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Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

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Re: Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

#21

Post by baguasquirrel »

forinti wrote: post #8

It's hard to be a superpower with 37 million people, but in 1900 Argentina didn't yet have 5 million. And in 1950 it hadn't reached 20. Uruguay was vrey rich in the 1950s, yet it had no influence in the world because it only had 2 million inhabitants.

Argentina has a land area of 2,736 thousand sq km. The US has a land area of 9,161 thousand sq km. So Argentina is only has about 1/3rd the land mass that the US does.

However, the extent of the U.S. land mass is bounded in the west by the Rockies and the deserts of the Great Basin, so in reality, the amount of arable land that both countries started out with is comparable. The arable Argentinian Pampas is closer to the coast than are the plains of the U.S. Just as importantly, the rivers in Argentina flow East-West, whereas the U.S. have the Appalachians between the East coast starting point and the breadbasket. This gives Argentina a STRONG head start in terms of being able to easily populate and exploit the arable interior.

In this light, Argentina should have had a higher initial population than the U.S. did. Argentinian farmers didn't have to clear fields for rocks as did the farmers of New England. They didn't have to cross the Cumberland gap or clear trees for farms in NY.

Re: Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

#23

Post by ryanwaggoner »

baguasquirrel wrote: post #21
forinti wrote: post #8

It's hard to be a superpower with 37 million people, but in 1900 Argentina didn't yet have 5 million. And in 1950 it hadn't reached 20. Uruguay was vrey rich in the 1950s, yet it had no influence in the world because it only had 2 million inhabitants.

Argentina has a land area of 2,736 thousand sq km. The US has a land area of 9,161 thousand sq km. So Argentina is only has about 1/3rd the land mass that the US does. However, the extent of the U.S. land mass is bounded in the west by the Rockies and the deserts of the Great Basin, so in reality, the amount of arable land that both countries started out with is comparable. The arable Argentinian Pampas is closer to…

However, the extent of the U.S. land mass is bounded in the west by the Rockies and the deserts of the Great Basin, so in reality, the amount of arable land that both countries started out with is comparable.

Finally, something I can use WA for :)

http://www19.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=argentina+arable+land...

Re: Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

#24

Post by fsoteras »

sown wrote: post #22

So what happened to people's savings in Argentina during 2001, 2002?

Hi , I am Argentinian. Some savers who sued the banks had their money back but not due interests (my personal case). IMHO the French commenter is right , US recepted lots more imigrants and way more technicaly skilled ones (Tesla is a great example of turn-of-centrury ideal inmigrant ,he was an electronics guru and workaholic). I think that failure of importing/training enough technicians was far more important factor causing the "stop and go" development of my homeland than the disastrous political cycle. Also an early comercial success in the first wave of globalization set the stage for too high expectations.Turn-of-century Argentina had the same chance to achieve superpower status as Sudafrica or Australia. The future of my country is not grim we are a young vibrant country wih lots of hackers (and nobody want to blast us with nuclear weapons).

Re: Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

#25

Post by radu_floricica »

cwan wrote: post #7
yardie wrote: post #3

The story seems like a wankfest on American dogoodery. Argentina and the US had similar economies in the early 19th century. End of story. They diverged after that and Argentina handled one disaster after another very poorly. America chose a different path. But, the author seems to have a very different history book than the one I had. The land wasn't free native Americans had lived on the land. But the policy of Man…

I think you might have a point if the success of the US economy was the result of the failure of others but that's simply not the case (and this is also why Argentina seems like a fairly apt pairing given that Argentina also had people who preceded the colonists who lived there). Examples abound of countries who have pursued more liberal economic policies like that of the US who have done tremendously better than tho…

Yup, Hernando de Soto said it very well. There are vastly different kinds of capitalism in the world right now, and US (and Europe) simply have the kind which worked. Living in an ex-comunist country I know the other kind reasonably well: looks the same on the surface, but beneath it's state control all the way. Not a dictatorship nor communism, but a different system altogether. Fortunately my country (Romania) seems to have gotten on a better path lately.

Re: Argentina: The Superpower that Never Was (& Why the US Ascended)

#26

Post by sown »

fsoteras wrote: post #24
sown wrote: post #22

So what happened to people's savings in Argentina during 2001, 2002?

Hi , I am Argentinian. Some savers who sued the banks had their money back but not due interests (my personal case). IMHO the French commenter is right , US recepted lots more imigrants and way more technicaly skilled ones (Tesla is a great example of turn-of-centrury ideal inmigrant ,he was an electronics guru and workaholic). I think that failure of importing/training enough technicians was far more important facto…

I've always thought Buenos Aries seemed like a good city to move to.
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