Saturday, November 21, 2009
Latin America has a problem...
This post isn't actually about Venezuela, or rather it is only about Venezuela in as much as Venezuela is part of Latin America.
It is about Latin America in general but also about what some have always held up as a model of Latin American "development" - Chile.
I've never understood why some have looked so favorably upon Chile - its GDP is still that of a third world country and the only things I know that it "makes" are things like copper, fish, and grapes. Not the stuff true development is made of.
And sure enough:
This is a list from an academic research paper showing how much the exports of many third world countries are made up of manufactured goods.
As you would expect, Venezuela is near the bottom. But, surprise, surprise, look who is right next to them - Chile!!!!!!
In plain english, just as Venezuela doesn't make anything Chile doesn't make anything either!!!!
It's back to the drawing board I guess.
Anyways, looking at this table you can get a sense of what pathetic shape Latin America is in.
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It is about Latin America in general but also about what some have always held up as a model of Latin American "development" - Chile.
I've never understood why some have looked so favorably upon Chile - its GDP is still that of a third world country and the only things I know that it "makes" are things like copper, fish, and grapes. Not the stuff true development is made of.
And sure enough:
This is a list from an academic research paper showing how much the exports of many third world countries are made up of manufactured goods.
As you would expect, Venezuela is near the bottom. But, surprise, surprise, look who is right next to them - Chile!!!!!!
In plain english, just as Venezuela doesn't make anything Chile doesn't make anything either!!!!
It's back to the drawing board I guess.
Anyways, looking at this table you can get a sense of what pathetic shape Latin America is in.
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