Carlos Menem admitted to hospital; severe pneumonia

[Pierre Smith]

Seriously, like what are the odds that they stole only half a billion dollars?

I'd be very surprised if, with investment/appreciation and the rest of all that money in the intermittent period, Menem doesn't die a dollar billionaire.

 

[sergio]

Seriously, like what are the odds that they stole only half a billion dollars?

I'd be very surprised if, with investment/appreciation and the rest of all that money in the intermittent period, Menem doesn't die a dollar billionaire.

I don't think he was half as bad as what followed. And he was never nasty and mean spirited like certain others.

 

[Pierre Smith]

^ If he would have been a good president, there never would have been a 'what follows' type situation. He didn't cause the current situation, but he amped it up by a factor or 3-4x.

 

[Redpossum]

^ If he would have been a good president, there never would have been a 'what follows' type situation. He didn't cause the current situation, but he amped it up by a factor or 3-4x.

I will grossly oversimplify in order to avoid writing a War & Peace-length essay. In my opinion it went like this...

The Dictatorship hosed the economy. Menem kicked the can down the road by taking measures which produced short-term improvement, but worsened the long-term issue. The Corralito happened when the chickens came home to roost. De La Rua wasn't really to blame; he was just a weak and marginally competent man who was left without a chair when the music stopped.

How's that for mixed metaphors?

 

[Dougie]

kicked the can down the road by taking measures which produced short-term improvement, but worsened the long-term issue.

Sounds like that is the name of the game in Argentina. That's been the past 8+ years.

 

[sergio]

I will grossly oversimplify in order to avoid writing a War & Peace-length essay. In my opinion it went like this...

The Dictatorship hosed the economy. Menem kicked the can down the road by taking measures which produced short-term improvement, but worsened the long-term issue. The Corralito happened when the chickens came home to roost. De La Rua wasn't really to blame; he was just a weak and marginally competent man who was left without a chair when the music stopped.

How's that for mixed metaphors?

Menem spent a lot in the provinces to get support to change the constitution to allow for three presidential terms. Public spending soared and convertibility was hard to maintain. The country should have dollarised from the outset.

 

[Pierre Smith]

I'm deeply skeptical about the value of dollarization, but if Menem had dollarized as he proposed, some of Argentina's problems would have been avoided, particularly on inflation.

Attention Required!

 

[lost]

Sounds like that is the name of the game in Argentina. That's been the past 8+ years.

Just like during the Macri government. Argentinians in Santiago de Chile running around malls - shop until you drop. Trying to get pairs of big screen TV's with a taxi to the airport. Even his own minister. Everybody spending foreign currency like there is no tomorrow.

And now we have to pay for it...

Those pricks never learn anything from the past. Must be some genetic defect. The learn-from-the-past-chromosome must be damaged here or something like that.