Iraq on the rise

Amir Taheri says the Iraqi economy is booming. 

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the number of private companies in Iraq has increased from a mere 8,000 to more than 35,000 this year. Each week an average of 60 new companies spring up in Iraq's booming areas.

It's another reason for the anti-war left to get their knickers in knots.  Saddam Hussein may have been evil, but in leftist eyes nothing approaches the dastardly evil of capitalism.  And to add insult to injury,

The transition from a rentier economy - in which virtually the whole of the population depended on government handouts - to a free-market capitalist one entails much hardship for some segments of society. Many pensioners and some civil servants find it hard to make ends meet as prices rise across the board. The end of government subsidies on virtually everything - from bread and sugar to gasoline and water - is also causing hardship.

But, judging by the talk in teahouses and the debate in Iraq's new and pluralist media, most people welcome the switch to capitalism and regard it as an exciting adventure.

Drat!  Another socialist paradise down the tubes!

Comments

[SkyWatch]

We must be careful of places going full capatilst in a short time. An example is the Soviets. They switched but did it to fast and didn't have the ability to keep things in check thus the new system failed and they are moving back to the old ways.

[Tom Bowler]

Your point is well taken, but I think the enemy is corruption and the Soviets are a great example. The Russian mafia was never brought under control. When mob thugs extort business profits in return for the great "protection" they offer, or theocratic thugs murder liquor store owners for violating their religious preferences, it's not a failure of capitalism. It's a failure of law and order. With the all of the resources that have been going into training the Iraqi police, and the open admission that corruption is a problem, we can hope that police corruption will be brought under control and that the Iraqi economy will flourish as a result.