Industria Argentina , Is There Anything That Doesnt Break?

[citygirl]

Yes, if you're a multi-national and want to do business in Arg, you are "invited" to open a factory in Tierra del Fuego or the like. No factory - no imports.

And yes, electronics are shipped into Buenos Aires, offloaded onto trucks, sent down south, disassembled, reassembled, put on trucks and sent back to Buenos Aires with the "hecho en Argentina" stamped on them. Want to guess who pays for all those extra steps?

Oh and on Arlean's post - I have an ATMA breadmachine. I bought it about 2 years ago, use it every day and so far, no problems.

 

[Iznogud]

It's called "Industria Naciomal".

 

[camberiu]

Yes, if you're a multi-national and want to do business in Arg, you are "invited" to open a factory in Tierra del Fuego or the like. No factory - no imports.

Now, to be fair, economic stupidity is not restricted to Argentina. France (where healthcare is free) just passed a law banning free shipping of books, in order to protect traditional bookstores from online retailers.

France’s parliament has passed a law preventing internet booksellers from offering free delivery to customers, in an attempt to protect the country’s struggling bookshops from the growing dominance of US online retailer Amazon.

Read more at http://globaleconomi...2ELhIRRK8eWl.99

 

[jeff1234]

Now, to be fair, economic stupidity is not restricted to Argentina. France (where healthcare is free) just passed a law banning free shipping of books, in order to protect traditional bookstores from online retailers.

France’s parliament has passed a law preventing internet booksellers from offering free delivery to customers, in an attempt to protect the country’s struggling bookshops from the growing dominance of US online retailer Amazon.

Read more at http://globaleconomi...2ELhIRRK8eWl.99

The dumbest national economic policy that I ever heard of also occurred in France. About 15 years ago they passed a law that employees could not work MORE than 35 hours per week. A small army of auditors was hired to patrol workplaces enforcing this law.
As a result of this law, employers had to hire a second employee whenever there was 36 hours of work to be done in a week.
Once a new employee was hired, the French bureaucracy made it all but impossible for the employer to scale back if the workload decreased.
Fortunately for France this policy has eroded and the average worker puts in about 39 hours per week.
However, in the meantime this made France the laughing stock of the industrialized world.

Is anyone aware of anything dumber that Argentina or any other country has done to its economy?

 

[camberiu]

Is anyone aware of anything dumber that a country has done to its economy?

Brazil did price controls in the mid-80s. A bunch of economists from UNICAMP (The UBA of Brazil) convinced the government at the time that in order to control inflation, the prices of ALL groceries, on all super markets, would be frozen and could not be changed. This would be enforced by police.

The result?
Massive shortages of food and goods across the country. Super market managers being arrested. And the development of an underground "blue-market" of goods where prices were determined by supply and demand (sounds familiar?).

 

[arlean]

This info is SO INTERESTING. I've had several people who have been in business in Argentina warn me with alarm not to consider going into business here, that the government will destroy you and then they tell their horror story. (This is one reason I am so interested if we ever have economics meetings again. I have so many questions for all those business people here.)

And limiting books coming into a country limits the ability of the population to get information that could increase productivity. In Uruguay a tool will cost you perhaps 3 times what it will if you cross up into Brazil to buy. I've seen things like a rusty screw pounded into a nice tiled wall in a restaurant to hang a purse or coat on and I suspect it's because they couldn't afford to own the tool. I don't think there should even be duty on things that would help the population toward success! I think they should make resources as readily available as possible.

 

[Ries]

[background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]

I think alot do care about their work but are just overworked. So many times here we gone have somewhere and thought they need more staff. I`ve spoken to people who work for the goverment offices or banks and they are so tired and stressed because theyre overworked. Owners just dont want to spend out on extra wages to give that customer satisfaction.
The only place I know if fravega,musimundo,etc the big electrical places that staff seem to queue up to help you.

Another thing, why are leather sofas so expensive in Argentina considering they have one of the highest cattle stocks in the world? We had to settle for an eco-leather sofa that cost
more than our real leather sofa in the uk? Again, is it just greedy company bosses or is it transportation again?

I dont know about the UK- but in the USA, the cheap leather sofas are imported from China, and they are all pigskin, not cowhide. And the construction is incredibly cheap- soft wood stapled together.
I had a sofa made to order in Buenos Aires, with real leather, and it was both cheaper AND better than the ones I could buy at furniture stores in the USA- around $800 US, as I recall (that was almost five years ago)
Similar sofas at real furniture stores (not Ikea) in the US easily run $1000 and up.
I dont consider Ikea to be real furniture- I have bought a fair amount of it over the years, for kids rooms and offices- and I have found it is good for one use- generally it will not stand up to being moved. I have several "wood" Ikea shelving units that have fallen apart just standing still in one place...
So a $400 Ikea leather sofa, to me, is not comparable to a hand made Argentine sofa, made from hardwood, real leather, and assembled using upholstery techniques, as opposed to stapling and knockdown bolts.

I recently bought a very nice industria argentina ball winder, for yarn- 1/4 the price of the japanese models sold in the USA, and better materials and quality.

I have Franke stainless kitchen equipment- industria argentian, division of a Swiss company- my stainless sink and hood are very high quality, and cost about 1/3 what equivalent stuff costs in the USA.
Similarly, I bought FV grifferia for my bath and kitchen- its chrome plated cast bronze, and functions perfectly after years of use. In the US, you get crappy pot metal faucets from china, with the inner workings all plastic, on anything less than $200 or $300 or so- in fact, I was in a faucet showroom last year, and the average price in the US for good quality was $800 to $2000 for kitchen faucet sets- equivalent to a $200 or so FV unit, hecho in Argentina. I liked, but passed on, a shower/tub combo in the US that cost $5000!

There are two price ranges in the USA- incredibly cheap, made in china crap, sold at walmart. And then, real US or Euro made stuff, that, generally, runs about 3 to 4 times what Argentine stuff costs, if not more.
I think most of you who complain have never bought top end stuff in the USA.
A decent kitchen range, for example, from a quality US manufacturer, can easily run $3000 to $6000 dollars, and I know people who have spent twenty thousand USD for an imported French stove.
A Viking or similar high end fridge is 4 to 6 grand- and the interior is exactly the same crappy plastic that comes in an Argentine fridge. I foolishly bought a Viking some 12 years or so ago, for what I thought was an extortionate three grand or so- and have had to rebuild virtually the entire interior, making new stainless shelf supports, drawer handles, and so on, as the unbelievably expensive repair parts are exactly the same quality as a fridge from FraVega would be, that cost a few hundred dollars.[/background]

 

[arlean]

Well while we're on the subject, I need to buy some clothes. Especially right now I'd like some jeans. I met a man lately who assured me that you CAN get good clothes in Argentina. I haven't found them but I haven't shopped much. I don't like the quality of what I bought already--which has not been many items.

Mostly right now I'm interested in jeans. Any suggestions?

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

I said well YOU take pride in your work and he said, "I'm not Argentine, I'm German." No kidding. His grandparents were born in Argentina and live in Argentina. But they ARE German with a little bit of Argie mixed in on his mother's side but she is typical German. A piece of dust would not DARE lie on her floor. I don't know if that's it, but his opinion sure would fit what you're all saying.

Yeah, have many German friends..They are very proud of being the still Aryan race, the masters of human kind..However, they don't want to bring Hitler's Master race theory into it despite,the German people are very proud of their heritage of being the real Teutonic Germanic people that spread all over the europe. My German friends still joke as they being the master race, the Aryans of all the caucasians amongst all.

 

[RAus]

Well while we're on the subject, I need to buy some clothes. Especially right now I'd like some jeans. I met a man lately who assured me that you CAN get good clothes in Argentina. I haven't found them but I haven't shopped much. I don't like the quality of what I bought already--which has not been many items.

Mostly right now I'm interested in jeans. Any suggestions?

I got a pair of jeans from the rapsodia outlet store in villa crespo a few weeks back. they cost just under $300 pesos and I'm very happy with them - they're a good cut and fit and decent quality too surprisingly.