Nicaragua--Free Market Country

One of the more interesting websites that deals with contrarian economics--from a basically Austrian economics perspective--is The Daily Reckoning.  Though it is basically free-market in orientation, it's also refreshingly non-ideological in other respects.  For example, I ran across this description of Nicaraqua in one of their daily reports:

So, "Is it safe?" That's the first question anyone you talk to about Nicaragua asks. Old news stories containing names like Sandinistas, Contras and Ollie North come to mind for most. "Wasn't there some scandal with guns and the Iranians?" one asks, visions of civil war and death squads dancing around in their heads.

"Si, si, si," our driver Damien, a native of Granada, informed us, "but that was my father's generation." The current generation of 20- and 30- something Nicaraguans are much like those in Baltimore, Dubai or Bombay. They're up on communications technology...and want to use it to make their lives better. Damien was born in Managua, educated in Guatemala and now runs the concierge service for Rancho Santana. But his family owns an Internet cafe and he's saving money to start his own networking business. The true benefit of the "information age" is that a guy like your editor can set up shop in a low-cost, low-tax joint with world-class surfing waves (like Rancho Santana) and still keep his life together. Heh.

"So what about the Sandinistas?" They did overthrow the US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. But at the time, the Somoza family owned everything in the country...the media, education system, means of production for the country's export crops of plantains, coffee, almonds, rum...leaving anyone without "connections" living hand to mouth off the land. Today, you see a myriad of little businesses and small distribution outfits for all manner of goods and services. After the revolution, the Sandinistas restored the republic and they've been holding elections ever since. Now, according to Interpol (the international police), Nicaragua is "the least violent country in Central America and one of the safest in the entire hemisphere"...including the United Sates.

"After 17 years as a free market country," a list of the greatest travel destinations for 2010 published by Scotsman.com echoes, "Nicaragua's economy is growing and according to the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, it's the safest country in Central America, with a reported crime rate lower than that of Germany, France and the US."

Believe me, you'd never hear this from the neocons!