Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s President, has plenty of critics, who often focus on his style (not least his interminable unscripted chat show, Alo Presidente), and in many ways he does fit into the tradition of the Latin American caudillo (the ‘strong man on horseback’). But Venezuela certainly seems to be getting something right on inequality. According to the highly reputable UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, it now has the most equal distribution of income in the region, and has improved rapidly since 1990.
Equality of income is just so important, isn’t it?
Technically, everyone living a hand to mouth existence IS equality.
I don’t understand how anyone could write that with anything even approaching a straight face…
In which Oxfam reveal themselves to be haters of humanity.
Whoever wrote that should be put up against a wall.
“From Poverty to Power”
Says it all. Poverty for the population, power for Progressives.
Oxfam are now openly stooges of socialist evil.
Time to revoke their charitable status.
To be fair, he did write it in 2010. That’s not saying that he doesn’t still believe it of course. Indeed highly unlikely his type would let facts interfere with the belief system. As to Oxfam, agree with Mr Ecks, they are not a charity, they are left wing political campaigners.
Hmm, how do you measure the inequality in an organisation that gets 40% of its income from the threat of jail (us) and volunteers who get FA, and a chief executive who gets £130,000 a year?
What about an international company with dozens of overseas affiliates which has 70% white emploees?
An international organisation that employs men/women in a 6/1 ratio?
Its like when, under Labour, child “poverty” rose and rose, but Ed Balls kept “redoubling” his efforts to eradicate it, whereas everyone knows Tories have special dinners at the Dorchester to celebrate it.
Don’t look at facts, just believe the fairy stories and everything will be fine…
Thatcher was right. They’d rather the poor were poorer, as long as the rich were even less rich.
“This personal reflection is not intended as a comprehensive statement of Oxfam’s agreed policies.”
So Duncan Green can spread his poison without worrying that the Charity Commission might revoke Oxfam’s charitable status. Green is a Professor of Practice at the LSE, by the way.
More generally, this is worth a glance:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-01-22/comment/oxfam-should-start-putting-people-before-ideology-87wsz83wk
‘Tax the rich,
Feed the poor,
Till there are no rich no more’
Ten Years After, 1970
It has never been about the poor. The ‘poor’ are a weapon to be used against the rich. They are of interest only to the extent they can be used as a weapon.
Odd that the poor in Venezuela aren’t “struggling,” as they are referred to everywhere else.
‘highly reputable UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’
Reputable and UN in same sentence?
When everybody is scrabbling in the ditches for subsistance, then everybody will be equal.
“Odd that the poor in Venezuela aren’t “struggling,” as they are referred to everywhere else.”
Struggling burns too many calories.
“To be fair, he did write it in 2010.”
Not even going to give him that. There were many many people telling anyone who would listen that Chavez would ruin Venezuela long before 2010.
It really is no excuse whatsoever. This article, complete with its timestamp, needs to be trumpeted relentlessly anytime anyone from Oxfam opens their mouth on any topic at all. Constant repetition that their opinion simply cannot be trusted.
Why I think it is important to highlight this kind of article is that it shows how poor their policy choices are. We should be asking Oxfam why we should listen to them when they were so wrong on Venezuela and the ‘Neoliberals’ they decry were right, predicting the it would end in economic disaster even when the oil money was rolling in.
If they couldn’t see the consequences of the state trying to take over the economy in Venezuela why do they think they know the consequences of seizing so much wealth would be.