On the same day Venezuela’s charismatic president, Hugo Chávez, died the Dow Jones and Financial Times indices broke records, wiping out the losses of the last five years. As capitalism appeared to recover its old swagger, a hero of the Left passed from the scene. The significance of Chávez’s experiment in “21st century socialism” (as he described it) goes beyond Venezuela. His attempt to harness the market to the needs of the poor emerged from a long and well established tradition in the Spanish-speaking world. The shortcomings of his 14 years in power, however, may have had as much to do with oil as with ideology. Chávez’s achievements – and more schools, more clinics, more amenities … [Read more...] about Tales for Tapas: Rich and poor