THIS ESSAY IS APPARENTLY SUPPOSED TO BE CRITICAL:

The reality though is that Pinochet and the Chicago Boys did not bring libertarianism, free markets, or free enterprise to Chile. A genuine libertarian, free-market, free-enterprise system is one in which economic enterprise is free of all government control, regulation, or management, not one in which conservatives or conservative-leaning libertarians are the controllers, regulators, or managers of the economy. Libertarianism turns on abolishing welfare and regulatory departments and agencies. This is what a segment of the libertarian movement still doesn't get to this today.

What Pinochet and the Chicago Boys accomplished in Chile was more in the mold of what British rightwing ruler Margaret Thatcher achieved in Great Britain. Thatcher, not surprisingly, became a darling of not only conservatives here in America but also many conservative-leaning libertarians.

Were the Chicago Boys better central planners and better regulators than Allende's people? Undoubtedly. But in their rush to join and serve a brutal unelected military dictatorship that was rounding up, raping, sexually abusing, disappearing, and murdering thousands of innocent people, they blocked out of their minds that that's all they were -- "free enterprise" central planners and regulators. In fact, in a regime that wielded omnipotent dictatorial powers, Pinochet and his Chicago Boys didn't even abolish the minimum wage, much less Chile's central bank.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Pinochet regime was his approach to Social Security. Allende's approach to Social Security was like that of the American people. The system took money from young people and transferred it to seniors. In other words, classic socialism.

Pinochet's Social Security system instead permitted people to keep their own money but forced them to invest it in government-approved stock accounts.

Pinochet's Social Security system has also had a profound effect on the libertarian movement, a segment of which extolls such a system as libertarian, freedom, and free enterprise.

Alas, nothing could be further from the truth. Pinochet's Social Security system was nothing more than one based on the principles of economic fascism, a type of system that leaves property in private hands but then permits the government to direct and order how it is to be used.

Tweet   @brothersjudd