Hunger Kills 2 Per Day in Kirchner’s “Poverty-Free” Argentina

[Bacchus4.0]

http://panampost.com/jorge-chuya/2015/09/15/hunger-kills-2-per-day-in-kirchners-poverty-free-argentina/


Controversy over the true extent of poverty in Argentina has emerged following the death by malnutrition of Óscar Sánchez, a 14-year-old boy who weighed just 11 kilos and suffered from tuberculosis, pneumonia, and meningitis.+

According to the Catholic University of Argentina’s Social Observatory, over 28 percent of Argentineans live below the poverty line, in stark contrast to President Cristina Kirchner’s claim that “Argentina has lower poverty levels than Norway.”+


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Two People Die of Starvation Everyday

According to a Health Ministry report from 2013, deaths from malnutrition-related complications occur once every 10 hours in Argentina, a country once known as the “granary of the world.”+

[whatthehey]

1. Argentina is far more relevant to Greece than is Iceland

Well-meaning (I hope) DUers often cheer on Greece to renege on sovereign debt and say no to austerity (or, in Greece's case, responsibility like making sure people pay taxes and having at least a slight concern over benefits fraud). They think the exemplar is Iceland, but in reality Iceland just refused to socialize private bank debt and let banks go bust. Iceland itself was not in massive debt.

But, like Greece, Argentina was. And they did renege on sovereign debt. So what happened? Would you lend again to a deadbeat who said "fuck you I won't pay back". So to keep up with domestic spending and stave off political collapse at best and violent revolt at worst, they raided the only money they had - state pension funds, These are running low, and Argentines on the fringe are paying with their lives. When they run out and the same thing happens to the masses, there is a choice of either Zimbabwe/Weimar inflation at home and an end to foreign trade if they print worthless currency (followed by a likely return of the military juntas), or an ignominious cap in hand Haiti style appeal that will certainly involve regime change and unrest.

Greece; this is your potential future if you make the same pig-headed pride-driven absurd error of being a beggar nation who refuses to pay back.

[forest444]

2. That data includes anemia, which is often caused by certain health conditions.

Last edited Sat Sep 26, 2015, 10:06 PM - Edit history (1)

This is why over 80% of those deaths occurred to those over 65. Besides which, the kid in the article had a congenital disorder and his death was misrepresented by a right-wing candidate for governor (who lost).

That said, you should worry about your native Colombia's (many) intractable problems, rather than cherry-picking right-wing articles that conveniently neglect to mention that Argentina is not only one of the countries in the region with the lowest poverty rates, it has also gone further than almost any to lessen poverty in the past decade.

http://www.iadb.org/en/research-and-data//poverty,7526.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110842389

Remember also that at least twice as many die of hunger in Colombia (to say nothing of violence).

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/malnutrition/by-country/

http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/

Finally, it should be noted that poverty kills thousands even in the U.S. - at least 133,000 annually according to the American Journal of Public Health (and that was in the halcyon days of the year 2000).

[Judi Lynn]

3. Your use of actual perspective is greatly appreciated. n/t