MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Kerry supports Macri free-market policies but calls for patience: things don't change overnight
United States Secretary of State John Kerry urged Argentina to be patient with the slow pace of economic progress and investments under its new government and praised president Mauricio Macri’s free-market stance. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesWhat is Kerry talking about?
Aug 06th, 2016 - 03:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Time is Macri's worst enemy, because each passing month brings more proof of the ineptitude of a government made of CEOs pulling all in different directions.
Following on the heels of a federal court that put on hold increases in gas bills, another judge has now frozen the electrical bill increases.
As domestic demand crumbles and imports begin replacing local production and local jobs go south, the Macri government appears in total denial of increasing social unrest with more Argentines joining street protests every day.
Oh, but never fear! “...the State Department has set aside US$ 1.5 million to support law enforcement and criminal justice sector reform initiatives...”
We are saved.
“Getting rid of bad habits takes a little bit of time,”
Aug 06th, 2016 - 04:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0Peronismo is the very portrait of all that are Bad Habits. Crime, corruption, nepotism, malfeasance, the inability to so much as provide significant surveillance of coastal fishing waters, the unwillingness to understand the fundamental concepts of debt or inflation or contractual obligations. The stifling of free expression. And on and on.
It will take years to have any sort of meaningful rectification of those many Bad Habits. So obvious that even that dim-witted Kerry can appreciate the inertia of Bad Habits.
@1
Aug 06th, 2016 - 07:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0Novel idea: maybe the people that protest now, and the ones that protested under CFK should all go buy an algebra book.
I defended CFK's right's to fulfill her term, and she did. I will defend Macri's too because that is what a fair minded person would do, the type of people sorely lacking in Argentina.
Learn some calculus, or 9 languages, or 60000 words, or engineering. With the importances argentines give to education these days no government left or right has the magic to bring high salaries. CFK or Macri.... imports of certain items are rising because our products in those areas SUCK, ever thought about that concept?
Got to make quality things, or novel things, or be extremely efficient in farming and resources. You can't print salaries, and you can't austerity yourself to high salaries either. Geez, all those protesters should go to school.
@2
Aug 06th, 2016 - 11:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0Interesting.
“the inertia of Bad Habits”... that's a neat phrase. It's true, and I'm going to remember it.
Thanks, and best wishes to all!
D. Garnet
@3 Extraordinary. The KepiTroll has had an epiphany. Well, a partial one, anyway. “.... imports of certain items are rising because our products in those areas SUCK...” is partly true. The new government has allowed people to finally purchase decent products (along with the components needed to repair a lot of machinery and other systems that CFK's policies had deadlined). Argentine manufacturing has long been deficient, backward, inefficient, noncompetitive, technologically lagging, often salable only in protected markets or when subsidised in some manner. Any why is this? Because of the effects of Peronismo. The “vivir con lo nuestro” syndrome, that no matter how badly something is done, at least it's been touched by Argentines and gives the otherwise unskilled and unemployable something to do.
Aug 06th, 2016 - 03:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@3 “With the importances argentines give to education these days.....”
Once again, Peronismo has kept the classrooms empty in much of the country, partly in attempts to destabilise the current government, partly in a never-ending quest for money. But then, even when the schools are open (recent strikes in six provinces here), half of the adolescents in Argentina don't complete secondary school. And it shows.
Hey, at least we didn't resort to this to get a quick buck:
Aug 06th, 2016 - 03:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://theweek.com/articles/640709/why-chinese-military-still-haunted-by-19thcentury-humiliation
“In 1839, England went to war with China because it was upset that Chinese officials had shut down its drug trafficking racket and confiscated its dope.”
I hear this is the Bank of England's secret weapon to get the UK out or the crisis.
#2 Marti
Aug 06th, 2016 - 06:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Getting rid of bad habits takes a little bit of time...“
You damn right. It's funny how people get hooked up on bad habits such as eating every day.
During the last 12 years, Argentines got extremely bad habits--the poor got used to have a job, and the middle class got used to go on holidays from time to time.
Mauricio Macri is going to need all the help he can get in weaning people off bad habits such as warming up your house.
Perhaps Marti's willing to give him a hand, take a soapbox and go preach his ”seven healthy habits” message to the masses in Buenos Aires.
Be fun to watch.
@7 “....people get hooked up on bad habits such as eating every day...”
Aug 06th, 2016 - 09:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0== No doubt Reekie is alluding to the 28-30 percent of the Argentine population in poverty or indigence during the end of the CFK reign, and the lies that CFK told the world about the lack of such poverty in the country. A series of Bad Habits.
@7 “....--the poor got used to have a job, ....”
== A reference to the tens (or perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Kirchnerista camporistas and ñoquis whose political-favour “job” was either simply not showing up for work, or mostly showing up but not actually performing any useful or productive activity.
Bad Habits, indeed.
Marti,
Aug 07th, 2016 - 04:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0Do people seriously believe that crap is ok??
@1 , 7 Reekie
Aug 07th, 2016 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What's your problem with Kerry's statement that ““Getting rid of bad habits takes a little bit of time and investment takes a little bit of time to take hold and begin to create momentum” ???
Or do you think that Macri is going to fix the 12 years of corruption and populism under the Kirchner clan, in one ?
Funny you should mention ”It's funny how people get hooked up on bad habits such as eating every day”, when it's notorious that under the K administrations, millions did not have enough money to feed themselves properly.....
Even you should know that.
Funny how most posters here have switched gears.
Aug 07th, 2016 - 03:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A year ago they were worried about inflation, poverty and insecurity in Argentina, which is what the Clarin group emphasized through its many media outlets through Argentina.
Now that a government more ideologically acceptable to them is in power, most commentators in this board have changed the tune to the oh, so terrible “K” corruption, which would be at the root of all the country's current economic ills.
This is exactly the strategy of the current government. Focus on the “heavy inheritance” (la pesada herencia) and produce weekly news about how terrible Kirchnerist “corruption” was.
Highly publicized searches, some detentions, a lot of noise with little consequence is the daily bread served through the concentrated media outlets.
Meanwhile, true blitzkrieg style, the Macri administration is dismantling the domestic economy in an effort to return to an outdated agro-export model.
I understand islanders see Macri as a less dangerous president, more likely to forget the claim on Malvinas.
However, unless you assume some intellectual honesty, you people will soon be left as the few loyal, recalcitrant supporters of Macri's Joyful Revolution.
Good post Enrique, however I do think you need to give the current government time to see what they can do financially wise.
Aug 07th, 2016 - 06:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Lets see how it pans out.
Andy
Mr.Massot,
Aug 07th, 2016 - 06:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You might exercise some intellectual honesty yourself.
The economy has been bungled for a decade, investors driven away, reserves depleted, and credit rating destroyed.
Like Boner-feenie, galloping inflation and poverty trends from the previous K government cannot be arrested immediately.
We have already seen that Macri is facing challenges with security forces stilln in the back pocket of the K's with criminal fugitives running around the countryside unchecked.
How do you undo a decade of mismanagement, coercion and corruption in 6 months?
#12 Andy
Aug 07th, 2016 - 06:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's a pleasure to read a polite disagreement for a change. Indeed, many support your point that the government needs time to allow for positive changes to become apparent.
I would totally agree if I saw changes pointing in the right direction, even if their effects were not felt right away.
However, I see the measures being taken so far by the Macri government mostly point in the wrong direction, one that is going to send the country sliding down a risky slope.
Just as a sample, let's have a peak at what a Buenos Aires Herald writer thinks:
“...Argentina is now technically in a recession — the economy is shrinking and salaries are losing out to inflation...natural gas rates, have been frozen by an injunction...” wrote Martín Gambarotta, politics and labour News Editor. (Electricity bills were also frozen by judicial order in the last few days).
”...40,000 private sector jobs were lost in May, according to the Labour Ministry (and) the national government has also scrambled to cap the price of cooking oil just when it looked like consumer panic was setting in. Butter is also running short in supermarkets,“ Gambarotta also wrote.
This is what most Argentines are coping with today--a reality the Macri government is desperately trying to hide with its much-publicized ”K corruption” campaign.
“... ..Argentina is now technically in a recession ....”
Aug 07th, 2016 - 09:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Argentina has been technically in a recession for years, although technically the Kirchner government lied about these conditions in much the same way they technically lied about everything from “not being in default” to imaginary economic growth figures.
Reekie, the Macri government is certainly not “ trying to hide” economic matters in the way or to the degree that the Kirchner government did, with the massive misrepresentations (called “lies” in the civilised nations) through the manipulation of the INDEC. The laughably false data and deliberate misrepresentation of economic statistics under the CFK government were well known to every agency from the IMF to governments to the major media. And remember that the Kirchner government tried to fine and imprison anyone who dared to publish economic data that the government didn't approve.
Even Harvard University, which tends to side with just about any leftist government, participated in a project to reveal that ” [the CFK administration] .... hugely overstated gross domestic product (GDP) and vastly understated poverty.”
For those who are limited to reading in English, there is a good summary of the extent of the Kirchner economic lies here
http://casos.lanacion.com.ar/indec-the-lying-machine
http://casos.lanacion.com.ar/indec-the-lying-machine
http://casos.lanacion.com.ar/indec-the-lying-machine
http://casos.lanacion.com.ar/indec-the-lying-machine
A year ago, during the K regime, with Hector doing his Hectoring, pet-boy the dwarf front lining economic policies, and K-surrogate Scioli slated to perpetuate the K-dynasty, Argentina was in official and actual Default to their domestic and int'l creditors.
Aug 07th, 2016 - 09:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Unofficially, they were already in recession.
Even the very PC-minded IMF were calling their GDP figures from INDEC, lies.
The AR Peso was pegged at an artificially high rate of exchange, propped up by millions of dollars from the Federal Reserve. It's actual value being half of the official value.
The RC Chuch was censured by Cristina for reporting that 27% of the population, 11m families and children were living in poverty. They should know, living on the communities and witnessing it directly.
INDEC denied it.
Cristina called it a “won decade”.
#15 Marti - #16 Kanye
Aug 07th, 2016 - 10:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Here are a couple writers who use the exact same strategy the Macri administration is using, that is trying hard to keep focus on the “heavy inheritance” left by the Kirchnerist previous government. The idea is to keep the public opinion looking away from the increasing deterioration of the economy after eight months in power.
Why, diligent Marti has been working hard and found articles accessible to the English language readers that --oh surprise--badmouth Cristina!
Reality is, there was inflation during the CFK government. Now there is higher inflation. There were poor citizens and unemployed under CFK's watch. Their ranks are swelling now. Prices went up before Dec. 15. Now prices spiral out of control, and basic items such as butter and cooking oil disappear from the shelves. As a result, consumption goes down and small and medium-size companies are letting go employees or just closing down. Earlier today, hundreds of thousands of Argentines marched 13 km to Plaza de Mayo to show opposition to the government's economic measures.
With each passing day, the “heavy inheritance” argument wears off, and the current government will inevitably begin to pay a political price for its elitist measures--as it should be.
Meanwhile, Marti and Kanye keep repeating to those willing to hear that all is CFK's fault.
When should Macri begin to take responsibility for his own economical policies? Perhaps in 50 years?
Mr. Canuck
Aug 07th, 2016 - 11:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Have you ever been to Argentina?
How do you know these things?
Here is an economic summation from June 2016
“Low commodity prices, the prolonged recession in Brazil and a slow adjustment to the new government’s policies are factors clouding this year’s growth outlook. However, following renewed access to international capital markets, the economy is expected to largely benefit from fresh capital inflows. Analysts project Argentina’s GDP to contract 1.0% in 2016, which is unchanged from last month’s Consensus. For 2017, analysts project the economy to rebound and expand 2.9%.”
http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/argentina
Check the economic statistics for 2015 in this article.
Yes, the same 2015 that Cristina Evita Kirchner was President at the end of a “won decade” of Kirchner economic policies.
Look at the negative US $ Reserves!!
Kirchner set the stage for an economic meltdown.
Macri will likely take more than 6 months to dig them out of it, or are you that stupid to insist otherwise, publicly?
#18 Kanye
Aug 08th, 2016 - 04:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0Calling people names because they have a different opinion will lead you nowhere, so stop that.
Look: Nobody is asking Macri to change the country's economy overnight.
Many people agree with paying more for utilities--however, they ask the government to have SOME social sensitivity and do it more gradually--that's all. Over 50 judges have also told the government it cannot act like a drunken sailor and do whatever to fill the pockets of some powerful corporations.
How the government has responded so far?
Macri has told people to put on warm clothes when at home.
Now, you may call me stupid for pointing out to those facts, but shooting the messenger won't change a iota what's going on.
You and I can only watch and try to understand.
All the chit chat about what Cristina did in the past will not allow Macri to screw the people with impunity.
He may try, but he'll pay the political price--big time.
@18
Aug 08th, 2016 - 12:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 02.9% growth would be entirely unacceptable.
“2.9% growth would be entirely unacceptable.”
Aug 08th, 2016 - 01:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0-- It might be acceptable were it not the result of desperately fertile imaginations and a chimerical belief that present negative realities and historical inertia might be magically and suddenly stood on their heads.
Unfortunately, the historical reluctance of an obstinate populace to accept effective conventional governance will soon enough pave the way to a return to the usual world-class model of unparalleled corruption, mismanagement, mendacity, and malfeasance long before Argentina could convince the world community that the country might someday, perhaps, become minimally reliable and worthy of their guarded confidence.
I think Quequi and Tobi ((#20)are they different?) should put their feet on the ground in the country they so often espouse about. Anything lest is a bunch of shot and heresay.......especially when preaching how bad Argentina in the 7 months since a market oriented leader took office.
Aug 08th, 2016 - 02:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you know that in Argentina, if you have Rheumatoid Arthritis you cannot be treated with biologic meds that target and put TNF cells into remission? The most treatable disease to have and Argentines with RA look like those in the USA in the 60s and 70s. Not that imports are resuming there is a chance for arthritetic's to have biologic meds. Socialism at it's finest!
2.9% growth is not bad with 1.0% inflation in a global economy. While I know you are not in Argentina tobi, however do you think that the inflation there, roughly 40% is acceptable? Do wither of you know what is in short supply in Argentina thanks to the imports restrictions from the cuntlipped Kirchner? Either of you should really try living in your former and descendant homeland. Move there Tobi, make your parents proud.
Last December, all was ready for the new miracle. Finally, after 12 years of “socialist” Kirchnerism, Argentina was going to become the next poster child for free-market, open-to-the-world-oriented policies.
Aug 08th, 2016 - 04:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Eight months later, ALL economic indicators are in the red, as the incipient domestic sector is being quickly dismantled and a ferocious redistribution of the national income in favour of the wealthiest is achieved.
As I posted here a few months ago, the Argentine wealthy class does not have--never had--the will to create, at least, a prosperous capitalist economy.
No sir. They are still dreaming a comeback to the agro-export model of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that allowed them to go have fun in New York and Paris while rural workers and domestic employees took care of their children and extensive estancias for a pittance.
Juan Perón, a smart guy if there ever was one, told them they had to give up a little in order not to lose everything. They did not understand the message, and insisted in going back to the “glorious” past.
The result were 60 years of instability and frustrated experiments, many of which applied the same measures president Macri is now applying--however, most were applied by force, with the tanks in the streets.
Applying neo liberal recipes in the context of a constitutional government was only done by Carlos Menem in the 1990s--and the experience and its 2001 outcome under the Alliance government is still well remembered.
So here we are. Eight months later, the experiment is rapidly beginning to show cracks on all sides. The population, however, is patient. There is not a generalized call for Macri's resignation. People are just asking him to be a bit more socially sensitive and allow for time to accommodate to changes.
Is Macri going to get the message? I doubt it. However, he can still do it. We'll soon see if yesterday's message finds its way to the Casa Rosada.
Written like a true NON ARGENTINE, living under a wonderful market economy.
Aug 08th, 2016 - 05:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 23 Reekie: ”They are still dreaming a comeback to the agro-export model....
Aug 08th, 2016 - 07:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Actually, it is the agro-export model that pays the bills for Argentina. That also allowed people like Cristina and her KK minions to siphon off millions that might instead have been used decently. It is agro export that pays for the subsidies in the range of 90 percent for gas and electricity, which even with the planned increases still result in the smallest residential payments of any South American country (taken as a utility unit as a percentage of average residential income).
Of course, the Kirchners did what they could to damage the profitability of agro exports. Kirchnerist meddling in the wheat industry, for example, produced a losing trend: 2005 production of 16 million tonnes falling to 8.2 million in 2013. It wasn't the markets or the weather: it was Kirchnerism. Today, Argentina has to import decent quality wheat. The beef industry suffered so much under the KK that now Argentina is importing beef from the neighbours. And today growers of soy, for example, are only netting about US$225 per hectare after all the taxes and bills are paid. And even to achieve that, corners are cut, and often the nutrients in fields where soy is grown have become depleted and so future production costs for artificial fertilisers will likely cut further into profitability. Argentine soy production cannot even compete without imported seed stock and other essential materials that show that the “vivir con lo nuestro” is just another bad Peronish joke. But even so, remember that agro exports are what is keeping Argentina from sinking into its next and rapidly approaching default.
It's going to take years to undo the Bad Habits and damage wrought by decades of Peronism, and even longer for Argentina to be perceived by the world community as anything approaching serious or reliable. One wonders how long its deficit spending will survive.
#25 Marti
Aug 09th, 2016 - 04:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“...agro exports are what is keeping Argentina from sinking into its next and rapidly approaching default.”
I never thought I would agree with Marti on anything.
However, somehow, some true permeated through the long argument he submitted above. Must've been a subliminal reflex.
Indeed, the erratic behaviour and improvised measures of Macri's star team are causing a rapid deterioration of the country's economy.
Citizens have been patient and are telling the government that a change in direction is needed. The Macri government could listen and still save itself and save the country from another painful failure.
Enrique
Aug 09th, 2016 - 05:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What do you think Macri should be doing that he is not already doing ?
@11 Reekie
Aug 09th, 2016 - 08:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You talk of posters switching gears, the you go ahead and answer Andy35's in yr # 14 :
“It's a pleasure to read a polite disagreement for a change. Indeed, many support your point that the government needs time to allow for positive changes to become apparent.”
Many support ? I'd say 'most' level headed people realize that things don't change overnight, except when they are going down the drain.
I would totally agree if I saw changes pointing in the right direction, even if their effects were not felt right away.”
Well then, wait until the positive effects are felt.....instead of condemning Macri before his policies have had a chance to mature...
Mr. Canuck of the Wasteland,
Aug 09th, 2016 - 11:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Citizens have been patient and are telling the government that a change in direction is needed. The Macri government could listen and still save itself and save the country from another painful failure”
Change direction??
Do you mean go back to the disasterous inept and disdainful economic policies of Evita K and her pet Boy-Economist ??
Do you mean,
For the past 10 years, Evita's “nationalising” ( stealing) of foreign businesses, theft of investment bond returns, deliberate Default, “re-directing” (stealing) public monies for infrastructure improvement, systemically mis-reporting vital statistics and economic information, installing Noquis' to swell costs with no returns, impose prohibitively high export taxes, to name but a few things?
Do you mean,
Propping up the AR$ Peso and running questionable social programs from the National Bank's USD Reserves, until the cupboard was bare?
Is that what you meant??
Why do you think Argentina is in trouble.
Evita K spent everything, and now there is no money left to pay Noquis or Social Programs.
No money = civil unrest.
All egged on by K propagandists like you ( living in Canada. I would say “and unaffected”, but believe me you are 'Affected', to be sure)
It was all part of the plan.
But wait! Macri is actually making positive headway.
Only detractors like you are trying to say different.
Go and enjoy a crime-free stroll through your neighbourhood now.
Thank Justin Trudeau that you live in a liberal and inclusive society.
@29 Of course you are right but you will never convince Enrique. As you say, he lives in a stable and wealthy country with no actual experience of the misery the majority of Argentines were living in under CFK. I watched the country deteriorate under her rule. (Yes, rule)
Aug 10th, 2016 - 11:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Enrique is an idealist who is good at throwing stones at 'the establishment' but is blind to the fact that CFK stole from the very people she claimed to represent. She used people like him.
But watching you shoot down his arguments is interesting.
#29 Kanye (Warmly endorsed by Elaine at #30)
Aug 10th, 2016 - 04:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“What do you mean by changing direction?”
Let's be clear. I understand most of those who comment here--including yours truly--do not live in Argentina and therefore do not suffer first hand the consequences of the Macri administration decisions.
It would be presumptuous to believe posting in MP would influence in any way the political outcomes in Argentina. What counts is, are MP posters interested in more or less accurately interpreting what's going on? Or is it just a matter of keep pestering against the former CFK government out of sympathy for Thatcherist and Reaganist free-market ideology?
While I am not directly affected, I do care for my home country, have friends and relatives there, and wish they do well under any--and I mean, any--legally elected government.
Problem is, since Macri took in his hands the country's destiny, he has made things worse off for the large majority. A tiny minority doing really well is not good enough.
Now, believers in the neo-liberal/neocon ideology may argue that things need to get worse before they get better. The problem, again, is that Argentines have watched that movie before and already know the unhappy end.
There is not such thing as trickle down economic benefits waiting around the corner. What you have is rapacious representatives, elected on mendacious platforms, trying to keep the majorities quiet while they achieve the pillage and re-concentration of the country's wealth in a few hands.
There is no idealism on this, Elaine. Being sensitive to “the misery of Argentines...living in under CFK” is good. Being sensitive to the CURRENT misery of Argentines is even better.
@31
Aug 10th, 2016 - 05:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“What you have is rapacious representatives, elected on mendacious platforms, trying to keep the majorities quiet while they achieve the pillage and re-concentration of the country's wealth in a few hands.”
That is exactly what the Kirchners did. They threw money the country could not afford at the poor to keep them quiet whilst funnelling money into their own accounts and the accounts of their friends. Are you really in complete denial about just how much was stolen by the Kirchners from the people of Argentina?
@31 Reekie
Aug 10th, 2016 - 05:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Take a look at your bold statement :
“Let's be clear. I understand most of those who comment here--including yours truly--do not live in Argentina and therefore do not suffer first hand the consequences of the Macri administration decisions”.
Well, well, well.....and where do you live ? in Canada ! therefore, who are you to talk of “suffering first hand the consequences of the Macri administration decisions”.
So, despite your lack of first-hand experience with Macri, you think he should “change direction” ?? ........If you are unable to understand what 12 years of Kirchnerism did to the Argentine, and think that the problems Macri has inherited can be solved in a few months, obviously there is no point in expecting any sense out of you....only confirmed by your silly remark :
“Or is it just a matter of keep pestering against the former CFK government out of sympathy for Thatcherist and Reaganist free-market ideology?”
I think that NOW we are finally getting to the bottom of your resentment against Macri - because he is steering away from nationalization, or the discrimination of foreign enterprise, and populism - things you obviously venerate.
Ms. B,
Aug 10th, 2016 - 05:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mr. Massot wants your approval it seems.
“Problem is, since Macri took in his hands the country's destiny, he has made things worse off for the large majority.”
And he repeats the ongoing point about turning the country around, sarcastically “raining dollars” of investment etc.within 6 months of taking office.
Only stupid people would believe that was possible.
Only a propagandist would play upon that fiction.
“I do care for my home country, have friends and relatives there, and wish they do well under any--and I mean, any--legally elected government.”
The people were doing poorly with a steep downward trend after 10 years of the economic and ideological policies of the previous government.
The majority wanted change and a legally elected government has taken its place and made changes to those policies.
Contrary to what he says, Mr Canucky has already condemned the new government as criminals and an economic failure.
I suppose he must do this before Macri has a chance to succeed.
He wants to go back to the failed K model of the unpopular K socialists.
Does Mr. Massot really want the Argentine people to do well?
It appears not.
“Or is it just a matter of keep pestering against the former CFK government out of sympathy for Thatcherist and Reaganist free-market ideology?”
Has Mr. Massot progressed beyond his youthful Socialist idealism of the 70's?
It appears not.
“Or is it just a matter of keep pestering against the former CFK government out of sympathy for Thatcherist and Reaganist free-market ideology?”
Aug 10th, 2016 - 06:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Am I to assume from your statement, that being an American and finding Kirchner's vile policies and corrupt actions deplorable, that I must be a Reaganite? I must inform you Quique that one does not need to be a conservative to find Kirchner's odor foul and taste raunchy.
Do you have any idea how backward it is medically in terms of medicine because Kirchner's refused to allow imports and they are no bio-logic class meds to treat auto-immune diseases such as RA? It's pretty bad when Rheumatologists hand out glucosamine to patients with deformed fingers and toes and living in excrutiating pain. But hey, they almost achieved their goal of making Argentina Feudal center and envy of the modern world. Maybe there is hope that if Macri can't improve live for the working and middle class, Hannibal “Lecter” Fernandez can buy the presidency and take Venezuela's lead. Of course, if the DEA doesn't have him by then.
@34 As I said, Enrique is good at throwing stones but not providing solutions.
Aug 10th, 2016 - 06:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The Kirchner brand of populist governing was a huge scam while they got obscenely rich. They stole and ruled by bribery and fear. They did not have a working economic plan beyond using enough of the country's resources to keep their mob quiet long enough for them to steal the rest.
I spent a lot of time in Argentina when the K's ruled. I witnessed first hand the threatening mobs run by the government, the money laundering at their hotels and the decline in the country as the money ran out.
Economies take years to turn around but at least Macri has it pointing in the right direction. The cure is going to be painful but the majority can now see how they were lied to by CFK. The Empress had no clothes.
Ms. B
Aug 10th, 2016 - 10:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Economies take years to turn around but at least Macri has it pointing in the right direction”
You're correct, obviously.
That's the problem. Macri is doing everything right and he's putting everything in place to succeed.
Enrique Massot and the K's need to get him out or stop him, before he makes noticeable progress.
That's why the banshee cry already, that he must “change direction”.
i am sure the Argentines are still hopeful, despite the K faithful.
I don't get it though, who is this indoctrinated meat head in Canada?
Why is a foreigner so dead set against the people having a chance to make it work, when the K model face planted so badly?
Like all good Commie ideologues, it's ideology before the People.
Did you see his post on the other thread, “ nobody is calling for Socialism”?
I don't know what he calls it when he wants a “ change in direction” back to price controls, mgmt of commodities by the State, state ownership and subsidy of all services, fabricated gov. job positions, and handouts for those who are unemployed?
@37 It is generally the ex-pats that are more radical whilst, generally, more out of touch. They tend to wax lyrical about a mythical homeland if only it were run in accordance with their political ideal (even if the majority living there don't agree). You can see it on here with both extremes of the political spectrum.
Aug 11th, 2016 - 10:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0I don't know why Enrique enjoys an economically and politically stable life in the safety of Canada, and he chooses not to tell us. That is his right and it is probably never a good idea to put out too much personal information online but it will always taint his comments. If he is that committed to his country he would stop throwing stones on a message board and get himself in a position where he can effect change. He can't do that in Canada.
My issue with Enrique is his complete denial of the corruption under the K's. He cannot see that they were criminals robbing the country, effectively scamming the ignorant and exploiting the very people he claims to care about. They ruled by fear and intimidation. They bribed the poor with just enough to keep them distracted while they effectively picked the pocket of the whole country.
Nothing will change Enrique's opinion because it would mean giving up his utopian dream of his homeland.
I don't know how he can deny or ignore it from the K's. They keep getting themselves caught like the former public works minister caught burying 8.5 million U$ dollars outside a nuns convent......165 pounds of money......you can't just carry that around!
Aug 11th, 2016 - 10:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0I sure wish I had a pair of his rose colored glasses. He is a very confused and ignorant old man on his best days.
#32 to #39
Aug 11th, 2016 - 06:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thank you for this almost undeserved amount of attention.
This Globe and Mail article appears balanced. You judge.
It shows one sector of the Argentine economy appears to be doing rather well:
“Sales of agricultural machinery – a useful leading indicator for the farm sector – jumped to 3,004 units in the first half of this year, up 7 per cent from the same period last year...”
On the other hand, “parts of the Argentine economy are still mired in crisis...manufacturing output was down 6.4 per cent in June versus the same month last year...construction was down 19.6 per cent in June...”
The article also points that “some Argentines are losing patience and have taken to the streets to protest increases in home heating bills...”
How so? “The number of people lining up at Buenos Aires free soup kitchens has doubled since the start of the year.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/latin-american-business/some-green-shoots-emerge-in-argentinas-recession-hit-economy/article31376328/
Another Reuter article notes government officials' optimism that a tax amnesty on undeclared offshore funds that could lure some billions back.
However, the same article continues, “Latin America's No. 3 economy is still expected to shrink about 1.5 percent this year, with inflation ending the year at around 40 percent.”
It's clearly a glass half full for those who believe the current government's promises of a future “trickle down” effect, and a glass half empty for those who are enduring the consequences of Macri's decisions--right now.
So now you can go back to CFK's shortcomings.
Ms. B
Aug 11th, 2016 - 10:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Economies take years to turn around but at least Macri has it pointing in the right direction”
You're correct, obviously.
That's the problem. Macri is doing everything right and he's putting everything in place to succeed.
Enrique Massot and the K's need to get him out or stop him, before he makes noticeable progress.
That's why the banshee cry already, that he must “change direction”.
i am sure the Argentines are still hopeful, despite the K faithful.
I don't get it though, who is this indoctrinated meat head in Canada?
Why is a foreigner so dead set against the people having a chance to make it work, when the K model face planted so badly?
Like all good Commie ideologues, it's ideology before the People.
Did you see his post on the other thread, “ nobody is calling for Socialism”?
I don't know what he calls it when he wants a “ change in direction” back to price controls, mgmt of commodities by the State, state ownership and subsidy of all services, fabricated gov. job positions, and handouts for those who are unemployed?
#41 Kanye
Aug 12th, 2016 - 03:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0”Macri is doing everything right (but) Enrique Massot and the K's need to get him out...“
You are giving me a bit too much credit--although I don't deny the thought is flattering!
But relax. It's not the Commie ideologues, or the Socialists who are sending warning cues to the eight-month president. Unless you would include Fortune or Time in your ”Commie“ list.
This is from June's Fortune:
”Official economic activity figures from April—which showed an unexpectedly steep 6.7% drop in industrial activity—appeared to sketch an ugly picture.“
”...at a time when foreign leaders and financial markets still applaud him...his (domestic) approval ratings dropped from 51% in March to 44% at the end of May, according to respected local polling company Management and Fit.”
Time (would it be Socialist?) reported the following July 19, among many niceties:
“Upon assuming office, Macri’s economic team had predicted they could tame the country’s double-digit inflation before the end of this year.”
(Wasn't this one of the promises Kanye argues Macri didn't make?)
“But...rising prices continue to eat away at Macri’s inaugural address pledge of “zero poverty” and rapid growth for a stagnant Argentina.”
http://time.com/4408019/mauricio-macri-argentinia-economic-problems/
Back to Fortune:
“We are at our lowest point now,” cabinet chief Marcos Peña recently told local radio, referring to a report by researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina that showed poverty increasing sharply since Macri took office.
(This was before the Tarifazo crisis that is dragging Energy Minister Aranguren before a Congressional committee on Tuesday).
But, Peña insisted, “It’s the path we have to follow to start growing again.”
Sure. Hey, Fortune reported that Antonio Dip, a street-side flower seller in Buenos Aires, agrees with both Peña and...Kanye!! What more Macri needs to succeed?
“I have blind faith,” says Dip, 82. “With Macri, Argentina is going to rise up.”
I guess that we all will have to wait until he near's the end of his first term on how well his policies are doing. By then I will be a permanent resident, I'll tell you first hand rather than a couple of visits a year and via my family quique. This is certain....SAP is hiring in Argentina, so is Leveno and HOCHTIEF....GE Healthcare, AMDOCS, Randstad..........the market is a hell of a lot better than a year ago. Of course, one must be educated and the most important thing, expect to work......so that leaves kirchner croonies out....mainly the latter.....having to work for that paycheck. Unilever is doing well there also....My B-in-Law is a VP there......the jobs are coming and there.
Aug 12th, 2016 - 10:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0Kanye who do you suppose they employee a former kirchner government croonie whose job is to sit home doing nothing except to to there once a month for a check? I think those will be the challenge to employee......the concept of actual work for a paycheck.
@42 Reekie
Aug 12th, 2016 - 05:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“.....It's not the Commie ideologues, or the Socialists who are sending warning cues to the eight-month president. Unless you would include Fortune or Time in your ”Commie“ list.”
In surveys in the USA, 4 times more journalists have identified as liberal than as conservative, which implies that the majority have a liberal, left-leaning bias. They don't need to be '“commies” but their political views are definitely anti-conservative, or just about anything to right of centre. This distribution of liberals v. conservatives is found in most influential media outlets, which include Time Inc and Fortune, the latter being owned by the former.
Regarding the list of the Fortunes 500 companies, when both sides of the aisle were asked to target companies they didn't like, it is no surprise that the liberal journalists didn't even mention Fanny Mae or Freddy Mac, responsible for a good part of the 2008 crisis.....
Therefore, it's no surprise either, that these same journalists would criticize anything Macri would do, to distance Argentina from the populism of left-wing politics.
#44 Jack Bauer
Aug 12th, 2016 - 10:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh no, we are doomed!
Even Fortune and Time are infiltrated.
OK, let's try Clarín. (I hope you do not suspect this experienced newspaper of being anything near liberal colours).
In an op-ed, journalist Marcelo Bonelli notes the inexperience demonstrated by the government in its decision to raise the energy prices.
“They applied the tarifazo in winter, at the worst possible time for consumers: with high inflation and strong drop in wages.”
(Aplicaron el tarifazo en invierno, en el peor momento para la gente: con alta inflación y una fuerte caída del salario).”
Did you note that? High inflation and the wages plunging? Oh, but that is the source of future prosperity, eh?
http://www.clarin.com/opinion/pantano-tarifas-oportunismo_0_1630636933.html
Meant to put this on the other thread.
Aug 13th, 2016 - 12:58 am - Link - Report abuse 0Macri is making changes quickly - change needs to be tangible before people lose patience ( egged on by stupid K brainwashed).
Notably, the K's say it is “too quick”, hoping Macri will slow down and not achieve anything significant before the next election, or even earlier.
Right, Mr Massot?
http://fortune.com/2016/06/01/argentina-president-mauricio-macri-reforms/
The unwillingness of Argentine gas consumers to actually pay for their natural gas service has brought the utility companies to the brink of bankruptcy, since they cannot recover the funds necessary to pay the foreign suppliers of the natural gas. So the national government is paying the equivalent of US$4.5 million to the two largest gas utilities to keep them afloat for a while.
Aug 13th, 2016 - 01:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Argentine practice of preventing privately owned utilities from recovering operating expenses or making worthwhile returns has long discouraged new foreign investment in not just the utilities sector. The recent freezing of rates has also helped to cool foreign investment interest in other sectors of the Argentine economy.
Mr Llazo,
Aug 13th, 2016 - 03:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0“The recent freezing of rates has also helped to cool foreign investment interest in other sectors of the Argentine economy.”
As you point out, Macri's reluctant concession to the mob (Massot's K pawns), has undermined the recovery.
A predictable ploy by the K Peronists as they know full well that ending or reducing subsidies is key to Macri's recovery.
Massot's “I want to see the people do well” - yeah right.
If that were so, you wouldn't support ideology over people.
@45 Reekie
Aug 14th, 2016 - 08:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“#44 Jack Bauer
Oh no, we are doomed!
Even Fortune and Time are infiltrated.”
Reekie, how dramatic of you ....No, I don't think anyone is doomed - at least not me - just because a bunch of liberal journalists select and publish mostly negative aspects of Macri's new government. It just happens to be the natural mindset of the present-day, politically correct , bullsh*t liberals....given time, the pendulum will swing the other way - when people finally realize populism (in the long term) doesn't work.
Their (the journalist's) opinions are water off a duck's back when read by the more intelligent portion of the population, those who can think for themselves. They only influence the idiots....like you.
If Mr. Bonelli has chosen to criticize Macri because of the “inexperience demonstrated by the government in its decision to raise the energy prices”, there is obviously more to the story than what's being reported....if the utility companies are on the brink of bankruptcy , due to years of unpaid bills by K supporters, there are three choices : let them go bust, raise the prices, or even subsidize them.....obviously the first option is not the solution, because then, nobody gets any gas, at any price.....but it would be a “reekie” solution, no doubt.
Even the normally clueless Malacara has caught on to the fact that, not only is Argentina's historical unwillingness to pay its international obligations something that reasoning foreign investors will not soon forget, but now its obvious inability to so much as pay the bills domestically is being held out as dirty laundry for all the world to laugh at (and shy away from).
Aug 14th, 2016 - 10:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0'Susana Malcorra: “El conflicto por las tarifas daña la imagen del país” '
(“Damaging” Argentina's image before the world? How could it be more damaged than it is now?)
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1928003-susana-malcorra-el-conflicto-por-las-tarifas-dana-la-imagen-del-pais
Malacara: “Esto ha generado una judicialización del tema, que no es bueno para el ordenamiento interno ni para la imagen de la Argentina ante el mundo........La Argentina no es hoy un país competitivo en muchos aspectos. .... Lo que le ha hecho daño a la Argentina es tener tarifas congeladas por tanto tiempo. Cuando uno tiene retraso de tarifas con una inflación sostenida del 30%, reordenar ese atraso no es sencillo.....Estas cuestiones las está mirando el mundo para ver hasta dónde la Argentina tiene un modelo sostenible en el largo plazo.”
I'll help you a bit on that last one, Susana: Argentina has not the least hope for a “long-term sustainable model” that doesn't involve a quick-fix default and several months of looting the shops.
Something as simple as paying the tiny utility bills, and the best minds in this toy country can't get together to figure it out. It must be that they really do wish failure upon themselves.
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!