The situation encountered by Heritage analysts on the ground in Venezuela last week was of a country that has been looted and is falling apart—literally and figuratively. The once thriving nightlife of downtown Caracas is but a distant memory. These days the streets are deserted, surrendered to gangsters and narcotraffickers. …
The death of Margaret Thatcher received extensive media coverage in Chile, proving that the “Dama de Hierro” (“Iron Lady”) is still capable of stirring powerful emotions among Chileans—of irritation among her opponents and admiration from her supporters. Her passing occurred while Heritage economic experts were in Santiago to present results …
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, earlier this month an official from the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) warned that many activities at USDOC—such as the activities of the USDOC’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service—will have to be scaled back due to …
Although Hugo Chavez just died last week in Caracas, economic freedom predeceased him in Venezuela by at least a decade. When Chavez took power in 1999, the Venezuelan economy was rated at 54 points out of 100, according to The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal’s annual Index of Economic Freedom. This …
If the Obama Administration is looking for places to make sequestration cuts, it can start with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). In late August 1965, less than a month after terrible riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Congress passed and President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed a bill establishing …
In 2011, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez organized the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2011 specifically to serve as a regional body that excludes the U.S. and Canada—one that might someday supplant the Organization of American States (OAS). News that the next Latin leader to assume CELAC’s …
Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament and one of Great Britain’s rising conservative political stars, reminds us that the fundamental error of the left is its “elevation of motive over outcome.” This leads to development assistance policies that are at least doomed to fail and may actually increase …
Is President Obama channeling Juan Perón? The President does seem to have a few things in common with the political descendants of the late Argentine dictator. For example, due to ongoing lawsuits stemming from Argentina’s still unresolved $100 billion sovereign debt default in 2001, Argentina’s current president, Peronist Cristina Fernández …
Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) and others in Congress have repeatedly expressed concerns about “fragmentation, overlap, and duplication” in non-emergency food aid programs administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). But a study released this month by the United States Government …
