Anyone notice this? Argentina fears new crisis as vultures circle after US supreme court ruling

[cali]

Argentina may be liable for up to £11bn owed to so-called 'vulture funds', after court order that investors be repaid in full

Argentinians, battered by decades of apparently cyclical economic crises, fear a new one following a US supreme court ruling this week that could make the country liable for up to $15bn (£11bn) owed to so-called "vulture funds".

The vultures, led by a US billionaire, are mainly hedge fund investors who snapped up Argentinian bonds at rock-bottom prices following the country's $95bn default on its foreign debt in 2001. The court in Washington DC has ordered that they be repaid in full – and that ruling threatens a new default, possibly within weeks.

Argentina descended into chaos after the 2001 financial crisis, then the largest in world history. "My husband and I were never the same afterwards," said María Inés Ochoa, a schoolteacher from the small city of Funes in the central province of Santa Fe.

Violence erupted across the nation after Argentina declared itself unable to meet its payments in the last week of December 2001. The widespread rioting, supermarket looting and the death of young social volunteers by police fire took their toll on Ochoa. "That's when I had my first panic attacks, which completely affected my life afterwards and even today."

<snip>

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/18/supreme-court-orders-vulture-investors-repaid-argentina

Disaster Capitalism at work. Thanks SCOTUS.

[blm]

1. Argentina was pushed into laissez faire capitalism by Menem a close fascist ally of GHWBush.

Last edited Sun Aug 10, 2014, 07:45 PM - Edit history (1)

Bush also introduced Rev Moon into Argentina media.

I suppose this is just another one of them thar 'coincidences' that just so happens to surround the Bush family.

[scarletwoman]

2. Okay, I read the whole article at the link, and I don't understand why the government of Argentina

would be obliged to acquiesce to the dictates of the U.S. Supreme Court. Isn't Argentina a sovereign nation? Can't they just tell the U.S. hedge funds to go pound sand?

Yeah, I know - trade agreements, investment dollars, and all that. But all I see is another argument for countries to work toward economic self-sufficiency. Surely Argentina has enough of its own resources to keep its people fed and clothed and sheltered without being subject to foreign interference.

So I suspect it's just the wealthy elite of Argentina who would cast this as a "crisis", and demand that the government protect their profits at the expense of the rest of the citizenry.