Argentina's Economic Collapse in 2001

[earlyretirement]

I've been reading between the lines and been on this website for a long time. I have periods where I'll post/read a lot and periods where I don't read/write anything for years.

The one thing I've noticed is there are certain posters that LOVE Kirchner or HATE Kirchner and thereby love Macri or HATE Macri. Nothing that happens/happened will change their opinion so I don't think it makes sense to try. Because they will believe what they want.

In my experience living and working in Argentina under both regimes I can say that both Presidents made lots of mistakes. People turn a blind eye to both. I'm not sure how the Kirchner fans can explain or excuse the millions she STOLE from Argentina. There doesn't seem to be any way to justify that. Macri definitely has been a disappointment. But in my experience, Kirchner was a complete disaster and very destructive for Argentina and she stole untold millions upon millions of dollars with her family as well as other family and friends as well.

Macri made a LOT of mistakes but one of the things he should have done immediately upon taking office was be brutally honest and lay out to the Argentine people just how bad things were and the horrible mess he inherited. Most knew part of it (as he got elected) but he should have laid out all the cards on the table as shockingly bad as it is.

Argentina's a big mess and it has been for a very long time. It's systemically broken and I'm not sure that can easily be fixed no matter which party is in office. Tons of corruption, tons of inefficiency, tons of red tape, no working judicial system, no real functional efficient banking system. The labor laws are all broken, the tax codes are chaotic. People have the mentality of "live for today" and don't think about tomorrow.

The mess is beyond the scope of what one President can or can't easily fix. And that's the God's honest truth. So yes there will be another crash here shortly and other crashes in the future. Any time a country drastically spends more than it takes in, there are consequences to pay one day eventually in the future.

The best that you can do with a country like Argentina is expect with fairly regularity that crashes will happen and be as prepared as possible for them. Keep some power dry (cash) and when things deteriorate take advantage and purchase assets cheaper. It's unfortunate but the truth is that during these crashes is typically the opportunities to make money for the wealthy. The wealthy there typically end up in better shape after these crashes so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

 

[TWB103]

I think Macri did and does make clear what his government inherited. At the same time he barely beat Kircher despite the state she left the country in. Hes aware that he has to tread a fine line. He isnt a populist so looking for blame and victimhood isnt his style afterall his selling point was to be a more mature (and less manipulative) positive president and focus on building the country.

 

[earlyretirement]

I think Macri did and does make clear what his government inherited. At the same time he barely beat Kircher despite the state she left the country in. Hes aware that he has to tread a fine line. He isnt a populist so looking for blame and victimhood isnt his style afterall his selling point was to be a more mature (and less manipulative) positive president and focus on building the country.

He didn't go far enough to explain how bad things were. Yes, I agree it's not easy with the situation and barely winning. But still. I think one of the biggest problems for the locals is many times they are in denial of reality.