OT- Argentina, what a country!

[Loknar]

Anarchy won't work. If there was anarchy, nothing would work, and it would probably end up like Mad Max or Postman (one good movie, one bad).

BTW, Andres, always keep a little optimism tucked away. There might be some kind of breakthrough; who knows.

[dumbluck]

So, what's up with Argentina? I haven't heard much of anything since the attention span of the news networks ran out. After all, nothing catastrophic or scandelous happened within a 24 hour period, so there isn't anything interesting going on, right?

My apoligies fer mi por spelin'.

[Andrés]

I'd like to be able to tell you we're better now, but it looks like things are about to explode again soon.
I think that the main problem is that nothing has happened.
Recession has been only worsening during all this time.
The government keeps announcing new economic plans every week what only increases incertitude.
The only thing that Duhalde did shortly after assuming as president was devaluate.
We now know that one of our problems was that our currency was overvalued, devaluation could have been good, if it was a part of a plan. Instead all it did is trigger our old friend the inflation. The only thing holding off hyperinflation (like we had in the early 90s) is the recession.
The bank "corralito" is still up. Now they came up with a "tapón" law to prevent people from getting their savings with a judicial order.

Last week they wanted to cover bank debts with state emitted "bonex", what means again the state covering debts of power friend's private companies and stealing our savings to pay.
Now it seems that each bank will emit its own "bono", so we'll have hundreds of useless papers going around.
They told us to trust banks and to trust our money like people from most other countries do. Now we're paying the price for believing them. Our experience has tough us once more than the only safe way to keep your savings it to buy dollars and hide them at home.

It seems that the only ideas were to put exigencies from the IMF, and how to increase their fund-raising for the state (mostly by increasing taxes) and not how to reactivate internal economy.

[ 29 April 2002: Message edited by: Andrés Lescano ]

[Karel]

The situation you describe and what I read in the newspapers here in Holland sounds very bad. This is not a temporary crisis, the economic system is bankrupt.

To fix the economic system of Argentina will take a long time and a lot of offers. As a matter of principle the idea of temporary fixing bankaccounts is not bad, it will give time for the banksystem to recover (with help from the international community?). If the banksystem collapses, than Argentina will face an even worser breakdown. BUT foreign banks have foreign reserves for their liabilities.

One big word of optimism: the people of Argentina is united against the problems and does everything in there power to overcome them.

respeto!!!!!

I have seen it different in Africa, where the people take their situation for granted and don't show the stamina of your people.

[TheGunslinger]

One solution, or at least help would be to send people from the financial elite from other countries like lets say Germany, England, France over to Argentinia, they could help establishing a new economical system.

Anyway sorry for the grammar and typos, this was really hard to write for me

[TerranC]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheGunslinger:
One solution, or at least help would be to send people from the financial elite from other countries like lets say Germany, England, France over to Argentinia, they could help establishing a new economical system.

---

I think that was done already.

If you ask me, the Argentine economy is bound to start up again, even if it takes the Argentine government to cut back major stuff.

Economic Miracles can happen if the country is united; happened in Korea, Germany, Taiwan, and Japan.

Just My two cents.

[Andrés]

This has been discussed a lot, I agree, most private banks here are foreign, and should be able to respond with their home-country reserves.
Politicians are again helping state banks that wouldn’t be available to do this, and as always helping their friends to do great business.
Another interesting fact is that the economic problems of banks are because they were forced to lend money to the state.

The state (national state and provinces) has been funding itself in constant indebtedness, if that makes sense, for the Last 10 years.
One of the banks that is in worst problems is the "Banco Provincia de Buenos Aires". What a coincidence that Duhalde has been governor of that province during that time.
Until Devember, when banks were so impoverished that could take it no more, and Cavallo had to create the corralito, they’ve been working to hide their own mistakes and not looking for a solution.
We cannot trust the same corrupts who created the problem in first place to solve it now.

Not only the financial system is bankrupt, the whole political system is collapsing.
The most believable and serious of the many new movements we’re seeing now concentrate on how to create a new political class in which people can believe and trust, and not on how to solve the economic problem that is but a consequence of the corrupt political system.
There’s been much talk lately about the re-foundation of the republic.