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I visited around 10 years ago and found it to be a truly interesting country, though indeed mired in recent controversy and historical bloodshed and all the pol

I visited around 10 years ago and found it to be a truly interesting country, though indeed mired in recent controversy and historical bloodshed and all the political to-and-fro discussed in the article, but also full of delights and fascinating people and strong cultural elements (grilled meat! Late night dancing!), a clear cross between old Europe and the new world, more than any other perhaps. My anecdote on the finance system: the local street market had signs posted by the local government that mandated prices-in order to curb inflation. That was a first for me, seeing vendors unable to set their own prices.

mc32 5y ago
There’s something sick about their economy. Quite a few economic dynamos emerged from the legacy of bloodshed and dictatorships. Argentina has natural resources. It has institutions. But perhaps it lacks vision and the will to carry out that vision.
- ericol 5y ago
  We have a very crooked political caste. I'm giving this as an example; I don't want to get into a political discussion. But in the last government alone, we received around 50 billion dollars from the FMI also alone, that was entirely dilapidated.
  - is_true 5y ago
    Do you have a source on that? Most of the money was used to pay the debt from Kirchner's government
    - ericol 5y ago
      > Most of the money was used to pay the debt from Kirchner's government Do _you_ have a source on _that_? Anyway, here's a source [1] for you. It says in the month before the elections, the central bank of Argentina sold over 4 billion dollars to keep the dollar rate at bay (2.7 billion _just_ in the week prior.. Between the "PASO" (Elections where all candidates can postulate, but only those that get over a certain % of votes do make it to the primaries) and the primaries, more than 20 billion dollars were sold in the internal market: > Desde las PASO las reservas cayeron USD 23.000 millones y los depósitos, unos USD 13.000 millones (Im' quoting the article here). Where is YOUR source. [1] https://www.infobae.com/economia/2019/10/31/el-banco-central-vendio-casi-usd-2700-millones-para-que-el-dolar-no-se-dispare-en-la-semana-previa-a-las-elecciones-2/ https://www.infobae.com/economia/2019/10/31/el-banco-central...
      - is_true 5y ago
        Where's the dilapidation?
- berns 5y ago
  What is sick is the degree and extent of corruption in every level of society.
- KSteffensen 5y ago
  Corruption is quite bad in Argentina. This is not limited to politicians, it's at all levels of society.
ericol 5y ago
> local street market had signs posted by the local government that mandated prices-in order to curb inflation. That was a first for me, seeing vendors unable to set their own prices I'm sorry, could you be more specific about what it is what you saw? There are no "government mandated prices" in this country, at least not like you make it sound(Apologies upfront if I miss understood you). There is a government program where all big market have to carry products where their price is fixed by the government. The idea is that you can always have the chance to go for a cheap product if you are poor, but it's not for instance that all milk brands have to have the same price. And milk can get pretty expensive pretty fast in this country: It always come in 1 litre recipients, and the cheapest one (The one that is within the mentioned program) is right now at ~70 pesos (Some 73 dollar cents at the official dollar price, 40 cents at the current rate for the dollar in the back market... but foreigners can hardly get this price for their dollars). I don't know what the prices are in other countries, but I think tourists will find prices rather high compared to their countries once tourism starts again.
- eafer 5y ago
  > And milk can get pretty expensive pretty fast in this country: It always come in 1 litre recipients, and the cheapest one (The one that is within the mentioned program) is right now at ~70 pesos (Some 73 dollar cents at the official dollar price, 40 cents at the current rate for the dollar in the back market... but foreigners can hardly get this price for their dollars). That's actually extremely cheap by international standards, if this source[0] is to be trusted. Of course it seems expensive for most argentinians because wages are also terribly low. [0] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=8 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings...
  - ericol 5y ago
    Thanks for the link; This was something I wanted to see. All in all, I doubt that number is entirely accurate. Argentina is a _very_ large country, and even the minimum price varies greatly depending on the region. I have family in Patagonia, for instance, and they tell me it's impossible to get the cheap milk brand over there.

mc32 5y ago

There’s something sick about their economy. Quite a few economic dynamos emerged from the legacy of bloodshed and dictatorships. Argentina has natural resources. It has institutions. But perhaps it lacks vision and the will to carry out that vision.

ericol 5y ago
We have a very crooked political caste. I'm giving this as an example; I don't want to get into a political discussion. But in the last government alone, we received around 50 billion dollars from the FMI also alone, that was entirely dilapidated.
- is_true 5y ago
  Do you have a source on that? Most of the money was used to pay the debt from Kirchner's government
  - ericol 5y ago
    > Most of the money was used to pay the debt from Kirchner's government Do _you_ have a source on _that_? Anyway, here's a source [1] for you. It says in the month before the elections, the central bank of Argentina sold over 4 billion dollars to keep the dollar rate at bay (2.7 billion _just_ in the week prior.. Between the "PASO" (Elections where all candidates can postulate, but only those that get over a certain % of votes do make it to the primaries) and the primaries, more than 20 billion dollars were sold in the internal market: > Desde las PASO las reservas cayeron USD 23.000 millones y los depósitos, unos USD 13.000 millones (Im' quoting the article here). Where is YOUR source. [1] https://www.infobae.com/economia/2019/10/31/el-banco-central-vendio-casi-usd-2700-millones-para-que-el-dolar-no-se-dispare-en-la-semana-previa-a-las-elecciones-2/ https://www.infobae.com/economia/2019/10/31/el-banco-central...
    - is_true 5y ago
      Where's the dilapidation?
berns 5y ago
What is sick is the degree and extent of corruption in every level of society.
KSteffensen 5y ago
Corruption is quite bad in Argentina. This is not limited to politicians, it's at all levels of society.

ericol 5y ago

> local street market had signs posted by the local government that mandated prices-in order to curb inflation. That was a first for me, seeing vendors unable to set their own prices I'm sorry, could you be more specific about what it is what you saw? There are no "government mandated prices" in this country, at least not like you make it sound(Apologies upfront if I miss understood you). There is a government program where all big market have to carry products where their price is fixed by the government. The idea is that you can always have the chance to go for a cheap product if you are poor, but it's not for instance that all milk brands have to have the same price. And milk can get pretty expensive pretty fast in this country: It always come in 1 litre recipients, and the cheapest one (The one that is within the mentioned program) is right now at ~70 pesos (Some 73 dollar cents at the official dollar price, 40 cents at the current rate for the dollar in the back market... but foreigners can hardly get this price for their dollars). I don't know what the prices are in other countries, but I think tourists will find prices rather high compared to their countries once tourism starts again.

eafer 5y ago
> And milk can get pretty expensive pretty fast in this country: It always come in 1 litre recipients, and the cheapest one (The one that is within the mentioned program) is right now at ~70 pesos (Some 73 dollar cents at the official dollar price, 40 cents at the current rate for the dollar in the back market... but foreigners can hardly get this price for their dollars). That's actually extremely cheap by international standards, if this source[0] is to be trusted. Of course it seems expensive for most argentinians because wages are also terribly low. [0] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=8 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings...
- ericol 5y ago
  Thanks for the link; This was something I wanted to see. All in all, I doubt that number is entirely accurate. Argentina is a _very_ large country, and even the minimum price varies greatly depending on the region. I have family in Patagonia, for instance, and they tell me it's impossible to get the cheap milk brand over there.