We have all been moved by the scenes of the miners surfacing from that deep hole, in the mine. All 33 were brought safely to ground level to be greeted by their President Sebastian Pinera.
I think we were all warmed by this human show of care and compassion for the miners and their families. The show of emotion and joy was a sight to behold, brought to us by TV from a country in South America. I suspect we may possibly know quite a bit about the country's wines but what do we know about Chile's President ?
Pinera was born into a priviliged background, his father was Chile's Ambassador to Belgium and the United Nations, based in New York. His uncle was Archbishop Bernardino Piñera. After spending some time at Harvard, Pinera graduated with a BA and a Ph.D and he became a Professor of Economic Political Theory at the University of Chile.
Pinera entered right wing politics and served in General Pinochet's Cabinet. Pinochet was invited to take tea at No. 10 with Margaret Thatcher... and the rest is well known history unless you are too young to remember that time. You may think that he was arrested for being a fascist dictator ? Well, partly, but there was a little bit more to it than that... For starters you could read http://url4t.com/Mla http://url4t.com/dqs There is much information on the internet.
And what is Pinochet's legacy in Chile ? "Pinochet pushed through the education law just four days before leaving power; it placed the responsibility for education in the hands of the private sector at the same time as allowing complete freedom to create educational centres. The result was the deterioration of the quality of education, while making it prohibitively expensive. Working class people now struggle to get into university and have to make do with municipal secondary colleges – in other words, a second class education.." Guardian http://url4t.com/Dax
So what else do we know about Sebastian Pinera... He became President of Chile in January of this year, but only just by a lead of 4%. He is an extremely wealthy businessman, indeed he is a billionaire. An article in the New York Times gives some information.http://url4t.com/zjP and a little more information about his business interests... and why he's pushed some aside into another organisation... http://url4t.com/YZY.
His brother is Jose Pinera who helped install Chile's economic programme as the General’s minister and today is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a rather influential research group in Washington. He 'reformed' Chile's pension system... This is what he's suggesting for now in the Western world - here he is on Fox News (Murdoch's US News channel) http://url4t.com/sqw video
What do we know about the Cato Institute ? Well it's an American Think-Tank and one of it's former Board of Directors is one Rupert Murdoch. A little info about Cato http://url4t.com/Cfv http://url4t.com/zZv.
plus a further view "Cato argues for the abolition of the welfare system, against the U.S. government pursuing an interventionist foreign policy, in favor of civil liberties and limits on executive power, and in favor of more relaxed immigration policies and for a more deregulated healthcare system" http://url4t.com/O7Q
George F Will was guest speaker at the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman dinner this year. Take a look at the column on the right hand side... recognise any names from the UK ? http://url4t.com/4q0 George Will is a Pulitzer Prize-Winning columnist at the Washington Post - one of the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Yes, his name crops up all over the place doesn't it ?
We mustn't forget to mention Milton Friedman - he was probably the most influential economist in the Western world during the latter part of the 20th century. Reagan and Thatcher are probably his most prominent, ardent fans ! "The core of Milton Friedman’s theories is that the free market, motivated by profit and self-interest, is capable of solving all economic problems. Governments should get out of the way and let the creative force of capitalism perform its magic". http://url4t.com/1Lr
Maybe some of the above explains why we should be interested in President Pinera. But maybe there's another reason.... one week we're watching Pinera on our television screens welcoming miners surface from the mine and the following week we have a little bit of history repeating itself - The President of Chile is invited to take tea with the British Prime Minister at No. 10... wonder what they'll chat about ?
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I think we were all warmed by this human show of care and compassion for the miners and their families. The show of emotion and joy was a sight to behold, brought to us by TV from a country in South America. I suspect we may possibly know quite a bit about the country's wines but what do we know about Chile's President ?
Pinera was born into a priviliged background, his father was Chile's Ambassador to Belgium and the United Nations, based in New York. His uncle was Archbishop Bernardino Piñera. After spending some time at Harvard, Pinera graduated with a BA and a Ph.D and he became a Professor of Economic Political Theory at the University of Chile.
Pinera entered right wing politics and served in General Pinochet's Cabinet. Pinochet was invited to take tea at No. 10 with Margaret Thatcher... and the rest is well known history unless you are too young to remember that time. You may think that he was arrested for being a fascist dictator ? Well, partly, but there was a little bit more to it than that... For starters you could read http://url4t.com/Mla http://url4t.com/dqs There is much information on the internet.
And what is Pinochet's legacy in Chile ? "Pinochet pushed through the education law just four days before leaving power; it placed the responsibility for education in the hands of the private sector at the same time as allowing complete freedom to create educational centres. The result was the deterioration of the quality of education, while making it prohibitively expensive. Working class people now struggle to get into university and have to make do with municipal secondary colleges – in other words, a second class education.." Guardian http://url4t.com/Dax
So what else do we know about Sebastian Pinera... He became President of Chile in January of this year, but only just by a lead of 4%. He is an extremely wealthy businessman, indeed he is a billionaire. An article in the New York Times gives some information.http://url4t.com/zjP and a little more information about his business interests... and why he's pushed some aside into another organisation... http://url4t.com/YZY.
His brother is Jose Pinera who helped install Chile's economic programme as the General’s minister and today is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a rather influential research group in Washington. He 'reformed' Chile's pension system... This is what he's suggesting for now in the Western world - here he is on Fox News (Murdoch's US News channel) http://url4t.com/sqw video
What do we know about the Cato Institute ? Well it's an American Think-Tank and one of it's former Board of Directors is one Rupert Murdoch. A little info about Cato http://url4t.com/Cfv http://url4t.com/zZv.
plus a further view "Cato argues for the abolition of the welfare system, against the U.S. government pursuing an interventionist foreign policy, in favor of civil liberties and limits on executive power, and in favor of more relaxed immigration policies and for a more deregulated healthcare system" http://url4t.com/O7Q
George F Will was guest speaker at the Cato Institute's Milton Friedman dinner this year. Take a look at the column on the right hand side... recognise any names from the UK ? http://url4t.com/4q0 George Will is a Pulitzer Prize-Winning columnist at the Washington Post - one of the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Yes, his name crops up all over the place doesn't it ?
Maybe some of the above explains why we should be interested in President Pinera. But maybe there's another reason.... one week we're watching Pinera on our television screens welcoming miners surface from the mine and the following week we have a little bit of history repeating itself - The President of Chile is invited to take tea with the British Prime Minister at No. 10... wonder what they'll chat about ?
CURSOR DOWN FOR THE LATEST WORLD NEWS
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