Some people were on to the scam of neoliberalism from the very beginning

If only others had been as prescient as Horacio Verbitsky

Argentine investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky

By Eugene Robinson

Washington Post

November 3, 1991

Excerpt from report:

"What you see very clearly is the uncritical adoption of formulas and procedures, and that process reflects a lack of culture," said Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky, a frequent critic of [Argentine President Carlos] Menem's efforts to privatize state industries. "It is not going to produce development, but quite the opposite."

He contends that Menem has sold off the Argentine national airline and the state-owned telephone system without establishing a proper regulatory framework that will guarantee improved service and preclude price-gouging. "This is not how a single European country did it," he said. "This is not a classical capitalistic model that we're setting up."

"Why the rush to sell everything at once, which will surely drive the prices down?" Verbitsky asked. "And anyhow, why the notion that we have to develop with Anglo-Saxon traits? Japan did it with Japanese traits. The neoconservative wave has finally arrived in Latin America, but it's a bit late."

(click here to view entire report)