The Treasury Department's hidden treasure

The American Thinker ^ | Dec. 12, 2004 | A.M. Mora y Leon

[Kitten Festival]

When Sam Bodman’s name appeared in the news as President Bush’s choice to lead the Department of Energy, the dominant reaction the press was to treat him as “unknown.” But he is a man of great accomplishment, as an engineer, a scholar, and businessman, and as a brilliant official in a sub-cabinet position. As it happens, I instantly recognized his name, because of the praise he had received from one of the intellectual giants of our age.

Last May, I had the dazzling honor of interviewing the great economist, Hernando de Soto. He is my hero, so for me this was a dream come true. De Soto's work shows that simply institutionalizing property rights for the world's poorest people has brought untold stability and prosperity to every country that's seriously tried to implement his findings. His own country, Peru, where his ideas are firmly in place, recently reported its 37th straight month of economic growth and continuing peace. You never hear of any trouble coming out of Peru these days? The quiet of Peru gives the Nobel Economics Committee lots to ignore, it seems.

So the nomination of Sam Bodman to the Energy Department deeply intrigued me. What does this have to do with de Soto? In the interview, de Soto told me that Bodman was one of the finest minds he knew of in the U.S. government, and he knew quite a few.

[Kitten Festival]

Bush's energy cabinet pick was derided by liberals who didn't understand him, but the great economist Hernando de Soto, months ago, told us all how great he is.