Georgia (the country) to become free market paradise?

[Dreepa]

I lived in Moscow for two years.
Back then (93-95) I could live WELL on a US salary (although not a large one).
Now.... Moscow is a town for the super rich.  The 'regular' people are screwed to say nothing of the poor old ladies.

[FrankChodorov]

I lived in Moscow for two years.
Back then (93-95) I could live WELL on a US salary (although not a large one).
Now.... Moscow is a town for the super rich.  The 'regular' people are screwed to say nothing of the poor old ladies.

L-A-N-D

[tracysaboe]

I wouldn't want to live in Georgia.

They're not as wealthy as we are in the U.S. but that can change pretty rapidly if they do genuinely become a free country. Other then that they're fairly poor, relatively speaking, why wouldn't you want the live there.

Tracy

[Dreepa]

They're not as wealthy as we are in the U.S. but that can change pretty rapidly if they do genuinely become a free country. Other then that they're fairly poor, relatively speaking, why wouldn't you want the live there.

because I have been there and it is a shithole.

[tracysaboe]

They're not as wealthy as we are in the U.S. but that can change pretty rapidly if they do genuinely become a free country. Other then that they're fairly poor, relatively speaking, why wouldn't you want the live there.

because I have been there and it is a shithole.

Because they're poor. Which -- like I said can change rapidly if they develope into a free society.

TRacy

[Dreepa]

Well you are welcome to move.. I won't be.
It is no paradise.  It is ruled by gangs (mafia if you will).

Just like another shithole (Somalia) that people like to say is another 'libertarian' society.

[burnthebeautiful]

It seems that the people of Georgia haven't taken too kindly to their president. The latest news is that the president has made some free market reforms that have greatly reduced poverty, but he's also done some hugely anti-liberty stuff like shut down critical television stations and ordered police to shut down protests with rubber bullets and tear gas. Sounds kind of like a new Pinochet. Anyway, there have been huge protests against the president, and the election that was going to take place in October, is now going to take place in January.

[error]

Yeah, I watched a YouTube video of the Imedi TV station in Tbilisi being shut down by, well, loosely translated, special forces.

[youtube=425,350]v17XLl1VVPE[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v17XLl1VVPE

See also: State of Emergency Declared in Tbilisi, as Two TV Stations Off Air

[Lasse]

Yeah, 'free markets', it is one piece of the cake, it is the domain of the consequentialist libertarians like Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Where is the respect for the individual, where are the rights to life, liberty, property? It's not that it isn't there, because no country respects the individual - but there's no culture, no fundament, there is no shred of evidence that Georgia will become a libertarian country. The United States has the Bill of Rights and the Founders, there is a side of history that libertarians can point to and appeal to, and it is working. The U.S. has the highest amount of libertarians in the world, and that is because of the cultural and historical heritage.

I can't see the important things like gun rights emerging in Georgia. Many countries in this world have low or no taxes, and relative freedom for business, but they do this out of consequentialist concerns. They do not do this out of respect for the individual.

Georgia has very many secessionist/guerrilla movements, nearly all of them are funded and controlled by Russia. The whole place is just waiting to explode and become Chechnya #2, I don't think it'd be a great place to move.

Unfortunately I don't think there is any alternative for libertarians other than the U.S. I'm not saying 'unfortunately' because I dislike the U.S., I say that because most of us will never get to move there.

[J’raxis 270145]

I get the feeling Georgia's idea of "free market" and "free trade" is nothing more than the typical corporatism masquerading as freedom that's so common in countries like this. Considering this is a former SSR, the U.S. government, or someone like Soros, is probably behind it all, too.

[KBCraig]

Wasn't it Georgia that took down the traffic signs?

[Pat McCotter]

Here is Georgia's privatization web site:
http://www.privatization.ge/spp/spp/entities.php?lang=en