[Teacher317]

So... South American nations recently elect devoutly communist Presidents and Castro admirers, the socialist organizations refuse to work in protest, and neither would allow free market forces to help fix their problems. I have no clue who to root for.

[trek]

You should examine history for a possible answer as to who to root for. The American trade union movement in the 1950s and 1960s was a bulwark against marxism in the United States. These were the days when Democrat meant Henry (Scoop) Jackson. This now defunct right wing of the Democrat party was pro-civil rights and staunchly anti-communist. They resemble in many ways the modern Republican Party, the modern Democrat party having fallen off the edge on the left. Perhaps the trade unions in Latin America are going to follow this model.

[concerned about politics]

So... South American nations recently elect devoutly communist Presidents and Castro admirers, the socialist organizations refuse to work in protest, and neither would allow free market forces to help fix their problems. I have no clue who to root for.

Yeh. This should be interesting to watch. Who will end up eating who?

[Eva]

The problem is that the "people" don't trust the free market system because to them that means that all the wealth goes to the same corrupt gov't leaders and the already rich elite. The "people" have seen no benefit from the oil. Trickly down economics doesn't work in a third world country, with a fascist in control.