The Argentine Time Tunnel.

[Rich One]

Rich One. "Very scary after Menem was relected in 1995 "?. I respectfully beg to differ. Menem was relected by a very large majority in 1995 The attempts at labor reform were blocked by the Radicals led by especally by Rodolfo Terragno.The huge hyperinflation and civil unrest were under De La Rua which led to his resignation in Dec.2001.VERY scary and very doubtful would best describe De la Rua's adminstration.He was dubbed, "de la duda" ,Were you living here then?

I meant what happened during Menem's second Period after 1995 ,by 1998 the situation was leading to the severe crisis, the foreign debt etc.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Up here in NYC with all the praise from the U.S. media concerning Pope Francis's timely and forward looking speech this A.M.,it is saddening for me to read in the Argentine press that Estela de Carlotto considers Scioli's possible victory as a good "transition" to a return for CFK in 2019.Anibal Frenandez felt obliged to clarify that she was entitled to her opinion but that Scioli woud be more a "guardian" than a "transition".OMG,Those of us who can remember the early 70s with the slogan,"Campora Presidente,Peron al Poder". are wondering, will Argentina ever really come out of the 70s? Will the Peronists ever become forward looking instead of regressing backward? Your guess is as good as mine.

I was predicting this for the last 2 years and nobody got it here. La Campora is not a naive name for this group.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

There is no past, no future, just Peron...

But, I think the thing that best summarizes the issue with the inability to be governed is something my Argie friend said:

Me: "The shame is you guys have a country with so much potential, yet it's wasted and it could be developed, wealthy and like a G8 one."
Him: "Who says we want to be like that?"

I think this is the problem, like the first step with an alcoholic they have to admit there is a problem, and it is possible to over come it. If
Argies don't believe both, or either, then there is no point trying.

Argentina was predicted to be the 6th economy of the world by the 60' by Keynes but Peron was coup by a bunch of idiots and here we are: 128?

 

[Noesdeayer]

Bajo.By no means is La Campora a naive name.Peronism has been "Follow The Leader" BUT to the Past dead or alive for the last 70 years..Keynesian economics was meant by Keynes himself only for emergency situations but thanks to Axel it has been stretched out for the last 10 years or so. And they want to prolong it even longer pushing Argentina even lower than 128.Go figure!

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Until the external debt is paid (most of it at least), we got energy independece producing enough oil to stop importing it and the issue with the vultures founds is fix, we are in crisis.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Nobody understood what La Campora means in this forum.

 

[dennisr]

........we got energy independece producing enough oil to stop importing it and the issue with the vultures founds is fix, we are in crisis.

Energy independence?
it were not true, your statement is laughable. Oil is cheaper to import than produce it in Argentina. Argentine domestically produced oil is fixed at ~$77.00 a barrel by K and her brain trust. Brent crude @$49.32 for import. Argentine economics at it best I guess. Good luck

 

[Ries]

While I am continually amazed and perplexed by the way things work in Argentina, to say that its no better than 1993 is pure BS.
I know a LOT of argentines who are doing world class work in architecture, fashion, music, art, literature, and other subjects that would simply have not been able to do what they do in 1993.
Argentina is hobbled by bizarre laws, and it is in many way isolated from the world of consumer goods.
But in terms of IDEAS, of creativity, Buenos Aires today is world class.

Gaby Kerpel flies to London, to train english musicians how to perform FuerzaBruta. (its currently running on Broadway in NYC)
Another friend of mine, a choreographer, recently had a one month residency at a theater in NYC.
Artists from BsAS show in museums and galleries all over the USA and Europe.
Argentine literature is read worldwide.
Argentine films are nominated for Oscars.

Most of the complaints I hear are about how hard it is to buy products made by chinese prison labor at low prices.
That is different from being isolated from the world, as Argentina was in the early 90s

 

[Noesdeayer]

Ries: Argentines have been a very talented people in the areas you've mentioned and in medicine as well.since the very inception of the republic.However,most of the population here does not work in those fields of creative endeavor.They slug it out in the day to day grind of a routine, going nowhere job (laburo mal pago).With a yearly inflation rate of about 30% - 2.5% monthly .They are happy just to be able to pay all their bills and reach the end of the month. At least in the 90s they didn't have the inflation tax to worry about.I was here and working in 1993 but I can't recall the inflation rate in that year.However,pray tell me how Argentina was isolated from the world then.I must have missed out on that isolation somehow.Please clarify that for me.

 

[Ries]

Okay- with the advent of the internet, I meet people every day who are much more aware of global movies, music, literature, politics, sports, and so on.
I can buy the latest pirate DVD on the street in front of my house for almost nothing.
I can find restaurants, and not just fancy expensive ones, where the chefs are aware of world trends in cooking, and are responding with local innovations- whereas, in the 90s, it was pizza and parilla.
I can find everyday people today in CABA who know more about dozens of diverse subjects than in the 90s.

Argentina is a participant in the global intellectual conversation today in a way that it was not in the 90s.
This is, of course, only my opinion, but it is based on talking to my many argentine friends, who work in many different categories.

for instance, I am a blacksmith.
In the 90s, blacksmithing in argentina, aside from gaucho knifemaking, was virtually dead. There was almost no quality work being done, and no knowledge of the global renaissance in blacksmithing that was occurring.
This summer, Argentine blacksmiths held their first meeting (we call them "hammer-ins") ever.
These guys are not rich people.
They are working people who slug it out every day.

I find the same thing in many other categories, as well.
I work a lot with textiles, and I know people who spin yarns, and weave fabrics in Argentina, commercially.
In the 90s, they were working with 1950s equipment, making the same thing their grandfathers had made.
Today, they are tuned in to world trends, and making modern, innovative stuff- still using basic machinery, as new stuff from China or Japan or Germany is very expensive and rare- but the awareness of what is going on in the world has changed the output.
Again, these are not rich intellectuals- we are talking small family businesses in Haedo.

I know similar stories in many other light manufacturing fields- furniture, housewares, paper goods- an awareness of world trends, a desire to innovate and be world class, and, within the restraints of antidiluvean import restrictions, some pretty advanced stuff going on.

There is more to life than buying consumer goods.
It would be great if we could all buy lots and lots of cheap consumer goods.
But in terms of the intellectual, creative, and even manufacturing sectors, Argentina today is far advanced from the 90s.