Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

"Also, you have to understand something about Argentine politics right now: it's a very polarized country, with two massive interest groups trying to take control of it. I'm not saying the government figures are real, most probably they aren't, but I'm very doubtful of these other claims, specially when these 'think tanks' don't really specify what they are measuring."

I am Argentinian and you are joking. It is obvious that the government is lying. There is not doubt about this, it is not an opinion.

Not really, most of the governments were led by competent people. Unfortunately, they also happened to be either extremely corrupt (Carlos Menem) or blinded by their own ideologies (Carlos De La Rua). The current government sits somewhere there in the middle.

Things have gotten better for most people in Argentina, but at the cost of another of those 'boom for 10 years, then bust' cycles we are so used to. You can't argue inflation is rampant, I still recall the first time I came back from Brazil a pizza was about AR$10. Today the same pizza (maybe with a fancier name) starts at AR$40.

But then, 'eating out' doesn't reflect the real inflation. In that period, pizzas increased 400% in value, alfajores (a local sweet) had a similar increase from (AR$1 to AR$5), while a coffee at any bar in Buenos Aires increased around 1000% (from anywhere around AR$2 to a starting value of AR$17, most commonly AR$20+). Nice wines on the supermarket only increased about 200% in that period. Buy the same wine in a bar and you'd think you are at some fancy spot in San Francisco, they are so expensive. So it's all over the freaking shop (no pun intended).

Sorry, but this is just a plain lie.

First of all, a disclaimer, cuz everything about Argentinean politics tend to get ugly fast: I'm not a fan of this government, but I just have to intervene here... I think there are A LOT of things that could be better (corruption scandals, the whole mining business, poverty in the northern provinces, etc). But still, I think that it's much much better than the previous ones that had taken us to the worst crisis of our history, while selling half of the country to foreign companies. And of course, the alternatives in the opposition are not better yet (Macri is just like Berlusconi without the sex scandals... unlike his father Franco, lol... and the ones frome the UCR are a joke. Binner may be an option though, but he has to prove it).

Now, Having said that: YES, the government is not telling the real inflation rate but given that the salaries are raised a 25-30% each year, for most of the population, there's really no difference. - If you have an inflation of 25%, but your salary raises 26%, you can buy the same amount of things, even when the crude numbers are higher -. The main objective of doing this, of course, is to react and counter the vulture funds who bought up a relevant part of the country's external public debt at extremely low prices (20-23%), a minimum portion of their nominal value and later attempted to cash them at nominal prize when the economic crisis devastated the country in 2001.

There has not been a single case of someone sent to jail, for saying that the real inflation rate is 25% per year. Everyone says that in TV and other media (read right-wing newspapers like Perfil, Clarin, La Nacion, or watch almost any news channel, with the exception being Canal 7 -the state owned channel- but, hey... few people watch Canal 7).

Yesterday, there was somebody in a TV program ( in channel 26 ) calling the president literally "crazy" and worse, and nothing happens. Even other woman from the opposition, debating with him, was surprised with the aggressive tone, telling him to respect at least the charge, if not the person. And he can say that in TV, simply because this is not a dictatorship, and there's free of speech.

There's A LOT of exaggeration in the international mass media, because their main sources of information are the local mass media agencies, who happen to be "at war" with the government.

If you still think otherwise, please, quote a case of someone being sent to jail for that.

> I wonder who is eating these Big Macs

Something you may not realize from there. Surprisingly, in Argentina, Mc Donnalds is not targeted to the lower classes, - a cheap lunch in a fast food. It's targeted to the middle and higher classes (mainly teenagers and young office workers).

I've been in Spain, England, France, and a few other countries, and I noted that their target there was certainly different. My explanation for this (I belive), is that here, teenagers just LOVE Brands (to the point that I think is crass).

Maybe an aftertaste of the nineties and the neoliberal movement.

"It saddens me no end to see it and to see very intelligent people talk conspiracy theories and spew idiotic economic theories that the rest of the world got rid of decades ago."

How's that working for the rest of the world?

If you have the time, some food for thought. This is a Greek documentary on the Argentinian crisis and recovery:

1/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gys83fazwOo

2/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP1Sm4KijY0

3/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCBQM2EuEKg

4/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6mwXQG1MBg

5/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDgARm2owLs

6/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqblekF3Qg

7/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-__Msw4kUSc