Conservatives Abroad?

[Noesdeayer]

JSB:
Nobody is being "clobbered " NOW.
However,until January 2016 one wasn't sure if some Kichnerista Camporista troll wasn't keeping a "carpeta" -dossier on everything you said against their gov't.

 

[JSB]

Zat so! It's a given in the Jewnighted states -- the govt keeps every email, tweet, phone call etc. that's made, something like a billion a day. People tell me "I can't come to your meeting or demonstration. I'll get on a LIST!" I tell them "if you find one I'm not already on, call me immediately."

What becomes of all those carpetas now that la Cristina is out? Are they sitting tight till she gets re-elected? If they're like the USA politicians, she took them with her and is keeping them on a server anybody hack.

Thanks for your reply. I love pings! Tell me what y'all are thinking of Macri so far, or is that covered in 10 other threads.

 

[Ries]

I didn't realize that in so many words, Ries. What it doesn't have is a "terror" psychosis resulting from it being joined at the hip to Israel, and that would change a hell of a lot. Are police depts being given war surplus tanks and otherwise militarized + brainwashed to regard the citizens as terrorists waiting to happen? Etc.

Thanks for your reply.

Argentina has a very large jewish community. Dissing Israel is not a good idea unless you know you are hanging with people nostalgic for the good old days of law and order in the 70s.
You do see cops with submachine guns, sometimes, on the streets, but no tanks. A huge amount of my argentine friends are jewish- but I also have a lot of syrian and armenian and lebanese argentine friends as well. And Poles, Russians, Bolivians, and Columbians.

The politics here are quite complicated, though, and not a clear opposite of the USA by any means.
The army is still quite powerful, ogliarchs still own most of the big business, and people expect the government to ensure their standard of living.
Its a seething mass of contradictions, and you really need to approach it without preconceptions- its does not conform to left/right memes you are used to in the USA.
I love it.

 

[JSB]

Thank you, Ries. That could be very refreshing compared to the hidebound situation here. But why would anybody object to dissing Israel? I don't think I need to go into the good reasons for it at this point in history. Is everybody (are expats) expected to be nice all the time?

Incidentally I have Jewish friends too, even though I'm rated a subhuman "anti-semite" by the thought police here for not wanting my country to be eaten by one 1/445th its size.

 

[ElQueso]

The biggest problem here over the last 12 years (and really the last 4-5 mostly, as things got really bad) was the inflation and nearly complete instability. Hopefully Macri will fix that. The problem with Argentina going forward is Peronism itself. People here believe in "collaboration", even while really unable to define exactly what they mean by that and certainly not how to accomplish it among themselves. With the high inflation still going on, on top of what Cristina created, people here are freaking out completely. Every week the prices raise. Whoever comes after Macri is probably more likely to be another Peronist, I'd think. Hopefully a relatively honest one, but who knows how Macri's time is going to turn out with the amount of damage he's had to deal with?

For me, the good thing about Argentina previously was that you could pretty much live outside the system and not be bothered by anyone. Cristina began to get seriously desperate for money and began locking things down. As an example, more and more apartment owners and the real estate offices are beginning to require that renters have proof of income via taxes paid here, owners are being required to report income more strictly, and so on, to encourage people to pay taxes. The police were not in everyone's life, unless you were a businessman (particularly a gringo) and therefore a target for coima. Now that's probably going to change. I know someone who worked behind the scenes to grease the wheels to get things done and she's having a real hard time doing business as usual as Macri is looking to get rid of corruption.

Seems to me that it will be harder in the future to avoid the socialist/fascist aspects of Argentina in the future, if Macri makes the institutions stronger, as he's attempting. To me, the worst case scenario is a Peronist who is not completely corrupt and forces everyone to follow all the laws as best as possible. Best case scenario is going forward with a freer market, steadily increasing in stability over the next 8 years if Macri can maintain the presidency. Who knows what reality will actually bring?

You want a place that is less intrusive with a ton of opportunities - try Paraguay. Seriously.

 

[JSB]

It sounds horrible and very familiar to this yankee. Big-spender politicians just ruin everything on earth! But Paraguay gets very mixed reviews indeed.

I'm presently enamored of Australia. Sounds like a very happy-go-lucky place. But dig a little deeper and it turns out citizens simply aren't monitoring the government at all and edon't know they're in a big economic bubble that's about to pop horribly........ Well, count your lucky stars Argentina your country isn't being invaded and colonized like all the white ones, although you can count on that being the next thing if AR ever manages to find any stability and prosperity. There's an agenda afoot, certainly as long as "George Soros" is on the loose.

Thanks, Cheese.

 

[StevePalermo]

Don't come to Australia, you would hate it here. Lots of government investment in infrastructure, anti-discrimination laws, regulation of business to protect the pubic from their excesses, and a growing awareness of the damage the fossil fuel companies are doing to the country. The right wing government just lost a load of seats in the recent election and the Green Party is gaining more members by the day. A few far right racists won some votes, but they've been mocked mercilessly by the rest of the country and are a national embarrassment. Contrary to what you said, we are monitoring the government very closely and most people are aware that we are in a bubble, especially in housing, hence the fall in number of house sales atm. Definitely not your kind of place I would think. Not that we'd let you in unless you had some specific skill that we're short of or you're under 30 and want to come over on a short term visa to pick some of our fruit.

 

[Noesdeayer]

StevePalermo;
I agree with you on not wanting to let JSB into Australia.
But ,wow, you Aussies are sure lucky that you are an island country and don't have the problem we in the US do of "coyotes" bringing in all kinds of undocumented immigrants- both honest and criminal -overland in trailer trucks.
When did you begin to give resident visas to Chinese and other orientals?

 

[joeschmoe1920]

When did you begin to give resident visas to Chinese and other orientals?

Oh boy. I'm sure you don't even realize why that question is objectionable.

 

[ben]

Zat so! It's a given in the Jewnighted states

But why would anybody object to dissing Israel? I don't think I need to go into the good reasons for it at this point in history.

[...]

Incidentally I have Jewish friends too, even though I'm rated a subhuman "anti-semite" by the thought police here for not wanting my country to be eaten by one 1/445th its size.

You'll feel right at home in Argentina.

There's a local who doesn't hang out on the forum too much these days, but he's not hard to find. His name is Luis D'Elia. Friendly guy.

He'll hook you up with a lot of like-minded mates.