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Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

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Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#31
post #29
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, stereotypical and prejudice. Last I checked, Spain was in Europe.

Has the parent been edited, or is this remarkably non-sequiturial? I read the parent several times looking for a mention of Spain, couldn't find it.

Could it be you're (gasp!) not informed instead of it being "non-sequiturial"?

Saying Miami is more Latin American than Buenos Aires is stereotypical and prejudice because this statement suggests there is something intrinsically Latin American about Latin America. Latin America is a huge space (a population of 580,086,590 which the parent seeks to generalize), there are various cultures and subcultures, various languages and dialects. Whatever J. Lo has brainwashed people into thinking is "Latin American" is not all-encompassing and should not be representative of it.

Thus, Buenos Aires is just as very Latin American as La Paz or San Juan or Rio de Janeiro or Havana.

The fact that more Italians immigrated to Argentina does not make them more "European", since Spain, the country that colonized most of Latin America is European. Since its colonization, Latin America adopted a lot of traditions from Spain and the rest of Europe, thanks to many Latin American governments asking for more European immigrants to "fill the void" and work the land. However, not all countries adopted the same traditions to the same degree and some preferred other European traditions (that could also be shared with Spain, Portugal and the rest of Western Europe).

Thus, the statement "Buenos Aires is not particularly representative of Latin America, it's more like a hybrid between LatAm and Europe" is wrong because most of Latin America includes Europe in its transculturation, acculturation, syncretism, miscegenation and hybridity.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#32
post #31
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has the parent been edited, or is this remarkably non-sequiturial? I read the parent several times looking for a mention of Spain, couldn't find it.

Could it be you're (gasp!) not informed instead of it being "non-sequiturial"? Saying Miami is more Latin American than Buenos Aires is stereotypical and prejudice because this statement suggests there is something intrinsically Latin American about Latin America. Latin America is a huge space (a population of 580,086,590 which the parent seeks to generalize), there are various cultures and subcultures, various langu…

Sorry Tsuipen, I don't follow your rant:

"Thus, the statement "Buenos Aires is not particularly representative of Latin America, it's more like a hybrid between LatAm and Europe" is wrong because most of Latin America includes Europe in its transculturation, acculturation, syncretism, miscegenation and hybridity."

If you travel to different Latin American countries you'll realize the difference beyond any forced formalization/logic of a statement.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#33
post #16

It's surprising that business owners are complaining about inflation. I always thought its the fixed salaried employees who usually complain (because their salaries don't scale as fast as the inflation).

With inflation you're constantly bargaining salaries.

Also, the unions push hard for yearly increases in salaries.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#34

My in-laws left Argentina 30 years ago and still have much of their family there. I showed this article to them and their reply was simply, "the US is heading this way. We've seen this movie, and we don't like the way it ends."

US is a very different country. I am not saying better or worst, just can't compare them.

Argentina is completely corrupt. You can bribe a policeman in the street, you can bribe the customs personnel while everyone is there. Justice?

US has bad economic signals, unjustice, etc but nothing compares to a simulated and passive state.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#35
post #32
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could it be you're (gasp!) not informed instead of it being "non-sequiturial"? Saying Miami is more Latin American than Buenos Aires is stereotypical and prejudice because this statement suggests there is something intrinsically Latin American about Latin America. Latin America is a huge space (a population of 580,086,590 which the parent seeks to generalize), there are various cultures and subcultures, various langu…

Sorry Tsuipen, I don't follow your rant: "Thus, the statement "Buenos Aires is not particularly representative of Latin America, it's more like a hybrid between LatAm and Europe" is wrong because most of Latin America includes Europe in its transculturation, acculturation, syncretism, miscegenation and hybridity." If you travel to different Latin American countries you'll realize the difference beyond any forced form…

Not only have I traveled to different Latin American countries, I am from a South American country.

Also, I studied it formally (at university) and have written numerous research papers on Latin American identity, history and culture.

And now I have to stop typing because I have to go teach Spanish.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#36
post #16

It's surprising that business owners are complaining about inflation. I always thought its the fixed salaried employees who usually complain (because their salaries don't scale as fast as the inflation).

That's when it's "normal" levels of inflation (less than say 10%/year).

At higher levels of inflation everything breaks because of the lack of predictability.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#37
My 2 cents :) The article gets right both the inflation and the corruption problems in Argentina. However, it seems to be a bit biased, as it shows only one real case of success and several failures, and the fact that one of the interviewees is the son of a former Minister of Economy of Argentina (Domingo Cavallo), whose economical model was the main cause of the 2001 crisis, which the author seems to have forgotten to mention in the article. I've worked in both argentinean and US founded companies here in Argentina, and the reality, at least from my experience, is that the economic environment isn't as hostile as the article describes. I've been in companies that made millions (dollars, btw) and I've also seen some that lost everything (specially in the 2001 crisis), but the truth is Argentina is a cheap country for investment and with a lot of highly qualified man power. I have to agree, investing in Argentina is kind of a bet, and making your company work well involves a lot of work, but, specially if your objective is to export the product/service, it might provide an awesome ROI.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#38
post #35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry Tsuipen, I don't follow your rant: "Thus, the statement "Buenos Aires is not particularly representative of Latin America, it's more like a hybrid between LatAm and Europe" is wrong because most of Latin America includes Europe in its transculturation, acculturation, syncretism, miscegenation and hybridity." If you travel to different Latin American countries you'll realize the difference beyond any forced form…

Not only have I traveled to different Latin American countries, I am from a South American country. Also, I studied it formally (at university) and have written numerous research papers on Latin American identity, history and culture. And now I have to stop typing because I have to go teach Spanish.

So, I am impressed that you can't note the difference between Buenos Aires and other Latin American cities, since tourists spot the differences pretty quickly.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#39
post #38
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only have I traveled to different Latin American countries, I am from a South American country. Also, I studied it formally (at university) and have written numerous research papers on Latin American identity, history and culture. And now I have to stop typing because I have to go teach Spanish.

So, I am impressed that you can't note the difference between Buenos Aires and other Latin American cities, since tourists spot the differences pretty quickly.

This whole thing is a silly argument. Buenos Aires is part of Latin America, but it is probably one of the most European of all cities in Latin America.

Similarly, Boston is part of the United States, but it's one of the most European cities in the US.

Re: Lessons from Argentina's Crazy Economy

#40
post #31
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has the parent been edited, or is this remarkably non-sequiturial? I read the parent several times looking for a mention of Spain, couldn't find it.

Could it be you're (gasp!) not informed instead of it being "non-sequiturial"? Saying Miami is more Latin American than Buenos Aires is stereotypical and prejudice because this statement suggests there is something intrinsically Latin American about Latin America. Latin America is a huge space (a population of 580,086,590 which the parent seeks to generalize), there are various cultures and subcultures, various langu…

Most of Latin America has not just Latin influence but also a lot of American influence. The people are brown not just because they're Moorish or African by ancestry but also because they're American. Most of them speak Spanish, French, or Portuguese, but a substantial number speak American languages like Guaraní, Mapuzungun, Quichua, Aymará, Nahuatl, or Haitian Creole. Most of them practice Catholicism, but in a heavily syncretized form with Catholic saints corresponding to American gods, and a substantial number of them still practice American religions.

But all of those things are true only to a tiny extent in Buenos Aires, and a more noticeable but still small extent in the rest of Argentina. This is what genocide looks like.

So I wasn't saying that Argentina is more European than Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Cuba, or Miami because it's less Spanish. I was saying that Argentina is more European than Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, or Cuba because it's less American, because none of the things I said in the previous paragraph are true here, and they're still true in those places. The most distinctively American thing about Buenos Aires is that everybody drinks yerba mate.

By the way, Diego grew up here in Buenos Aires, where I also live. So however much you may disagree with our conceptions of what "Latin America" means, you can't blame poor J. Lo for them.

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