Can expats help Argentina end its eternal crisis?

[BAJoe]

Any politically minded expats willing to help Argentina out of its eternal crisis?
I am just "tapping the market" here before I commit to anything, but I do have access to a fixed premises where we could gather and ponder the Argentine political scene with very serious intentions. The objective is to actually voice out our impressions and suggestions as expatriates in order to "donate" our knowledge and experience obtained in our countries of origin and bring these to the attention of local autorities.
Please "sign up" here, while I work some more on this project, and come back in a couple of days.
thanx, Joe

 

[bigbadwolf]

If you're planning and fomenting revolution count me in. If it's yet another glorified chat group, forget it. Vive la revolution! By the way, afterwards, who gets what portfolio? I wouldn't mind the foreign minister's job -- lots of first-class travel to meaningless conferences and summits.

 

[Rad]

Hola,

this is my first post, so I should introduce myself first (quickly) - I am a 31 yo Canadian, originally from Slovakia. I was in Argentina for the first time a few months ago and plan to go there again (hopefully) soon. I have followed this forum for a long time, but only this topic motivated me to contribute here.

Coming from Slovakia ("eastern" Europe), I have experienced many of the problems which Argentinians face today. Currency devaluation, devastated economy, corruption everywhere, criminal gangs, pessimism about the future, etc. Slovakia has eventually resolved many of these problems, in big part thanks government reforms and the integration with EU. However, the transformation was not easy. Particularly, any organization coming from a western country give advice or to help with the changes was met with suspicion. The general public often viewed politically active Americans as either working for George Soros (bad) or some other "heartless" capitalist (equally bad) or the CIA (worse). Good advice was usually NOT appreciated. Since Argentina is surrounded by equally corrupt and poor countries, such process would be much harder than in Slovakia.

Argentina desperately needs some real free market reforms. The most needed reforms are the most unpopular - companies must to be able to hire/fire workers much easier, it should be much simpler to start a business and move money in and out of the country. Convincing the people and politicians to support this agenda will be close to impossible.
The business culture must change too - maybe a consulting company in the area of business ethics could make a difference.
No matter what you decide to do (except for Che style revolution), I wish you good luck. You will need it.

 

[Matty]

BAJoe, I am not really a politically minded person. Sometimes in my naivete and seeking to be socially minded I get all tangled up in its political-side tentacles. I am not sure I want to "tamper" with the dynamic of things here. This country will evolve in what it was meant to be by its own people, we are expats here and we should know our place. As much as we "bring forth" each other's shortcomings, and of course we want to help in any way we can but saving this country from its eternal (never ending) crisis is mighty ambitious. Maybe we should start small and immediate.
Maybe we should rally behind the farmers first and give them the credit that is long overdue them.Show them we care and we value them and their hard work. Before there were any accountants, bankers, escribanos (just to mention a few jobs and I have nothing against these jobs) etc. there were growers and planters, I believe they are the farmers. Have we forgotten where it all began? The farmers were never really appreciated and yet they plant what we eat, grow what we put on our table, given we pay for them but without them toiling away with the dirt, back breaking work and nasty weather conditions, even with money and no one is growing anything what is there nothing to buy, can you imagine that? - oh yeah we know how that went the last time the grocery shelves were empty. My bad.

 

[soulskier]

I think that is a great idea. Why not try to put together a think tank that could share some ideas? Hopefully the Argies will be receptive.

 

[ReemsterCARP]

Don't expect to much from this government. They called the striking farmers 'golpistas', so what do you expect when a group of foreigners (predominantly americans) would criticize government policy...
"estos yanquís capitalistas imperialistas están tratando de destruír nuestro sistema social argentino"
I wouldn't want the piqueteros K on my doorstep.

 

[ghost]

Agro tina has managed to screw itself up for almost 90 years. You and any army of think tankers do not have the smallest chance of fixing this place. It is exactly the way they wish it to be . Fuck.ed up FUBAR. Lost.

 

[ppab]

Im a local, i would like to help you to change this!. I have family in Boston, MA so I lived part of both situations Boston and Buenos Aires.

 

[Rad]

Here are two articles about Uruguay which may be inspirational to those who want to bring change to Argentina:http://tinyurl.com/6h7n96http://tinyurl.com/697von

 

[windy]

As all our countrys USA UK IRELAND for example are going in to recession, and have exploding housing bubbles that will cause millions of our citizens to be thrown out of their homes, Just what advice are you all planning to give to Argentina with its 7% growth.
PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES