Give us more; now, go away!

I was reading about the “Summit of the Americas” being held in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, or at least that was what the headline offered as my reason to read why “Many blame Bush's policies for the region's sagging economy”. After reading John Otis’ article in the Houston Chronicle, ( linked via title bar), it dawned on my slow thinking brain that this was simply another attempt to blame Bush for all the problems of the world; oh, and while they were at it, blame the free market system too.

“Many people in the region have become more and more frustrated over unemployment rates that stay high and economic growth figures that remain low.

Rightly or wrongly, they pin the blame on policies pushed by the Bush administration and the International Monetary Fund to open Latin America's economies to more trade and foreign competition.

{…}

Others, like the left-leaning Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, are calling for more state intervention in their economies.

"Whoever wants to go to hell can follow the path of capitalism," Chavez said in a speech this week. "But most of us want a better world, and we must find another path."

This was a front page article when it belonged in the editorial section under the heading, “We Hate American Ideals”. There were some facts brought out that could have and probably should have been the focus of the story. Unfortunately the agenda is not to highlight America’s strengths; but to tear everything apart and rebuild America into a totally socialistic state, and all these words of encouragement come from outside our own borders. So, why is this message deserving of front page space; because it serves to further bash President Bush and capitalism.

In a small portion of the article tucked away was an observation that maybe, just maybe, their own corrupt governments had destroyed these economies rather than some outside force; but that takes away from being able to blame Bush and capitalism in general.

“Bour (Buenos Aires economist Juan Louis Bour) and some other analysts blame government mismanagement and corruption for the malaise and argue that the region needs more free-trade economic reforms, not fewer.”

The fact remains that capitalism, not socialism, creates a market strong enough to provide the incentives necessary for economic growth sufficient to encourage private business owners to hire more people. Governments cannot create jobs any more than it can create wealth since they rely on already created wealth, duh!