The economy will be dollarized soon... it has to be.

Have you ever spoken to people in countries like Myanmar or Laos? No one there actually believes that Chinese investors built infrastructure there simply out of the kindness of their hearts.
No country does things out of the kindness of their hearts. I'm sure the Laotian people prefer Chinese high-speed rail to the 80 million unexploded bombs littering their countryside, which were left by the US. Have you spoken to them?
 
No country does things out of the kindness of their hearts. I'm sure the Laotian people prefer Chinese high-speed rail to the 80 million unexploded bombs littering their countryside, which were left by the US. Have you spoken to them?
They cannot choose between two options here. You're mixing up the past and the present.
 
The “problem” with the Chinese model is that it is just another IMF however with far sharper teeth, it uses the essential infrastructure it finances and that the host state depends upon to power its economy as collateral which literally ends up mortgaging the state. It also doesn’t tend to create many local jobs as workers are usually imported on a temporary basis while a big chunk of the concessions profits get exported as soon as they are made. You can already see what happens when countries can’t sustain or keep up with the massive Chinese government infraestructure loans in cases like Montenegro or Sri Lanka - it ends up taking the same toll on the concept sovereignty if that is one’s actual concern. It’s certainly not the lesser of evils when compared with the US or even comparable to using the US (or any other foreign currency), especially when it comes with an pro-authoritarian tendency. It is just another form of states doing business with other states in the bigger parties own best interests.

Anyway, the idea of dollarization (or more to the point what Millei is actually proposing, freedom of commerce, where you choose how you do business if in euro, pounds, yuans, yen, whatever’s…) conceptually serves to promote political discipline in order to get the house in order. When you can’t print it, you can’t abuse it and need to learn to live within your means. Here (for the past decades/ century or more) the local peso printing press is used to steal billions from the state each year, buy ill-deserved votes and run up unsustainable levels of debt just to keep afloat. As always Argentinas biggest “enemy” has always been Argentina. A culture of political discipline needs both times and tools to achieve it - and the ability to print money or not is the single biggest tool it has.
 
Here's the difference between China and the US: China builds infrastructure, the US destroys infrastructure. It's as simple as that. China trades, the US bullies - as we have seen recently with a US congresswoman's whining and threats about China's space base in Neuquen, which happens to be a great thing for technological advancements. Your life is almost over (like the rest of the boomers on this board), so get over it, it won't affect you anyway. Pax Americana is over and dead, Pax Sinica is the new future. Pax Sinica will benefit Argentina greatly, there are already so many new, great trading opportunities with China! China loves Argentine agricultural products.
lol. I'm probably younger than you are. good luck with your utopian future though
 
Here's the difference between China and the US: China builds infrastructure, the US destroys infrastructure. It's as simple as that. China trades, the US bullies - as we have seen recently with a US congresswoman's whining and threats about China's space base in Neuquen, which happens to be a great thing for technological advancements. Your life is almost over (like the rest of the boomers on this board), so get over it, it won't affect you anyway. Pax Americana is over and dead, Pax Sinica is the new future. Pax Sinica will benefit Argentina greatly, there are already so many new, great trading opportunities with China! China loves Argentine agricultural products
I am sure the PRC does indeed love Argentine commodities. And every other potential benefit.
It’s just that Argentina is far from being the first country that China ‘invests’ in. From the heavy Chinese interest in Africa in the late 80’s to the 2010s rebranding and refining of the policy as belts and roads, this is nothing new.
So most of the world has had the time to observe how this has worked out for those countries China has invested in. Hence the healthy wariness.
And this is something that never cease to amaze me with Argentina: being a bit behind actually gives Argentina amazing opportunities to learn from other countries’ experience and do better. But nope.
 
IMO, there's probably going to be widespread civil unrest in Argentina in the foreseeable future & some type of change will come from it. Aside from that, it's the status quo of insanity.
 
The “problem” with the Chinese model is that it is just another IMF however with far sharper teeth, it uses the essential infrastructure it finances and that the host state depends upon to power its economy as collateral which literally ends up mortgaging the state. It also doesn’t tend to create many local jobs as workers are usually imported on a temporary basis while a big chunk of the concessions profits get exported as soon as they are made. You can already see what happens when countries can’t sustain or keep up with the massive Chinese government infraestructure loans in cases like Montenegro or Sri Lanka - it ends up taking the same toll on the concept sovereignty if that is one’s actual concern. It’s certainly not the lesser of evils when compared with the US or even comparable to using the US (or any other foreign currency), especially when it comes with an pro-authoritarian tendency. It is just another form of states doing business with other states in the bigger parties own best interests.

Anyway, the idea of dollarization (or more to the point what Millei is actually proposing, freedom of commerce, where you choose how you do business if in euro, pounds, yuans, yen, whatever’s…) conceptually serves to promote political discipline in order to get the house in order. When you can’t print it, you can’t abuse it and need to learn to live within your means. Here (for the past decades/ century or more) the local peso printing press is used to steal billions from the state each year, buy ill-deserved votes and run up unsustainable levels of debt just to keep afloat. As always Argentinas biggest “enemy” has always been Argentina. A culture of political discipline needs both times and tools to achieve it - and the ability to print money or not is the single biggest tool it has.
SO excellent and spot on target. This is why Argentina will never dollarize.
 
The IMF always renegotiates debt, and forgives a lot of it, as it sees its primary mission as helping development.
The chinese never forgive debt, they extend loans and never reveal details or interest rates or terms, and they are in it to make money.
 
The chinese never forgive debt, they extend loans and never reveal details or interest rates or terms, and they are in it to make money.
Just out of curiosity, when they don't reveal the interest rates, what interest rates do they ultimately collect?
 
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