There's nothing like a country collapsing to put your life into perspective (Venezuela)

[rousseau]

Women turn to sex work in Colombia amid economic crisis

Scores of women were found touting for business on the streets of the border city of Cucuta.

In one club, the overwhelming majority of women working as prostitutes were Venezuelan.

In a brothel full of 60 women, there were just two Colombians, while the rest were Venezuelans.

I think I could deal with making a sub-optimal salary at a low status company some day, if it meant my wife didn't have to sell herself for sex to feed our children. A big reminder that it's all relative.

Anyway, I've been following Venezuela for months now and I can't look away. Just checked a book on Chavez out of the library, looking forward to going through it this weekend.

 

[Tigers!]

If it is true that countries get the leaders they deserve what do Venezuela do to deserve Chavez?

 

[rousseau]

If it is true that countries get the leaders they deserve what do Venezuela do to deserve Chavez?

It's shocking to me how common populist leaders are, now in Brazil too. Never underestimate the ability of a charismatic leader who thinks they know what they're doing to fuck absolutely everything up.

 

[skepticalbip]

If it is true that countries get the leaders they deserve what do Venezuela do to deserve Chavez?

It's shocking to me how common populist leaders are, now in Brazil too. Never underestimate the ability of a charismatic leader who thinks they know what they're doing to fuck absolutely everything up.

Brazil was already fucked up. I think this is the result of people desperately grasping at anything different in hope that a change, any change, in the mess may be better.

 

[rousseau]

If it is true that countries get the leaders they deserve what do Venezuela do to deserve Chavez?

It's shocking to me how common populist leaders are, now in Brazil too. Never underestimate the ability of a charismatic leader who thinks they know what they're doing to fuck absolutely everything up.

Brazil was already fucked up. I think this is the result of people desperately grasping at anything different in hope that a change, any change, in the mess may be better.

Now you've got me even more interested in Brazil. Despite the chaos, there's something about it that's fascinating to me.

Spent some time Google searching today and came across this good read:

Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?

The top answer is long, but it seemed to come down to a few main factors:

- the economic development of South America post-colonization was highly stratified with a small elite, and a majority in poverty
- Spanish/Portugese government institutions weren't as strong as that in Britain
- The influx of immigrants was predominantly Protestant families moving to North America, and single men / slaves to South America

And so with the foundations of the Venezuelan economy already weak, that led to populism and a whole bunch of fuck-ups, and now basically no more Venezuela.

 

[Tammuz]

Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?

The top answer is long, but it seemed to come down to a few main factors:

- the economic development of South America post-colonization was highly stratified with a small elite, and a majority in poverty
- Spanish/Portugese government institutions weren't as strong as that in Britain
- The influx of immigrants was predominantly Protestant families moving to North America, and single men / slaves to South America

And so with the foundations of the Venezuelan economy already weak, that led to populism and a whole bunch of fuck-ups, and now basically no more Venezuela.

I'd think that the North American countries (or really, just the US and Canada) are both stable liberal democracies with low corruption rates if you look from a global perspective would play a significant role here.

I don't intend for this to be apologetics for colonialism, but it seems like British-inherited institutions tend to produce prosperous countries. A case that springs to mind is Hong Kong.

 

[bilby]

Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?

The top answer is long, but it seemed to come down to a few main factors:

- the economic development of South America post-colonization was highly stratified with a small elite, and a majority in poverty
- Spanish/Portugese government institutions weren't as strong as that in Britain
- The influx of immigrants was predominantly Protestant families moving to North America, and single men / slaves to South America

And so with the foundations of the Venezuelan economy already weak, that led to populism and a whole bunch of fuck-ups, and now basically no more Venezuela.

I'd think that the North American countries (or really, just the US and Canada) are both stable liberal democracies with low corruption rates if you look from a global perspective would play a significant role here.

I don't intend for this to be apologetics for colonialism, but it seems like British-inherited institutions tend to produce prosperous countries. A case that springs to mind is Hong Kong.

Or Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

 

[Tammuz]

Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?

The top answer is long, but it seemed to come down to a few main factors:

- the economic development of South America post-colonization was highly stratified with a small elite, and a majority in poverty
- Spanish/Portugese government institutions weren't as strong as that in Britain
- The influx of immigrants was predominantly Protestant families moving to North America, and single men / slaves to South America

And so with the foundations of the Venezuelan economy already weak, that led to populism and a whole bunch of fuck-ups, and now basically no more Venezuela.

I'd think that the North American countries (or really, just the US and Canada) are both stable liberal democracies with low corruption rates if you look from a global perspective would play a significant role here.

I don't intend for this to be apologetics for colonialism, but it seems like British-inherited institutions tend to produce prosperous countries. A case that springs to mind is Hong Kong.

Or Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

Fair enough. Though I think they didn't keep the British societal institutions that Hong Kong kept. I don't know about the modern history of Uganda, but Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in the 1970s after a bloody war, and Zimbabwe declined under the corrupt Robert Mugabe, though it was actually pretty well off right after independence.

 

[rousseau]

Why did North America economically prosper, and maintain stable government and South/Central America didn't?

The top answer is long, but it seemed to come down to a few main factors:

- the economic development of South America post-colonization was highly stratified with a small elite, and a majority in poverty
- Spanish/Portugese government institutions weren't as strong as that in Britain
- The influx of immigrants was predominantly Protestant families moving to North America, and single men / slaves to South America

And so with the foundations of the Venezuelan economy already weak, that led to populism and a whole bunch of fuck-ups, and now basically no more Venezuela.

I'd think that the North American countries (or really, just the US and Canada) are both stable liberal democracies with low corruption rates if you look from a global perspective would play a significant role here.

I don't intend for this to be apologetics for colonialism, but it seems like British-inherited institutions tend to produce prosperous countries. A case that springs to mind is Hong Kong.

Check out the link I posted and give it a good, thorough read. There may be something to the British Institution part, but there is *a lot* more to the divergence of South America. Very interesting.

 

[untermensche]

This reminds me of my time in the Philippines, a capitalist nation. This was 1979.

Capitalism with a corrupt government.

Capitalism in a former US colony with large US military bases that were the major economic source.

Scores of children begging. Prostitutes everywhere.

Incredible poverty.