Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Capitalism may have ended life on Mars

Capitalism may be to blame for the lack of life on the planet Mars, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday. "I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day...more

There I was happily boycotting World Water Day and then I read the above.

And to think I actually thought markets and property rights were the way to solve our water problems.

So listen to Chavez and whatever you do, do not read:

Using Markets to Quench the Thirst of the American West
How the market can keep streams flowing
Let's Drink To Private Water

Or any of the other dastardly things you will find here.

This should make my buddy Hugo very happy:

U.S. Property Rights Protections Continue to Decline This morning, I attended the Property Rights Alliance’s launch presentation of the 2011 International Property Rights Index. Overall, the United States declined to 18th place in the world (from 16th in 2010 and 14th in 2007, when the Index was originally created), losing out to top-ranked Finland. The biggest contributor to the U.S.’s reduced standing was in the Physical Property Rights category (real property), which accounted for nearly half of the year-over-year decline in points. The variables for this category are protection of physical property rights, property registration, and access to loans. It is here where one might be surprised by some of the countries who rank ahead of the U.S. (ranked 25th) in terms of real property rights: Bahrain (5th), Saudi Arabia (8th), Oman (9th-tie), Botswana (21st-tie), and Tunisia (21st-tie)...more

Chavez cannot be happy about this though:

Most importantly, the IPRI emphasizes the great economic differences between countries with strong property rights and those without. Nations falling in the first quintile enjoy an average national GDP per capita of $38,350; more than double that of the second quintile with an average of $18,701. The third, fourth, and fifth quintiles average $9,316, $5,065, and $4,785 respectively.

I don't think we should all be poor, so maybe I'll have to rethink that Hugo is my buddy thing.

You can read the entire report here.

No comments: