Cry for Argentina

By Douglas V. Gibbs

A year ago conservatives in Argentina claimed the South American country was headed in the same direction as Venezuela.  Economic freedom was under assault because of the institution of a failed Bolivarian economic monster - Hugo Chavez's "twenty-first century socialism" was destroying yet another South American victim.  As with any nation that embraces socialism, and abandons the free market, poverty  increases, and things like toilet paper becomes a luxury.

Liberal left progressive big government madness filled with government control through regulations, heavy taxation, and a central government intruding upon local issues in order to micro-manage the population, always fails, and always kills prosperity.

It doesn't matter how strong an economic engine is firing its pistons going into the clutches of socialism.  In the end, fundamental transformation, institutional alterations, and an expanding central government always results in a shortened run of prosperity, and the spread of misery throughout the society.

Cuba was once a free market system with a limited government.  Over time, after the communists grabbed a hold of it, the country became a failing system.  North Korea did the same, and now the citizens live in darkness, and chew tree bark to survive from starvation.  Civil liberties and economic freedom vanished from both societies, because of big government schemes, socialism, the redistribution of wealth, and the fundamental transformation of their systems into socialist utopias. . . as with the Soviet Union, as with Venezuela, and as is now happening in Argentina.

Highways begin to deteriorate into rubble, trains begin to crash due to a lack of proper maintenance of "State controlled railway networks," energy becomes too expensive for consumers to buy, imports and exports suffer, the communication network deteriorates, and the living standard for the people dwindles down to a level of misery, mere existence, and eventually chaos.

Argentina began with government imposed price regulation, which led to high rates of inflation.  The government began to attempt to increase production capacity regarding its resources, but with misdirected resource allocation in the absence of quality assurance that accompanies a private industry fueled by profit and individual growth, prices struggled, production struggled, quality struggled, and the economy began to falter. The government began to print fiat money to cover up the shortcomings of the economy, which led to the devaluing of the currency, which wound up compounding the problem.

Now, the politicians are beginning to outright lie to cover up the economic problems that are beginning to haunt the leftist government of Argentina.

Last week President Cristina Fernández confidently praised Argentina’s financial system, calling it “one of the most solid in the world.”  As the Financial Times reports, the words came during a speech at the Buenos Aires stock exchange, during which some of the high-ranking executives present struggled to hide their incredulity.

Recently, a US court ordered Argentina to pay so-called “holdout” creditors in New York in a ruling that pushed Argentina into default for the second time in 13 years.

Argentina's state bank will be making debt payments and inviting creditors to swap their foreign law bonds for new ones subject to Argentine law, which would only prolong Argentina’s isolation from international markets since its last default in 2001, and plunge the economy deeper into recession.

New York Judge Thomas Griesa said Argentina's plans are “illegal.”

To try to save herself against more economic problems, Argentina's government is attempting to commit "scary" moves against the private sector.

One of those moves is a so-called “supply” law being debated in congress that has been described as “retrograde” and “unconstitutional” by business leaders, who say it will enable the government to intervene in companies to control prices and profits.

Political analysts claim that President Fernández is creating crisis, and taking advantage of crisis, in order to do things they could not do without a crisis in place.  They are taking advantage of crisis in order to gain more control over the private sector, and insert more government planning and control into the faltering economy.

Experts expect currency deflation to follow such governmental actions.

“The government’s economic model is coming apart at the seams . . . They are trying to put the holdouts issue at stage centre to stop people from talking about what they really care about: not being able to pay their bills,” said Carlos Germano, a political analyst.

“She may be laughing now, but it will all end in tears,” he said.

Argentina was once a thriving example of a free economy, but like the socialist economies in Europe, like many in South America (with Venezuela rising to the top as the poster child), like the city of Detroit in the United States, and like what President Barack Obama is attempting to commit against the United States economy and people, liberal left socialist utopianism has destroyed Argentina's economy, and the country is now joining the ranks of leftist economies gasping for air, and slowly dropping below the waterline.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

La Argentina, cada vez mas cerca del modelo bolivariano - lanacion

Companies Fear Radical Turn in Argentina - Financial Times