More South America Lessons

That George Santayana Thing

From Marc M Rodge ... More from South America. Lee Rogers read this on his morning show today.I Googled this to find the author, not sure but it's all over the net.First time I've heard the story and comparison. - m    http://www.ksfo.com/Article.asp?id=1656320&spid=10828   I can see why - here's an excerpt ... “ In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen had formed a party called The Radicals under the banner of "fundamental change" with an appeal to the middle class.  ("Fundamental change"... now where have I heard that?) Among Irigoyen's changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country's operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts.  (Beginning to sound more familiar?) With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government's payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers' contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like our Social Security and Medicare programs.  (And, more!) The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón ”  Doug Ross had this picture essay last year.