Let us contrast this with a most-disturbing phone call that I got from Santiago, Chile yesterday afternoon. One of our readers Pablo Gallyas gave me a most-disturbing report on what is happening in Chile now. We have read and seen news reports of mass demonstrations in Santiago. These protests have been likened to the protests in Hong Kong against Chinese rule. The report that Pablo gave me painted a different picture of violence and social unrest on a grand scale. To give you one statistic, Walmart operates 200 stores in Chile. 70 have been shut down due to violent takeovers by looters. Whereas we have record unemployment in the US, some 200.000 Chileans have lost their jobs. Another 200,000 are projected to be laid off by April of 2020. The Chilean peso is crashing in value. Pablo is a principal in one of the largest telecom companies in Chile. Sadly they have had to lay off a good part of the workforce. Chile was once the most stable and prosperous country in Latin America.
Everyone is the last 20 years we have slowly but surely seen the middle class decline all over the world while the top 1% get wealthier and wealthier. In the name of sound fiscal management, governments all over the world are cutting social benefits to the poor.
In my 71 years on earth I have not been able to figure out how to redistribute wealth and income more fairly. Marxism failed. The US government tried to redistribute wealth with a 90% tax rate on the wealthy. That also failed. Elena believes in the principal of: "Either someone is born with money or they will never get it." She cannot explain her own life. She started literally one millimeter out of the slum (favela) in Buenos Aires and is now a rich lady. Likewise my domestic partner from the 1980's, Maria Antonieta Fuentes, started life in a Guatemala slum with a single-mother parent. She lives the life of a wealthy lady now in Burbank, California with two children and a nice husband.
The bottom line here is that there are a lot of angry and disillusioned people out there. Some have taken drastic action.
Have a good day!
Be Positive!
Make some money!
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