hockeybub89 posted... Why would Pinochet spend his entire rule orchestrating his own demise?
You're assuming it was on purpose. Hyper-inflation was a problem even before he took power (300% under Allende!) and he consulted a group of American economist to try and solve that problem.
Did he know that would eventually lead to his own demise? Who knows? Who cares? My guess is that he thought economic stability would obviously make him more popular, when in reality the better off people are the more political rights they demand. Kind of hard to keep a population that is becoming richer and more educated under a brutal dictatorship. People only turn towards extremism when they are desperate.
hockeybub89 posted... Seems like dumb luck that it worked out okay, for some Chileans.
Are the Chinese people looking great because China has so many millionaires and billionaires now?
It wasn't dumb luck, it was good economic policy recommended by people who actually knew their stuff, not Pinochet. Where we disagree here is that anyone needs to be praised.
Should Pinochet and Xiaoping and be praised because of the reforms? No.
Were the reforms still successful? Yes.
Would Chile have been better off with populism? No, look at their neighbors. Bolsonaro and Chavez are not preferable to 30 years of democracy and economic growth.