HGQ2112 said:
I don't want to get into the whole "no empirical evidence" discussion, as no one has the true empirical evidence here anyway, even those who claim to have it. However, just as a side comment - I've seen some of the data/charts provided. I've also seen the sources in some cases and when presenting the Argentine data, one in particular (can't remember which) was attributed to "INDEC." Where do you think people outside the country, comparing statistics, get their statistics from? Usually official government agencies.
Your comments about the PFA and the derision of Iznogud's comments on this item quoted above, at least, shows your possible lack of understanding about how government operations in general, and the PFA specifically, really work here.
I know personally a PFA cop, now semi-retired but still consulting, who is a crime scene investigator. Well before any recently "perceived" rise in crime, a few years ago, he had told me how things run within the PFA and I've rarely seen any comments (ok, hedging my bet with "rarely" - I really don't ever remember seeing one) of Iznogud's that don't match up with what my acquaintance told me.
You seem to assume a different attitude about political workings, the functioning of the police, who they are beholden to, and what their priorities are that just don't exist here. Here, I would tend to call the apparent attitude assumed naive. I mean no disrespect.
The guys who run the stations and such here who would care about doing things "right" as opposed to "how it is done" are rare to non-existent.
Unfortunately, such things as this are not revealed via empirical data and those who want to understand how things really work so they can adjust their lives accordingly need to see past "empirical evidence" at times.
I mean, come on. We're talking about a government who has agencies such as INDEC, various cabinet members, high-ranking officials, ambassadors, who hold up INDEC's empirically-proven-to-be-false numbers (after all, it is a lot easier to compare prices of publically-consumed goods and services than it is to try to count all of the crime that is not reported by victims and police units).
Hell, I recently met with my landlord (he is an Argentine diplomat stationed in Europe - forgive me for not specifying where) when he was in town for a rare visit, to sign a long-term extension to my contract. While we were sitting in the escribano's office waiting for some papers to be corrected, his mother-in-law (she's Colombian) started bitching about the inflation. She did this through a comment about the price of the rental, the sum of which was going to her to help maintain her (she's in her 80's).
She was complaining about the fact that he was letting us pay in pesos, converting the value of our original contract (which was in dollars) at the official rate, which really only resulted in a relatively small increase in my rent (a bit over [edit:] 25% at the time), even though the dollar increase from old to new contract was about 54% (I don't blame her. I'd be upset too, if I were her!) He glanced over at me with what seemed to be an involuntary look of consternation, covered it up pretty quick, then proceeded to tell her how the horrible press here distorts everything and how unpatriotic people are here, etc.
She looked away and muttered one word. "Basura."
In my opinion, that pretty much sums it all up.
Rigidity in belief and reliance on only what is shown to be certain can be a dangerous way to make decisions.
