Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot
by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Alvaro Vargas Llosa
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Plinio Apuleyo MendozaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-09-25
ISBN: 156833236X
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Madison Books
Book Reviews of Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot
Book Review: A great book, and not just about Latin America!
Summary: 5 Stars
The authors meticulously tie down and skewer a particular type of Latin American Idiot, a "progressive leftist" who thinks that the "free market" is "inhuman," etc. etc.
But it's easy to see lots and lots of North American Idiots in this portrait, as well as handfuls of European Idiots. Noam Chomsky and Medea Benjamin fit right in, both wallowing in economic illiteracy.
This book can be very profitably read by anyone in the world! The main point the authors come back to over and over again is the silly idea that wealth is "stolen," and not created. That is, if a foreman in Detroit makes 50 times as much as an Indian peasant in the Andes, well, that lousy American stole it from the peasant. Or he "exploited" him.
We've all heard this nonsense many times before, mostly from people who are very comfortably off (Chomsky, for example, is a millionaire). But the simple fact is that the foreman in Detroit PRODUCES fifty times as much as that peasant in the Andes. Of course, the foreman is surrounded by competent workers and managers, and huge capital investment in machinery etc. BUT at the end of the day, you have to produce wealth in order to have it.
Think about that. The United States is, according to the Idiots, the supreme exploiter in the world today. Yet the booming American economy, some $12 trillion strong, is two-thirds based on services! How can services possibly exploit starving peasants in the Andes?
The new democratic government in Mexico is a pretty surprising example of the Idiots finally in retreat. With NAFTA in place, and foreign investment encouraged, the Mexican economy has managed to reach the threshold of a trillion dollars, with a per capita GDP of $10,000. That's doing marginally better than Thailand, and of course infinitely better than Cuba.
Summary of Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot
By opening the ever-escalating debate regarding Latin America's "underdeveloped" status and cloaking the seriousness of the situation with wit and humor, the Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot reached number one status on the nonfiction bestseller lists in many countries in Latin America. It reveals the connection between economic success and cultural values--attitudes toward work, education, health care and community--and the consequence of the Latin American people retaining or evolving these values.Social Sciences Books
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