The "nationalisation" of the Spanish oil company, Repsol's Argentinian assets on grounds that are frankly nonsensical confirms this. It has been known for a few years that the Argentinian government under Christina and her late unlamented husband Nestor has been corrupt and cooking the books (they actually to criminalise economists who calculate the inflation rate honestly).
In other words they are headed for another financial crisis less that 15 years after the last one.
Some countries have undergone a bigger relative decline that Argentina in the last 100 years- but these have mostly been nations that have been under the boot of crazed ideologies like communism. Argentina's unique achievement is to have achieved the same level of decline under mostly democratic rule.
A clue to why this happens is listening to reports about Argentinian election candidates- it's soon obvious that most of the contenders describe themselves as "Peronist".Unfortunately Juan Peron was an ideological charlatan with no fixed beliefs beyond the idea that he should be in charge. Wikipedia describes Peronism as:
The pillars of the Peronist ideal, known as the "three flags", include: Social justice, Economic Independence, and Political Sovereignty.
- Social Justice AKA empowering politicians to lie and acquire more power in the name of the poor.
- Economic Independence AKA refusing to conform to standards enforced by impartial outside bodies who cannot be controlled
- Political Sovereignty AKA empowering politicians to lie and acquire more power in the name of loving their country.
6 comments:
I reckon Argentina doing this "snatch back act" is bad for them as international confidence and investment will suffer big time, The country will seem unstable and be like sticking to fingers up to the world.
What about christina though, don't you just want to believe every word she says, her passion, beauty and that she is a brilliant speaker is quite captavating.
I have sympathy for the Argies not being in control of their own natural recources and also i have a lot of sympathy for christina and her "las malvinas".
A basketcase?....no not really, she isnt another military dictator but i agree these stories can cover up problems within Argentina and will have popular support among "la gente"
'What about christina though, don't you just want to believe every word she says, her passion, beauty and that she is a brilliant speaker is quite captavating.'
Er... up to a point Lord Copper. In the lexicon of Argentine female beauty she's some way behind Gabriela Sabatini (remember her?)
'i have a lot of sympathy for christina and her "las malvinas".'
If the Canadians threw hissy fits at regular intervals at the French, demanding the 'return' of St Pierre & Micquelon (much closer to Newfoundland than 'las Malvinas' are to the Argentine coast) would you also ne sympathetic ?
Nice article, thanks for the information.
They've never changed, they never will. Not sure there'll be another "war" - they're too gutless.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying here but it could do with more detail. They stayed away in droves.
Peronism means (i) Nationalise stuff, (ii) Power to the unions (iii) Talk sentimental crap about The Workers.
We'd call it the Labour party.
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