The Truth

[Tourist2008]

Hmmm, but you could say the same about most european countries and also the united states, in fact a very large number or people are saying just that .....

.... the corruption is just a little less hidden in Argentina

 

[PhilipDT]

Its true that it happens in other places as well but not quite a brazenly as it does here

 

[jp]

 

[xtrasback]

cuuuute dumbo !

 

[PhilipDT]

cuuuute dumbo !

Seriously?

 

[chris]

You can't say the same about the US and Europe. Even in this crisis the US has a lot of opportunity, especially for the entrepreneur. Europe less so but it is better than Argentina. It is extremely hard to run a business in Argentina. There are endless taxes, obstacles at every turn, NO CREDIT and a government that is openly hostile to the entrepreneur. I have friends who say this all the time. They struggle to keep their businesses going. The rules of the game change constantly. The economy is too unstable to plan. I have several friends who would pack up today and move to the US if they could. They can't. Pity because they'd be productive American citizens.

By the way, I don't think it is so much old money that rules Argentina as new money made through connections with the government. Some of the owners of large farms may belong to traditional wealthy families but the old Establishment has really declined. This was obvious during the Menem years when lots of ordinary people started to get rich and you could see the transfer of power from the old Establishment to a new group. The old elites have been marginalized to a great extent. They are especially hated by the Kirchner people.

 

[jb5]

If you want a view into how old money is doing in BA, simply look at the parts of mansions carved up and available for rent in Palermo Chico. Old money is dying.

 

[Gringoboy]

I'm still on holiday in the UK (holiday in my own country FFS!) and believe me, it's no longer easy to run a small business over here. True, the start up beurocracy is almost tramite free unlike in Arg, but the running costs are almost prohibitive.
I run a small PC shop in Olivos which is going well, but it certainly wouldn't survive 5 mins in UK as you just can't compete with the big corps like PC World etc, not to mention the supermarkets.
I completely disagree with the main point; you can be an entrepreneur and succeed in Argentina, it just needs a different mindset and some imagination.

 

[chris]

Is there credit available in the UK or do you have to provide 100% of your own financing? You can definitely get loans in the US and there is a lot of help for small and medium businesses. I'm glad you are successful in Argentina but my Argentine friends running small or medium businesses tell me something else. They say it is enormously difficult, the government is uncooperative, nothing is transparent, taxes are very high, it costs about 50% over salary to maintain a legal employee, labor laws are strongly in favor of employees with huge penalties if you fire someone. They say that you can't plan much as policy changes, anything can happen. This is what I hear from Argentines. Maybe the UK is different from the US in terms of running small and medium businesses.