Some more anarchy and capitalism -- Fwd: [dgc.chat] Starving the Bastards in Bolivia

[Steve Schear]

>Bolivia is a poor country.  Nevertheless, no one, however poor, ever
>starves in Bolivia: food is dirt cheap and readily available.
>
>In contrast, the government is starving to death.  What joy!  It is
>desperate for increased revenue and is preoccupied with schemes for
>new taxes etc.  You may recall that last year the president, Gonzalo
>Sanchez de Lozada, was driven out of the country because he tried to
>impose an income tax.  The new president, Carlos Mesa, has proposed
>3 (three!) separate programs in the last few months for various new
>kinds of taxes to raise revenue.  And he has been forced to withdraw
>all of them.
>
>The bureacrats' whining is getting deafening.
>
>http://www.el-deber.net/20040317/nacional_3.html
>
>Mesa negocia fondos externos para salarios
>Mesa seeks external fund for salaries
>
>El Presidente insistis ayer en Cochabamba en la necesidad de mejorar
>la situacisn financiera del Estado
>Yesterday in Cochabamba, the president urged the necessity of
>improving the
>financial situation of the State.
>
>El gobierno teme un colapso fiscal. Ya no hay dinero para pagarles a los 
>funcionarios
>pzblicos y por ello apela a un pacto para salir de la crisis.
>The government is afraid of a fiscal collapse.  There is now no money to 
>pay the public
>servants and for that it appeals for an agreement for escaping the crisis.
>
>Tras alertar sobre la posibilidad de un colapso fiscal del pams, el 
>presidente Carlos Mesa
>revels ayer que su gobierno negocia con la comunidad internacional fondos 
>para el pago
>de salarios en el sector pzblico.
>Announcing the possibility of a fiscal collapse of the country, the 
>president Carlos
>Mesa revealed yesterday that his government is negotiating with the IMF in 
>order
>to pay the salaries of the public sector.
>
>Note that he says there might be a fiscal collapse of the *country* when 
>it is not
>the country but the government that might collapse.  There is no chance of 
>the civil
>society collapsing.  We can only hope that the government does so the 
>society will
>be freed from it.  Also note what foreign aid is sought for: not to aid 
>the people of
>Bolivia but to prop up the apparatus of the State.
>
>
>Best,
>
>CCS
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------

Anarchy may not be a better form of government, but it's better than no 
government at all.