MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina’s official July inflation 0.9%, less than half private estimates
Argentina's Consumer Price Index (IPC) was up 0.9% in July, 5.7% in the first seven months of the year and 10.6% in the last twelve months, the official statistics bureau Indec reported on Thursday. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesGiven up on mollifying the W.B. and I.M.F. then??
Aug 16th, 2013 - 03:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0How will this play with the electorate ?
Those interfering foreigners!
Or that idiot C.F.K.!
They'll keep the inflation figures low coming into the elections, because everyone is mad at them about inflation.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 04:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0But, they'll spend a pile of cash trying to keep their heads above water, because everyone is mad at them about inflation.
That might make the real inflation figures spike a bit after the elections, and make everyone even more mad at them.
This is the new, revolutionary, “inclusion” economic theory at work. State of the art rocket science. Brilliant.
Someday, they'll all be crying for a bailout from the rest of the world, because they aren't responsible for what that dictator CFK did. And the IMF and La Garde will hand over the cash.
“The IMF and World Bank have clashed with Argentina over the reliability of inflation and GDP growth stats”.
Clashed? The IMF has done nothing but blow air. Lots of little people are getting screwed because the IMF has no backbone. But if they did something too drastic, it would make the IMF “look bad”. Can't be having that, so lots of little people are going to continue to be screwed. Modern “statecraft” you see.
The solutions for our economic problems are as follows.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 07:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0+Open up free trade
+Reduce taxes on manufacturing, agriculture, and income
+Improve shipping
+Stop subsidizing able-bodied dependents (lazy scumbags)
+Get rid of toxic political culture (highly unlikely)
+Completely replace police force (also highly unlikely)
This is just the beginning. I really wish some people would realize that this has had great results historically, and stop sulking about how they were left behind during the good times because they were too lazy.
3 Optimus_Princeps (#)
Aug 16th, 2013 - 09:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Aug 16th, 2013 - 07:18 am
I totally agree with all your post, Optimus, according to a very rough calculation that I have tried to make, the kirchnerite plague (including all their business buddies) have stolen something in the region of U$S200 billion!!!!!!!!!
That is why we are up Shit Creek without a paddle!!!!!!!!!!!
@4 My friends from different industries avionics, banking, education tell me about some of the internal decay within the Kirchnerite culture. These are people that are knowingly perverse as long as they are the ones gaining from it.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 09:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0@3 opening up trade in Argentina caused poverty to increase to 30%, before the 2001 crisis. I expect truly free trade in Argentina to cause poverty and unemployment levels similar to the worst of the 2001 crisis for at least a decade, since the economy is way too weak and agrarian to employ enough people without government intervention, which the people won't tolerate. And people in Argentina don't think the poor are poor because they are lazy.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 09:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0So going the way of Chile isn't ever going to happen. Argentina is going to take a different path, probably the one we are taking now.
6 MagnusMaster
Aug 16th, 2013 - 01:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So, are you saying you are wasting your time at University?
If things get really bad you can expect the major automakers and companies like Dow and GE to bite the bullet and withdraw from Argentina. There would be nothing to make them stay.
The longer they stay the worse it will be for them in the long run. GE already has USD 1.8 Billion locked in the country due to TMBOA so they might just as well take the hit shown on their balance sheet and move on.
The “workers” (an oxymoron if ever there was one) will get their 18 month kick-back paid out of it and no doubt TMBOA and her gang will steal the rest.
So basically Argentina is screwed.
@6 I don't want to over generalize, but there are many causes and types of poverty. I myself had to overcome being born into such circumstances, and both of the scenarios I'm describing come from observation and first hand experience.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 01:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I've watched the decay of services such as plumbing, cleaning service, and electronics repair because the notion of something for nothing is so appealing. Some of these people produce less than what is sufficient to keep them sufficiently employed in a free and competitive market, by choice. The quality of their work is substandard, thus poverty is the natural result.
The poor that suffer the most are those that you see selling handmade or manufactured goods on blankets near the town square, or labor in the country in agriculture. They are left in the cold as they often don't support the Kirchner model, and are too proud to ask for a hand out. Some of them persevere and manage to get out of poverty. A free market would allow these people to attain goods more easily and cheaply that may improve their current methods of production.
Please, respond by explaining precisely how free trade increased poverty. I'm willing to bet it's another factor, as Menem's government may have tried to imitate sound economics, but his administrations avarice and greed were just as toxic as that of the Ks. Don't just look at Argentina's economic history, but the world's going back as far as ancient Rome. The insights are incredible.
@6 “So, are you saying you are wasting your time at University?”
Aug 16th, 2013 - 02:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Maybe, but if studying is a waste of time then working hard and being honest are also a waste of time.
@8 “Please, respond by explaining precisely how free trade increased poverty. ”
Simple, first of all currently Argentina's economy is so small it can barely provide for half of our population. The rest only survive thanks to the government and protectionism, which keeps people employed in inefficient factories. You also mentioned people aren't willing to work enough to keep them employed. These people probably can't handle work, so they would be poor regardless. Argentina is only competitive on agriculture, which is one of the least labor intensive fields today, even less than mining which is what Chile does. I think even if Menem wasn't corrupt the consequences would be the same, but perhaps a long recession rather than the 2001 apocalypse.
Argentina could prosper with free trade, but the people aren't willing to pay the price, which are decades of massive poverty until the economy gets running. Of course, there is too much corruption in Argentina for any economic system to work anyways, but people prefer Peronism.
9.2001 apocalypse? As tehy say You ain't seen nothin' yet! The next crash will be much worse and much longer.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 02:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Free trade will work, over time the Ks squandered the opportunity they had in 2001 to transform Argentina into a prosperous country. It will take a ruthless dictator and a generation to fix the mess they have caused.
@9 Argentina is actually one of the wealthiest countries in the world as far as raw materials are concerned. It could be in the top 10 or even the top 5, if it weren't for the corruption. The education system here is one of the most affordable, though success in the universities is greatly driven mainly by personal discipline, and sometimes family pressure.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 02:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The government is protecting anyone. It is draining our reserves and reducing any chance we have for a come back. The fundamental elements of the economy are being destroyed daily. Very soon, there will be nothing left for the government to steal and the unproductive will suffer as they did before. Maybe worse.
Massive handouts to the poor were used by emperors of ancient Rome to boost their ego, as it never helped them over the long term. Nero liked to give money to the poor out of vanity, while he burned part of Rome to build extravagant buildings for himself. Years later, Trajan demolished Nero's vanity projects and replaced them with buildings and infrastructure for the public, giving them jobs. Some of those buildings are still there today. The called him “the best ruler”.
That's what Argentina needs right now.
@10 free trade will work... but not in Argentina. The people don't want it, and I don't think economic armageddon will change their minds. I don't think a ruthless dictator is a solution, usually they make things worse, and the people wouldn't tolerate it anyway. Only the people can turn Argentina into a prosperous country.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 04:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@11 Measuring wealth in terms of natural resources is misleading, if they are squandered they are worthless. And we need way, way more than a Trajan.
Only the people can turn Argentina into a prosperous country.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 04:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Then why haven't they?
They've tolerated one bad leader after another and are the fasted moving country DOWN the GDP list.
Free trade will work, it is proven by 100s of years and in many countries. Argentina is no different.
They need a ruthless dictator to teach them a work ethic and morality.
@13 The people tolerate anything as long as the economy is fine and don't want to interrupt the democratic process unless things get really bad. Free trade won't work because it won't be attempted again, thanks to the Junta and Menem. And I don't think a ruthless dictator can teach anything except NOT to rely on ruthless dictators, which the people have already learned. The people will have to learn morality on its own. The people aren't going to learn work ethic, they believe work ethic is a lie created by the rich to exploit the poor, so they will never learn it.
Aug 16th, 2013 - 10:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Australia and Argentina.
Aug 17th, 2013 - 12:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0Two countries that were once equal.
Now one has half the population of the other but I estimate 5 times the GDP.
It's not work ethic. It's not resources.
Argentina took the populist route of government and still does and until that changes it will continue its steady decline and Australia will keep climbing.
14. If you are Argentine and believe what you post your country is doomed to failure.
Aug 17th, 2013 - 06:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0The work ethic and Argentina:
Aug 17th, 2013 - 12:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It is not so long ago that the Argentine work force was recognized throughout South America as one of the hardest working of all!!!!!!!!
My grand father and my father both worked for the Southern railway company, during both the British and the national management and they both worked from dawn to dusk to guarantee that the trains ran on time, and they did until the late 1960's!!!!!!!!!
The erosion of the work ethic in Argentina came with the empowerment of the unions by Perón and successive populist governments. The kirchnerite plague is only the latest and most virulent eroder of the work ethic!!!!!!!!!!!
When I first went to work no one talked about “stability of labour”, they talked about “premios y castigos” (prizes and punishments). In other words we still lived in a meritocracy where those who produced most recieved most and those who were lazy were left by the wayside!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly populism and hard work don't go together and now the Argentine workforce of to-day is lokked on as generally lazy and worthless!!!!!!!!!
@14 MagnusMaster:
Aug 17th, 2013 - 02:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Don't despair. People can change. It follows that nations can change too.
Argentina official indexes are not accept by the IMF and was told either to be honest or to forget getting new loans! Like Brazil and most of Latrina America, Argentina has an extremely corrupt populist government.
Aug 18th, 2013 - 09:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0Better corrupt and populist than corrupt and elitist (North America, European governments today)
Aug 19th, 2013 - 09:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0@17
Aug 19th, 2013 - 11:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0Simon
When I worked in the Falklands, over 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to meet some Chilean pilots. I asked them what did they think about the Argentines assuming they would describe them as their best mates.
They told me that most workers in Southern Argentina were Chileans as the Argentines didn't want to work as hard. I can't verify if that was actually true as I never went to Argentina.
I was surprised, as politically, Chile supports the Argentinan claim to the Falklands, but the pilots said that if the Falklands remained British, it was likely to create an economy that could support many Argentine or Chilean workers in jobs. He expressed the view that if Argentina took control, the Falklands would simply collapse as an economy, as most Argentines could not stick the Falklands climate.
The pilot was intelligent enough to note that the Falklands is as far south as the UK is north so not surprisingly there were more British settlers in the past, as the climate was similar whereas very few people from the River Plate could stick the conditions-including those of Patagonia.
I'm not surprised viewing your background that you don't fit into the category of Argentine that the pilot outlined all those years ago.
Talk about being the kings of spin.
Aug 19th, 2013 - 11:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0The reason southern Argentina is full of Chileans is because for basically all of history, Argentina was better for Chileans: wages, jobs, social benefits whatever. Same reason the country is full of Paraguayans, Bolivians, Peruvians, Dominicans, and Chinese and Africans recently.
They were willing to be maids, construction workers, farm pickers, and cooks, for less. Simple.
Just like Europeans and North Americans are lazy asses who also don't want to do any of that, so they would rather collect checks and leave those jobs to the Mexicans, Polish, Moroccans, Turks, Algerians, Libyans, Pakistani, etc.
Try harder next time.
@22
Aug 19th, 2013 - 12:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Patagonia's economy thriving then?
Good-glad to hear that a group of Indians might challenge Argentine sovereignty of their colony in Patagonia in the UN
Compared to the rest of Latin America, yes, Argentina is a paradise, like it or not.
Aug 19th, 2013 - 12:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In fact for most of its history, it has been a paradise compared to Europe too. For all your bleating about the Spanish, fact is most in Argentina aren't even Spanish ancestry. And in Patagonia, that illegal colony, it was lots of Welsh and English that usurped the indians seisin, of course behind the Argentine cavalry.
No modern indian tribe today wishes independence from Argentina, go cry about that elsewhere. I know that pains you because then you have nothing against us.
24 The Truth PaTroll
Aug 19th, 2013 - 12:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I would like to recommend a new career for you as I believe that you would do well: a stand-up comedian, no less.
Examples of your recent material that had us all in stitches:
“Better corrupt and populist than corrupt and elitist”
“Compared to the rest of Latin America, yes, Argentina is a paradise”
“In fact for most of its history, it has been a paradise compared to Europe too”
“most in Argentina aren't even Spanish ancestry”
“it was lots of Welsh and English that usurped the Indians...of course behind the Argentine cavalry”
Proof positive, if proof were ever needed. LOLs
I want you to DENY all of those points with facts.
Aug 19th, 2013 - 01:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@26
Aug 19th, 2013 - 04:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Iwant you to PROVE all of those points with facts.
@ 26 TTT
Aug 19th, 2013 - 05:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But they are YOUR words!
If anything I could DEMAND (I am learning argiespeak) you justify this nonsense to me!
Argentina is so underdeveloped that using credit cards there is a hard task. Tourists have to take in money and exchanging is extremely risky because you will end up with false argentine money. The police, taxi drivers use unbelievable tricks to pass false money to tourists! Argentina has become a dangerous country to visit, too! Corruption is widespread and only Argies do not know this!
Aug 19th, 2013 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 028. “Better corrupt and populist than corrupt and elitist”
Aug 19th, 2013 - 09:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0followed by “Simple as that”
They has sum gret learin in dat dar place
@29
Aug 19th, 2013 - 11:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Speaking of trolls, any other fairy tales for the night?
31. Er, the US Dept of State warns about everything he posted, are they wrong too?
Aug 20th, 2013 - 10:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0Methinks it is you living in a fairy tale
You better find a nice guy from the USA or UK to get you out of that place before it implodes.
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!