South American Summary 5-27-24

Most of the countries in South and Central America are in trouble, because of Biden’s inflation. Too many of these countries have low household income and their government policies are not addressing the drag anchors in their economies, but are stuck with addressing their humanitarian crises that are caused by the long-term effects of their policies. 

There have been two types of voters in these countries over the past 75 years. The majority have been socialist-leaning and have voted for “Free Stuff” from socialist candidates. The minority of voters who understood economics fled legally to the US from the 1950s to present.

The high Nominal GDP countries include Brazil and Mexico. Brazil has been consistent in improving its economy, but many Brazilians moved legally to the US.  Mexico improved after 1993, when NAFTA signaled the off-shoring of US manufacturing and Mexico began to receive more investment from US companies who were building factories in Mexico to flee from US Labor Unions and take advantage of lower regulations and cheaper labor costs. Now Mexico has Drug Cartels to deal with.

The next highest Nominal GDP countries include Argentina and Columbia. Their problems with socialism and drug cartels distracted their governments from helping their economies.

Argentina took the socialist route to get “Free Stuff” when they elected Juan Parone in 1946. Socialism usually discourages investors. Perone’s problems began with 30% inflation followed by attempts at a military coup and his resignation in 1955. 

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/juan-per%C3%B3n-overthrown

Columbia was host to the Drug Cartels from the 1970s until the US helped clean them out. Columbia began extraditing Drug Cartel leaders to the US for trials in 1985. By 1993, the last of the Drug Cartels was defeated. The Drug Cartels moved to Panama and then to Mexico.

Thee next highest Nominal GDP countries include Chile and Peru.

Chile was a successful exporter of raw materials from their mining industries, but local native tribe have interrupted this export.

Peru lost 400,000 citizens in 2022 because of high inflation and general dissatisfaction with their current government.

The top 6 of the 33 countries have had their problems with criminal organizations and socialism. The remaining 27 countries have similar problems but have smaller economies. They are too distracted by low incomes, high inflation and trade deficits. They need a balance between attending to their economies and attending to their needy citizens. The citizens need to understand that the private sector needs to expand in order to lift their economies out of poverty. The citizens need to understand that productivity increases are needed to lift themselves out of poverty. They have strong ties to their culture but should invest more attention to their survival. The answer is generational wealth that is great enough to sustain families through the ups and downs of developing a stronger economy. Socialists ignore this to the peril of their families.

In the 1960s, the US began to be led by socialists to suffer cultural decline that began with the call to “drop out” of the economy and take drugs to cope. Socialists took over US education at the college level and proceeded to take over education at the high school and elementary school levels.  Unions became oppressive and when companies could move over-seas, they did. The US decline mirrors the declines experienced by South American countries. The problems in the US are the same.  More voters have been indoctrinated to focus on “victims” than on the economic fundamentals that improve family income. The only thing protecting US families from poverty is generational wealth. Family members who have been indoctrinated in school need to realize that they are responsible for themselves and need to focus their motivation to earn enough money to provide food, shelter and transportation for themselves and gain self-reliance. Those of us who have succeeded continue to warn our younger family members to select occupations they are good at and enjoy, so they can be successful and happy.

Trump advised young citizens to “Do what you love” and you can succeed. Young citizens need to stop playing on their I-Phones and find their way to successful careers by pursuing compatible occupations. Trump is Inner-Directed and has excellent judgment and common sense. He is totally “accomplishment oriented”.  The benefits of “doing what you love” were introduced by Art Miller with System for Identifying Motivated Abilities. The validity of this theory has been validated by the testimonies of hundreds of successful people ever since.

Countries fail when citizen lose focus. The US was successful because throughout its founding and development the US Government and the citizens were in-sink. The priorities were clear and we moved quickly from 1800 to 1880 to populate the US from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans and join in the Industrial Revolution to produce the US economy and standard of living we have enjoyed since the 1950s.

Comments

My wife and I spent a week in Monterrey Mexico in 1969 as guests of the University of Monterrey. We were invited to join a couple we knew from St. Louis and they drove us to Austin Texas, where we joined a third couple who drove from Austin to Monterrey.  The city of Monterrey was pristine. Our host was a retired American Army Colonel who was in charge of bringing US citizens to the University to learn Spanish. We spent some time with him as he visited the Pueblo outside the city where he bought recovered antique gun parts from the poor Mexicans who lived there. They lived in mud huts with electricity and had old TV sets. They were not happy. They were not able to purchase their own land, but were allowed to be squatters. We got a close-up look at Mexican poverty and the gap between rich and poor was huge.

We ate all of our meals at the University. But on our last day our host took us to a restaurant. I got diarrhea.

The drive back to the US was interrupted by bathroom trips. When we got back home, I told everybody that we attended the Kaopectate Festival.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader