Voices of the World

"I was deeply impressed by the way José Piñera conceived the privatization of pensions in both political and economic terms. He did it by building a social foundation for liberal capitalism. This was the most profound challenge to the Welfare State in a generation.”

NIALL FERGUSON, historian (The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, 2008)

"A radical transformation of social security has been initiated in Chile, and we should give it a close look. It is the creature of a young and brilliant Harvard Ph.D. in economics. His name is Jose Piñera and he is the Minister of Labor."

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR., editor National Review (The Boston Globe, November 20, 1980)

"There is no institution that has been even close to the Cato Institute in advancing the fundamental principles of liberty. There are a handful of people who have really made a difference: Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan -and I always include Ed Crane and José Piñera on the list. Two hundred years from now, those will be the people that we will be talking about, like we talk about Madison and Jefferson today”

FRED SMITH, founder and CEO of FedEx (Cato's Letter, number 4, volume 4, Fall 2006)

"Social Security privatization is, nowadays, the single most important step toward a society of liberty. It combines personal freedom with widespread property ownership, and those are the pillars of a free society."

EDWARD H. CRANE, president Cato Institute (Cato Policy Report, 1995)

"If you were asked to name one person who has enabled more people to gain wealth and security than any other person on the globe, who would you name? In 1881, here in Berlin, Otto von Bismarck started the world's first modern pay-as-you-go social security system which served as the model for the U.S. Social Security system and that of many other countries, including setting the retirement age at 65. No, Bismarck is not the answer to the opening question. The answer is José Piñera."

RICHARD RAHN, Chairman Institute for Global Economic Growth (The Washington Times, May 15th, 2008)

"José, Without doubt, the reform of Chile’s pension system has been a critical contributing factor — some have called it the mother of all reforms — to Chile’s ongoing economic success. The social security reforms which you developed and fought for have put your country on a stable footing for the future. Although the Chilean and North American experiences are different in several key respects, I believe we can learn a great deal from your country’s bold initiative, which is widely envied throughout the hemisphere."

MACK McLARTY, Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton (letter to José Piñera, January 1996)

"José, thanks for coming to Austin to share your wisdom. Congratulations on making a difference."

GEORGE W. BUSH, Governor of Texas and later President of the United States (letter to José Piñera, september 1997)

"You know how much I hope we can get these ideas at work in the United States. I believe we must move in your direction. You have been present at the creation, and the creation is simple, starling, and important”.

GEORGE SCHULTZ, Secretary of State and Treasury (Letter to José Piñera, March 26, 1998)

”Jose, If you succeed in your efforts to privatize social security, I cannot think of any other reform that could compare in importance not only for our economy but also for the independence and autonomy of our citizens. I am absolutely overwhelmed with admiration for what you have accomplished and for what I am convinced you are going to accomplish. I don’t have words that are strong enough to convey my admiration for you and what you are doing”

JOHN KASICH, Chairman of the Budget Committee, US House of Representatives (September 25, 1997)

"No one has done more to empower workers to save and invest for retirement than José Piñera. His vision has spawned an investment revolution in over a dozen countries in South America, Europe, and beyond. José Piñera is proof that one person can change the world."

JOHN SUNUNU, US Senator (2005)

"A Chilean friend of mine said to me that when the so-called recognition bonds came out, which essentially designated in a little passbook what their Social Security net worth was, everyone carried them around and waved them as though, you know, "I've got wealth, I've got a commitment to the economy, to the society," And I don't think we should shortchange that. It may seem a bit beside the point from an economist's point of view, but sometimes we economists have got to see a somewhat larger picture".

ALAN GREENSPAN, chairman, Federal Reserve (testimony to the Budget Committee, US House of Representatives, March 10, 1998)

“The general broad principles, which are somewhat similar to the Chilean-type system, strike me as the way in which convergence of opinion on Social Security reform is starting to move and a valuable first step in moving toward a solution."

ALAN GREENSPAN, chairman, Federal Reserve (January 29, 1998)

"José Piñera has championed the biggest, the boldest and arguably the most successful pension privatization of modern times. He's the pension's world equivalent of José Carreras or Plácido Domingo. Grab, beg, borrow, or steal a ticket to hear him speak"

BILL JAMIESON, Economics Editor London Sunday Telegraph (January 28,1996)

NATHANIEL BRANDEN, Ayn Rand's foremost disciple and intellectual collaborator ("Conference "Communicating the Message of Free Market Capitalism” sponsored by Foundation Francisco Marroquin; Santa Monica, California, April 15th 2003)

"The Chilean system is perhaps the first significant social-policy idea to emanate from the Southern Hemisphere."

JOE KLEIN, writer and journalist (Newsweek, December 12, 1994)

“I have seen the freedom revolution and it works. Your performance José last night was probably the best and most intelligent attempt I have ever seen to sell freedom reforms. The blend of facts, personal stories and humor made it both convincing and very entertaining”.

JOHAN NORBERG, Swedish author devoted to promoting economic globalization and classical liberal positions and author of “The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World” (Letter to José Piñera, September 11, 2003)

"Chile has become the most studied country in Latin America. Visitors arrime from all over the world to see how they can emulate the Chilean

transformation. The most recent object of interest has been pensions.This is helping to turn Chile into a nation of little capitalists".

THE ECONOMIST, (November 13, 1993)

"There are famous pro-Americans, even on the generally anti-American continents of Europe and Latin America. Political reformers such as Vaclav Havel, who has spoken of how the U.S. Declaration of Independence inspired his own country's founding fathers. Economic reformers such as José Piñera, the man who created the Chilean pension system, who admire American economic liberty. Thinkers such as the Iraqi intellectual Kanan Makiya, who openly identify the United States with the spread of political freedom. All of these are people with very clear, liberal, democratic philosophies”.

ANNE APPLEBAUM, Pulitzer Prize for her book “Gulag” (In Search of Pro-Americanism, Foreign Policy, July/August, 2005).

"One of the great things in this Free Trade Agreement is that we have some additional access in Chile to pension fund management, within a Social Security system that I wish we could imitate."

ROBERT ZOELLICK, United States Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative (Press conference after the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Chile and the United States, December 11, 2002).

When the Friedman's Memoir "Two Lucky People" was published, Milton Friedman gave a copy of the book to José Piñera with this wonderful inscription.