Comments on: Oscar Arias: Last Democrat Standing in the region?

By: Gary Christensen

Gary Christensen — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Oscar Arias’ Presidential police http://bit.ly/GarysUT extorts Costa Ricans & businesses http://bit.ly/GaryTVWeb

By: loroferoz

loroferoz — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:41:54 +0000

“Many want to climb aboard a rusted out railroad car headed toward the past, to the ideological trenches that divided the world during the Cold War.”

Now we know, thanks to Mr. Arias, that the Red of the Revolution, is now the Red of Rusted Out Iron.

Though I have to be a pessimist and agree a bit with Carlos. The State in most of Latin America is hopeless, and people pay through the nose to get decent service, at the State (corruption) or at private clinics, schools, etc. (private sector).

In the end we as a region shall have to see the hard truth. Maybe, maybe we hope, decentralization will produce public services worth something. But where central governments are concerned, we will have to give way to the free market, or suffer the above mentioned forever.

By: An Interested Observer

An Interested Observer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:25:04 +0000

“Let’s write a speech about everything that’s wrong with Hugo Chavez, but never say his name.” If that wasn’t the intent, then it still couldn’t have fit Hugo any better.

Great phrase: “tentacular governments.”

By: firepigette

firepigette — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:46:28 +0000

The day Oscar Arias becomes secretary general of the OAS the there will be real hope for LA.

As long as we have the likes of Insulza, Gaviria etc. it will be business as usual.

By: Juancho

Juancho — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:43:15 +0000

How could one allow the horrific parade of rockets, missiles and guns that passes by in view of rickety school desks, empty lunch boxes and clinics without medicines? Some might say that I was mistaken to trust in a peaceful future. I think not. Hope is never a mistake, no matter how many times it is short-changed.

——-

This is a human being.

Juancho

By: Kepler

Kepler — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:56:36 +0000

Exactly, the question is to what degree.
And also to realise things cannot be static.
What is right now may not be later on, here or there.

As there will be interest groups one way or the other that will try to cling to things that fit them but are perhaps not fair, one needs to have an open discussion and not parallel monologues.

Of course, debates require transparency and courage as well as good frameworks to function.

By: Tambopaxi

Tambopaxi — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:42:47 +0000

Agree, Kepler. I
t’s not a black or white, all state or all private sector proposition. There’s gotta be a mix.
As you allude, we’re still seeing this sort of debate to this day in the States regarding issues such the financial sector debacle, the decline of the automobile companies, the sugar and ag subsidies, the health sector, and ad nauseam…

Our country is still in the “socialize the losses, privatize the profits” mode, and that needs to change. The question is, to what degree?

By: Boludo Tejano

Boludo Tejano — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:28:17 +0000

Babalu has the video on a power interruption during a Thugo TV talk, appropriately titled, “Turn on a Candle, Ramiro.” It quotes a WaPo article, which is here in full. CARACAS, Venezuela -- Power failures have become a fact of life in Venezuela, but the energy problems have not affected the presidential palace - until now. President Hugo Chavez was giving a televised address Thursday when the broadcast on state TV was suddenly interrupted. TV screens went fuzzy for a couple of seconds, then the channel switched to a spot urging Venezuelans to save electricity. When the live broadcast resumed minutes later, Chavez said the interruption was caused by problems with a power generator. Chavez blames energy shortages on a drought and low water levels at the Guri Dam, which supplies about 70 percent of Venezuela's electricity. Critics argue Chavez has failed to invest enough in electricity production. So, there are SOME advantages to watching ThugoTV.

By: Kepler

Kepler — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:32:52 +0000

Good speech.

Carlos, this is not rhetorical: in what kind of schools did you get your education? Did you choose your kindergarten and your parents?
Do you think there is a difference between those schools and the average school we find in, say, Los Valles del Tuy?
Do you know how the US industry (or any other) was protected by the state in the late XVIII and whole of XIX century? Mind: up to now in many many sectors?
I don’t think a state knows more than us, a state is made up of people sets that vary a lot. But no single cutlre, not in the US or elsewhere, has managed to prosper without some form of coordinated effort from some central point. The discussion is about the degree. Fundamentalism of any kind is the most pernicious thing: to think the state is holy or on the other side that there are magic rules of the market that allow really for absolute free trade.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:26:51 +0000

Excellent speech, with many truths, except that as another statist politician his dream will never come true. The only path to development is to free the people from statist bondage and mercantilist policies so that everyone’s true potential to learn, to create, to innovate, to build, to grow will have a chance to flourish to the fullest. This means taking away so many crutches, that while necessary for the lame and infirm are not good for the able, and most of us are able. It also means the end of state paternalism, making us all think that the State, the Party, our beloved Leader, those “sclerotic bureaucracies” can really know more than each one of us knows what’s best for us.