Pinochet and Neoliberalism

by Dollars and Sense

On Monday Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, former dictator of Chile and neoliberal/monetarist reformer, escaped prosecution for his many crimes against the people of Chile and against humanity.

Post-mortem press accounts of Pinochet have tended to characterize his villany as political—emphasizing the many human rights abuses committed under his regime—while perpetuating the characterization of his regime's neoliberal economic reforms as an "economic miracle." (The phrase is attributed to the also-recently-departed Milton Friedman, who trained the "Chicago Boys" behind Pinochet's reforms.)

The Christian Science Monitor, for example, quotes only Pinochet fans (including retired Gen. Luis Cortes Villa, director of the Pinochet Foundation, which is "dedicated to giving out scholarships and preserving the positive side of his legacy"), to support the claim that "[t]hough condemned for its brutality, [Pinochet's] regime is credited with stimulating economic growth." Talking to his friends and to admirers of neoliberalism allows the press to characterize this brutal dictator and his legacy as "controversial." How else to leave open the possibility that the repression and human rights abuses required to carry out ongoing neoliberal refroms worldwide are "worth it"?

Of course the political and the economic can't be separated in this way. For a useful antidote to recent press accounts, see our 2004 article by Jim Cypher, "Is Chile a Neoliberal Success?" See also Greg Grandin's recent Counterpunch article, Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire: The Road from Serfdom. 

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12/12/2006 10:47:00 AM