Some Argentine dude is still tracking maletagate, and has some Colombo-style comments on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s annual address.
The companies that produce 94% of Chile’s mine output have agreed to a new tax regime that will boost their royalties in return for a guarantee of stable tax rates in the future. This is going to net the government as much as USD$1 billion through 2012 to pay for earthquake fix-up, regional development, and some excellent catered meals at La Moneda.
Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay were the only places in South America where more than half of the workforce worked for an employer in 2009-2010. Of those, only Uruguay had unemployment of less than 10%, according to this now-slightly-dated Gallup poll.
Colombia coal train hit by bomb. Thanks for the tip, reader Otto, who also wrote about Colombia today.
Setty's notebook 
“Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay were the only places in South America where more than half of the workforce worked for an employer in 2009-2010. ”
What do they mean by “work force”? I don’t know about those countries, but I do know Venezuela’s “informal sector” accounts for about 45%> of those considered “with a job”. That is: your vendedora de empanadas with no social security and your illegal street vendor selling Chinese toys are “with job” in Venezuela. Are they counted as well? The government claims our unemployment is almost 6% now. In reality it would be >45%+6% if we counted the informal sector.
And how is the situation in Chile regarding registration of people? I suppose it is the same all over America: no reliable registration, so no way of knowing who earns what where really.
The point is they use the same question everywhere in the world and use respectable polling methods. So it’s one of the few useful international comparisons.
You’re right that lots of people in Venezuela are in the informal economy. But far more people in most of South America work in such jobs. (This is why Bolivians scoffed at Evo Morales in December for trying to appease them by raising the minimum wage.) Turns out that Venezuela has a relatively formalized workforce. Now we know.