Neoliberalism In Argentina In The Past 10-20 Years

[camberiu]

There are a lot of good documentaries on this topic. If you are in Argentina and can understand Spanish you will be able to find many of these at street fairs being sold by political organizations. In San Telmo there is a booth on Sundays around Defensa and Pasaje that has the FUC film school (between Independencia and EEUU)
The Take (la Toma) this is actually in English by Naomi Klein. (I hung out with her interns when she was filming here and met here, so I need to declare any potential conflict of interest) www.thetake.org/

I was not very impressed by "The Take". It does a good job appealing to the emotional side of the audience and showing some very likable underdogs. We all want to root for the underdogs. But it pains a very simplistic view of the crisis, in which globalization and the capitalists are the root of all evil. The people who made the movie had plenty of good intentions, but had a severe lacking of understanding of how economics and politics work, specially in Argentina. You can pinpoint the problem a mile away the moment someone throws the term "neoliberal" and Argentina within the same phrase.

 

[Montauk_Project]

I was not very impressed by "The Take". It does a good job appealing to the emotional side of the audience and showing some very likable underdogs. We all want to root for the underdogs. But it pains a very simplistic view of the crisis, in which globalization and the capitalists are the root of all evil. The people who made the movie had plenty of good intentions, but had a severe lacking of understanding of how economics and politics work, specially in Argentina. You can pinpoint the problem a mile away the moment someone throws the term "neoliberal" and Argentina within the same phrase.

Last night I watched "Inside Job"--also recommended, very little about the people who suffered, but talked a lot about the people to blame, who yes, are capitalists.
I am not talking about people who trade, sell, buy and produce things. I am talking about the people who pull the strings. They knew what they are doing and didn´t care about the damage.
Look at Europe today.

 

[camberiu]

Last night I watched "Inside Job"--also recommended, very little about the people who suffered, but talked a lot about the people to blame, who yes, are capitalists.
I am not talking about people who trade, sell, buy and produce things. I am talking about the people who pull the strings. They knew what they are doing and didn´t care about the damage.
Look at Europe today.

Yes, the people shown on that movie deserve blame and even jail. However, they are not the ONLY ones to blame. There is plenty of blame to go around, including towards politicians and those who elect them, namely us.
We are all part of this fraud. We all want politicians who paint rosy pictures, who promise us that life will be easy and that free lunches are possible. We all want politicians who tell us that we can retire at age 60 with a near full pension and have almost free medical care until we die. We want politicians who tells us that we should all be able afford a suburban home, 2 cars and large screen TV if we just follow some basic simple rules (such as getting a college degree and finding a blue collar job).
We all want to live in this completely unrealistic fantasy world. We feel entitled to it, so we elect any corrupt snakeoil salesman who can convincingly make such promises. Ad then we look away when they run huge deficits, when they mortgage the future of the yet to be born generations in order to finance their current impossible promises. We all look away, we ignore, we cover our eyes and ears, because we want to believe, no matter if we are in Europe, US, Japan or Argentina, that life can be easy and comfortable, and we just need the right politician for it to be so.
And when the whole fraud comes crashing down, we look at each other surprised and angrily, and then as a mob, we go out looking for SOMEONE ELSE to blame.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Hi guys, i found your forum through trawling the web for research on a topic i am currently investigating.

I am looking to see how Argentina has resisted neoliberalism. Obviously since Menem's government neoliberalism never recovered, though parts of the neoliberal consensus remains such as bilateral investment treaties being signed and cutting of subsidies for things like water. Anyway was looking for a balanced view of what economically speaking has remained neoliberal and what is not. Also what social programs that Kirchner has made are so good?

My understanding of economics isn't great, and i'm new to the topic so would be grateful of some help here!
Thanks,

Ben

"Neoliberalism" is Argentina's all-purpose scapegoat. When Menem was in power, Argentines were able to personalize it, which they prefer, but now it's just the fault of the "oligarchy."

 

[janitor91]

Thanks to all those responses so far, it has provided interesting discussion! I am a English and non-Spanish speaker living in the UK to clarify so it's quite hard to find good documentaries to watch on this.

What i see it as it wasn't complete neoliberalism under Menem but many neoliberal economic ideas implemented. Very few of these neoliberal ideas remain. I'm struggling to find what would be classed as neoliberal in Argentina today. I've got the recent cut of Subsidies in utility and transport as something that is vaguely neoliberal. But i need more ideas of anything that is borderline neoliberal in Argentina today. Any ideas woulds be welcomed greatly!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Thanks to all those responses so far, it has provided interesting discussion! I am a English and non-Spanish speaker living in the UK to clarify so it's quite hard to find good documentaries to watch on this.

What i see it as it wasn't complete neoliberalism under Menem but many neoliberal economic ideas implemented. Very few of these neoliberal ideas remain. I'm struggling to find what would be classed as neoliberal in Argentina today. I've got the recent cut of Subsidies in utility and transport as something that is vaguely neoliberal. But i need more ideas of anything that is borderline neoliberal in Argentina today. Any ideas woulds be welcomed greatly!

"Neoliberal" means anything the current government wants to scapegoat. If, however, they themselves are cutting the subsidies, that is "progresista."

 

[camberiu]

please delete

 

[janitor91]

"Neoliberal" means anything the current government wants to scapegoat. If, however, they themselves are cutting the subsidies, that is "progresista."

I understand this, however for the purposes for what i'm doing i need to ask the question of the resistance to neoliberalism in Argentina. I want to be critical and put in a few points of what could be seen as neoliberal in idea and subsidy would fit this criteria. I'm just doing a presentation for University purposes, hence why i seem a bit thrown at the deep end seeing as i'm new to Latin American politics, and economics in general!

 

[citygirl]

I think you would have a tough time characterizing any Argentine gov't as neoliberal, even Menems. No one gets to power without being populist and esposing those ideas. So what is characterized as neolib is really not but as mentioned, that phrase is a popular scapegoat one to toss around

 

[camberiu]

I'm just doing a presentation for University purposes, hence why i seem a bit thrown at the deep end seeing as i'm new to Latin American politics, and economics in general!

Since you are new to LATAM economics and politics, here is a piece of advice: Want to see something that resembles neoliberalism in LATAM? Go look across the Andes at a little country called Chile.