criswkh said:
You can google search some of the information. Homes here are bought with CASH, so those with a home didn't lose it unless they need MONEY then it was sold at cheap rates.
Actually prior to the crisis a lot more people did have mortgages. Since the dollar was one
ne with the peso, a lot of people took out mortgages in dollar amounts, not thinking anything of it. Then of course, the pesos fell to 30 cents, suddenly they payments have essentially tripled, and they couldn't afford to pay.
Same with salaries etc. You could choose whether to save in pesos or dollars, a lot of people stuck with peso accounts, then the peso lost value, their savings essentially depleted.
Furthermore, there was the corralito, which meant the government put a limit on how much money you could take out in a day... hmm... are we sure that's not still in place?
it was during the crisis that tickets were introduced, just starting to be phased out now. Tickets are kind of like foodstamps, except you can use them almost everywhere -- shops, cines, restaurants included. It is a method to make sure that people continue to inject money into the economy -- so each person gets a portion of their salary in tickets. I think at the worst points it was 50%, it's not been reduced and i think by mid-year they want to get rid of it. It's about 10% or so now.
If you ask some Argentines, actually quite a scary percentage, they will plain tell you that it was all better under the Dictatorship, as at least then there wasn't crime (this is ridiculous reasoning, but I've heard it out of the mouths of many of the older generation).
Because a lot of Argentines don't like the banks (who could blame them?) they invest it in property, and then stow the money under their mattress (in a wall safe, in the floor, in the roof, under the stairs etc etc etc). Unfortunately this makes for easy targets on break-ins, and there are a lot of them. There's not many deaths from the break-ins fortunately, but the growing problem is that the gangs use minors (15/16 year olds) to do the dirty work for them because there's little to no punishment if the kids are caught.
There's a lot going on in Argentina that you'll just never get a feel for unless you're living here. I think before you make any decisions you need to come down for 6 months, don't buy, don't get a long term contract, just rent a furnished place for 6 months and see what you think. Better yet, rent a few furnished places in a few different barrios and figure out where you want to live.
Re: kidnappings: no they aren't anywhere as bad as Mexico, there's no need for bodyguards unless you're actually famous, but the flashier a lifestyle you live, the more of a target you'll be. there have been a few teenagers kidnapped and ransom demanded of their parents, kids usually released in good condition. However we are talking just a few incidents over many years, not a few every few days as in DF.
