One of the stranger fallouts from the 2009 Honduran coup has been the scheme hatched by an NYU economist, Paul Romer, along with free-market libertarians—including Milton Friedman’s grandson, Patri; you can’t make this shit up—to start a bunch of “year-zero” cities in the country, free-market utopias with their own laws, etc. It’s like Empire’s Workshop meets The Shock Doctrine meets Fordlandia (except Henry Ford at least had his year-zero city provide free health care). If they were to come to fruition, they would be little more than free-trade maquila zones, like the kind that run along the US-Mexican border, except more savage.
In any case, the plan has hit a snag in that a committee of the Honduran Supreme Court has declared them unconstitutional, though that ruling could be reversed by the full court. Recently, a lawyer who argued for their unconstitutionality was gunned down, joining the long list of decent people killed as a result of the US-endorsed coup.
By the way, related to the discussion Corey Robin had on his blog about whether Hayek’s and Friedman’s support for dictatorships were inherent to their thought or just situational, Patri Friedman has cleared that point up, saying, in relation to these kind of start-up cities, that “Democracy is the current industry standard political system, but unfortunately it is ill-suited for a libertarian state.” Peter Thiel, founder of Paypall and bankroller of FB and another supporter of the Honduran scheme, wrote: “Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Glad that particular contradiction has gotten resolved. Adelante.
Monday 15 October 2012
Libertarianism in Honduras ☀
47 notes
-
doctordisaster likes this
-
hassibah likes this
-
imsooappalled reblogged this from kadalkavithaigal
-
artgroupie reblogged this from kadalkavithaigal
-
lord-kitschener likes this
-
kadalkavithaigal reblogged this from azspot
-
pag-asaharibon reblogged this from azspot
-
crueluncle likes this
-
silas216 reblogged this from azspot
-
silas216 likes this
-
jjarichardson likes this
-
jorjpeligro likes this
-
olehughr reblogged this from azspot
-
robotmonastery reblogged this from theamericanbear
-
empathies reblogged this from dumbassfils
-
rosecoloredbifocals reblogged this from other-stuff
-
tariqwest reblogged this from azspot
-
topclassbitchfromthefuture likes this
-
dumbassfils reblogged this from azspot and added:
reminder
-
dumbassfils likes this
-
shittromney reblogged this from azspot
-
shittromney likes this
-
maffra-man likes this
-
jolly-dolly reblogged this from azspot
-
libertariancontrarian likes this
-
tobiasandresrevolution likes this
-
clintirwin likes this
-
newsandtrade likes this
-
blissandzen likes this
-
caille said:
Please share more about this as you find it. Fascinating.
-
caille likes this
-
youdontneedtofollowme reblogged this from azspot
-
lionelhutz likes this
-
mctumblovin likes this
-
deliciousironing likes this
-
theamericanbear reblogged this from other-stuff and added:
BONUS: Honduras: Now Open for Political Murder
-
theadamglass reblogged this from azspot
-
leftistnaija reblogged this from azspot
-
theamericanbear likes this
-
dkyubey likes this
-
comix likes this
-
other-stuff reblogged this from azspot
-
alice44 likes this
-
kadalkavithaigal likes this
-
azspot posted this
A GNT creation ©2007–2013
