Subject:
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Property Rights are the foundation of freedom
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 30 Apr 2003 11:33:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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195 times
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so opines Khaled Saffuri, saying "For Iraq to be free, property must belong
to its people.", in a editorial column in today's USA Today.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-04-29-opcom_x.htm
This view is also held by Hernando de Soto, and by me... quoting:
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Iraq is not the only country hampered by a lack of property rights. Hernando
de Soto, author of The Mystery of Capital and head of the Institute for
Liberty and Democracy in Peru, says: "The principal reason for the failure
of capitalism to gain a stable foothold in most of the developing world is
that nations have tried to modernize their economies without putting into
place the foundation stone of capitalism — a comprehensive and inclusive
property system."
So it was in post-Cold War Russia. Reformers moved for an immediate
transition to democracy without securing property rights for people who
lived in previously state-owned buildings. For almost a decade, the politics
of plunder ruled. So-called "state enterprises" were often sold for pennies
on the dollar to well-connected Communist Party officials. Without new
property laws, nothing stops ex-Baath Party officials from playing the same
game in postwar Iraq.
Deeds of property — a title to a house or lot — and the judicial system
necessary to enforce property rights currently do not exist in Iraq.
Luckily, de Soto offers a reconstruction model for Iraq to follow: Gen.
Douglas MacArthur's implementation of property rights in Japan after World
War II. Under MacArthur in 1946, the Japanese in 10,100 hamlets organized
legalized ownership of the land and reported this information to the
authorities at the next level up. They recorded it and reported it to their
superiors, and so forth. This should be high priority once the civil service
is up and running in Baghdad.
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