bother hiding it, where a mere 20 years ago it would be unthinkable.
Memories are short and those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
People today are largely ignorant of from where prosperity arises.
The ultimate human right is property rights. If you produce and trade and accumulate property, if someone else takes it (a gov't, a thief, or do I repeat myself?) they literally steal the hours of your life you invested to produce.
They steal pieces of YOUR LIFE.
A social system that is highly respectful of rights in property is a productive society. People who are more able or more willing to work and create, and who are careful and nurture their property (a business, a home, a car, whatever) accumulate wealth, and if they are mutually respectful of others' property they only become wealthier by serving others.
In a society where your property can be taxed or otherwise stolen away from you, why be productive? Why take care of what you have, if it will just be taken?
Such societies become poorer and poorer, and the people grow angry and envious. They don't see their own immorality as the problem, so they vote (modern democracy, of course) to have those with property robbed by their rulers.
A factory that took genius to build and operate is stolen and given to "the workers," not one of whom could have created the firm.
In no time the "regular folks" have squandered all the value, and they are even poorer than before.
The human condition is tragic.
Ferfal, don't be so cruel, suggesting those filmmakers to live in Cuba. It'll be enough if they went to eastern-european countries, like Poland (where I live), Ukraine or Russia. They will soon find out what damages to both economy and society are caused bo communism. And what's more important -- how long those damages are not possible to be fixed. It takes two or three generations to change something, the government can't make significant changes until all the people who believe communism was good won't pass away.
Thanks great site!
Chinese communism 60 years old and going strong!
1) On the one hand, I agree with Ferfal re the evils of corrupt capitalism.
But on the other hand, I would also note that the capitalists ain't no slouchs at self-serving corruption either.
2) The USA and Argentina have some of the most inequitable distributions of income in the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gini_Coefficient_World_CIA_Report_2009.svg
3) There are areas in the USA that can more than match Buenos Aires for homicides and poverty. Camden, New Jersey outside Philadelphia has one of the highest homicide rates in the USA and yet they are cutting their police force in half for lack of funds.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41181450/ns/slatecom/
4) The share of national income held by the richest 1 percent of US population has increased from around 10 percent in 1980 to roughly 24 percent today. It's share of the wealth has increased greatly in the past several decades and is one of the highest in the world:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
5) Economic theories are subordinate to the national interest -- and concentration of income/wealth via political corruption within a small percentage destroys nations. It caused the Great Depression in the USA. It destroys the middle class --which is the foundation upon which a nation's military and economic power depends.
6) Military leaders and aristocrats have always realized that loyalty is a two-way street. That while rank has it privileges, it also has its responsibilities and the noble has a duty to the people of his fief.
7) Thomas Jefferson expressed it thus in the Declaration of Independence which created the United States of America:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[72] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"
I'm always amused when people say, "I fully support this or that... BUT...".
Well then you don't fully support it.
If your emailer is a firm believer in property rights, then he would be appalled at what's happening in that documentary. It's not his place to say what someone else should do with their property, even if he thinks it's no longer time for "business as usual".
In fact, a firm supporter of property rights would see the advantage of companies misusing their property, because that's when a more knowledgeable capitalist came come into the picture and acquire their property for lower prices and use it properly.
Also, Don... you must keep in mind that FerFAL is talking about capitalism, and the US is not a capitalistic economy, so naming the faults of the US as an argument against capitalism is kind of a non-starter.
Most of faults you named are the result of abandoning capitalism in favor of widespread gov't regulation and economic control, powerful outside influences (Federal Reserve, military industrial complex, large corporations, etc), and collectivist entitlement policies.
The Elite of any country makes or breaks industries whether in Argentina, US, Caribbean, Europe etc. The masses do what they think is right for survival while the Elite can fly to other countries in safety and live elsewhere with their largess they made legally or illegally. At the end of the day the Elite who are staunch Capitalists or Elite who are Socialist all collaborate at some level at some point in time to continue to control the country.
Correction to my post above: Item 1 should have read "On the one hand, I agree with Ferfal re the evils of corrupt COMMUNISM."
Don,
If you look up Dutch Disease in relationship to Argentina, you will go a long way toward seeing why Argentina has had so many problems. As a small country bringing in a large surplus from commodities they would have had a difficult time balancing their economy properly even if the governing class had had the best intentions.
I actually started a post on it:
http://reflexionesfinales.blogspot.com/2011/01/argentinean-and-soviet-collapse-1.html
It is paired up with Russia which took a very different route with some of the same sets of problems.
Hello Fernado & et al;
I recently viewed another very good Argentine produced/directed film called "The Secret in Their Eyes(El secreto de sus ojos)" which utilizes the country's culture of political corruption(especially of law enforcement)as a backdrop. Not sure if you, or how many of your blog readers have heard of this one, but I think it deserves wider attention in the preparedness community.
I found the film to be a very well made and fairly gripping murder mystery/thriller with some romance thrown in for good measure. The title refers to this aspect of the film of course, but also to a much more sinister plot device which I won't spoil further for those who wish to see the film.
I would definitely recommend this one for those of us who enjoy a good political thriller, and especially for those who take an active interest in Argentina's political/economic decline - and we all do to some extent, or we wouldn't be reading this blog! And while this is not a film for children, the romance angle would sure make for good evening viewing with your significant other(;-D).
Give it a view if you're looking for a good movie - and in the mood for something a little different.
Take care everyone.
"Correction to my post above: Item 1 should have read "On the one hand, I agree with Ferfal re the evils of corrupt COMMUNISM."
Nothing like clarifying a Freudian Slip...hey, Don? *snicker!*
It does my heart good to hear people speak who know the connection between freedom and property rights and the ability of free uncoerced trade to fuel well being among a people.
It is a lost concept in the US where a marxist usurper who would have been executed is now looked at with a yawn by the fat and happy sheeple of the US, as Liberty disappears and the economy crumbles. They gladly surrender thier freedoms for "security" and end up having niether.
What a tragic waste of a form of government that was the first in the history of the world to subordinate government to individual rights, creating an unprecedented reign of freedom and affluence.
Michael
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