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Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

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Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#31

Post by molmalo »

wslh wrote: post #22
dguaraglia wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An empty threat, yeah. As scary as it is (and, admittedly, this is a government that is known to push buttons and pull threads whenever it wants something done, whether good or bad) it'd still be unconstitutional. That's exactly why they didn't stop publishing those figures. Also, you have to understand something about Argentine politics right now: it's a very polarized country, with two massive interest groups tryin…

"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 obvio…

Yep, that's obvious. But as I wrote above, it's also true that the salaries are being adjusted accordingly. That's why is so incredibly hard to foreign people to see a 25% inflation rate and not say "This country is going to explode in a few months". But they have being saying that for a few years now... while the country keeps growing it's GDP, the salaries are being adjusted to counter the inflation, and so on.

I think the main problem in the short term is the growing fight between the gvt and the unions (mainly Moyano's group), asking to raise salaries well above the inflation, which may seem to be good for their workers, but its going to be bad for the economy, because the costs will raise even more to produce goods, the competitiveness will fall, and the whole system may eventually crash.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#32

Post by molmalo »

pelle wrote: post #25
dguaraglia wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

Intelligence and competence are two very different things. You have to go back probably 100 years to find a relatively competent government. The current government is at least as incompetent from an economic point of view as the policies of both Peron and the generals that came after him. Cristina is only in power because her husband died. It is very rarely I have seen anyone even in Latin America as incompetent as h…

There are no "conspiracy theories", but a big economic war going on here between a few extremely wealthy groups, fighting to get the power. You just have to read the newspapers to see it happening.

And those governments of a 100 years ago, were mainly plutocracies, where the aristocracy exploited the rest of the population to a level incredibly hard to imagine today. Peron was the result of that situation. And the coups that followed were the bloody attempts of returning to that model. But of course, neither model is the right one... but society here is so polarized that it's just SO hard to find a point in the middle... Maybe some day... =(

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#33

Post by sardonicbryan »

molmalo wrote: post #28
planetguy wrote: post #11

The Big Mac index as of January: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c... Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something li…

> 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 explanat…

Anecdotally, in Taiwan the quality of McDonald's is significantly higher than in the US. The quality of the meat and materials in particular.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#34

Post by molmalo »

callmeed wrote: post #5
mayneack wrote: post #2

I guess this will make the "big mac index" go up an insane amount this year instead of "slowly" over several years.

It's a burger bubble. You don't want to be around when it pops.

The biggest burger bubbles I've ever seen are in Mc Donnald's ads. But then... you see their thin burger patty's (at least here) and that bubble plops. Lol!

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#35

Post by molmalo »

dguaraglia wrote: post #14
planetguy wrote: post #11

The Big Mac index as of January: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-c... Argentina was already close to the top, with a Big Mac going for $US4.94, not entirely crazy by any means. (On the other hand, given that you can get a full three-course steak dinner with wine in a nice restaurant for $US20 in Argentina I wonder who is eating these Big Macs). A 25% increase will take it up to something li…

McDonalds (and other burger chains for that matter) has always been extremely expensive in Argentina, even during the 'golden age' of Carlos Menem (golden age from the American/globalized/free-market perspective). For the same money you could eat a McDonalds burger you can eat a 3 course lunch menu in Puerto Madero (one of Buenos Aires nicest parts). But... kids love brands. That's why you see suckers using MacBook P…

> That's why you see suckers using MacBook Pros to browse Facebook in the big malls, even when they cost about 3x what they cost in the US

Exactly, it just seems so incredibly dumb from the government to block or put VERY high taxes to imported products that WILL NEVER be produced here (they make them in Brazil, to cover the whole region, they will not start to produce them in an adjacent country). They're begging for contraband. And I bet that a nice percentage of those boys who you see, using those MacBook Pros bought them from someone who sold it without paying the proper taxes...

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#36

Post by crander »

vacri wrote: post #18
planetguy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I apologize for replying to myself, but I couldn't resist going off and coming up with some numbers. There's a pretty darn strong and unexpected correlation between the price of a Big Mac and the number of cows per head population. I could only get good cows-per-person numbers for the big beef producers, but here goes: Country Cows per person Big Mac Price Australia 1.28 $4.94 Argentina 1.26 $4.64 Brazil 1.…

Something that will also affect these numbers from my country: minimum wage. Minimum wage in the US is $7.50(ish). Minimum wage in Australia is $15, which wasn't so ridiculous before our dollar soared in the past couple of years. For quite a while, the $AU was $.50-60US, but is currently equal. This means the burger costs more to make here due to labour costs, but also that people have higher numbers of dollars to sp…

What is really means is that the supply of workers at $15/hour greatly outnumbers the demand for workers at $15/hour.

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#37

Post by Uchikoma »

molmalo wrote: post #31
wslh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 obvio…

Yep, that's obvious. But as I wrote above, it's also true that the salaries are being adjusted accordingly. That's why is so incredibly hard to foreign people to see a 25% inflation rate and not say "This country is going to explode in a few months". But they have being saying that for a few years now... while the country keeps growing it's GDP, the salaries are being adjusted to counter the inflation, and so on. I t…

How do you determine GDP is growing, when the official inflation is much below 25%? Wouldn't you need for real GDP growth subtract the real inflation number? Is GDP growth above (25%-Gov Number)?

Re: Big Mac Prices Just Went Up 26% in Argentina

#38

Post by Uchikoma »

dguaraglia wrote: post #13
pmtarantino wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Argentina keeps the official rate down because pays interest to USA according to it. If the official rate is low, Argentina pay less, which is great.

Exactly! This is why a lot of people, like say my father, who hate the government policies otherwise kind of agrees with them on this: "hey, we got fucked by the IMF 20 times already, let them get fucked for once!"

F*cking investors will only work for some time.
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