So Glad The Grown-Ups are Back in Charge in Argentina

[Judi Lynn]

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

by THOMAS S. HARRINGTON



If you’ve followed Latin American politics at all in the mainstream press, I am sure you’ve heard and read about how the Kirchners (2003-2015) mismanaged the Argentine economy and how, with the election of Mauricio Macri, the adults were back in the room and the economy was on its way to a more healthy and sustainable management.

There’s only one problem with the story: reality.

When Nestor Kirchner took over in 2003, things could not have been worse. The bank “corralito” had robbed millions of their life savings. The society lay prostrate before the world, a bargain basement for anyone with a few dollars in his or her pocket. I know, I visited the country in those dark days and saw the devastation all around me.

Over the next several years the economy was re-built and the middle and lower middle classes began to to re-acquire a sense of living in a functioning society. I was amazed at the transformation I witnessed over my visits in the ensuing decade.

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/05/so-glad-the-grown-ups-are-back-in-charge-in-argentina/

[sandensea]

1. Macri's debt bubble has taken Argentina back to the 2001 debacle - just as his opponent warned

https://www.democraticunderground.com/110862774

But then, it wasn't hard to predict.

It's the very same policies, and many of the very same people, that provoked the very same type of financial crash in '81 and 2001 - and the massive transfer of wealth that went with it (which of course is the motivation).

You create a Bush-style bubble, you get a Bush-style collapse.

Thank you for posting this excellent overview, Judi. Argentina has, since the '70s, been the canary in the coal mine for pillage-by-debt.