What’s Wrong with Argentina? A quick tour of the country tells us the story clearly.

National Review ^ | 05/07/2012 | Matthew Schaffer

[dfwgator]

A lot of offspring from Nazi War Criminals?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They are in Paraguay.

[dfwgator]

Eichmann was in Argentina, there was a whole network of Nazis there in Argentina.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

True, but Paraguay's president Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989) let it be known that the welcome mat was truly rolled out for on the run Nazis and anyone else who might need paid protection.

[Truth29]

If Spain had what it takes, it would make sure that Argentina's seizure of YPF was not profitable in the short run either. Spain has a number of tools available, but probably won't use any of them. It wouldn't be European.

[bajabaja]

Mengele died in Brazil.

And Klaus Barbie? Well he was in Bolivia and Peru for a while, then he got rerouted back to France.

Paraguay actually has some al-queda types now. The backwaters are a great place for them to hunker down. No joke.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Far and away the best steaks I’ve ever had were in Buenos Aires.

[SeekAndFind]

What you just shared is what’s NOT wrong with Argentina.

[alpo]

At least Argentina didn’t seize GM or Chrysler. That would make them underhanded, union-loving, anti-capitalists.

S/off

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I've read about the area between Paraguay and Uruguay as being Islamicized. Like most other things in South America, poor Paraguay got the last pick of the Nazis with high ranking Germans electing for better digs..

[KarlInOhio]

as President Kirchner steadily eroded the Argentine Central Bank’s independence, using its printing presses to reward friends and paper over the government’s growing debt.

Good thing that can never happen here.

[dfwgator]

High inflation was the norm in Argentina for most of the 20th century and was renewed in the 21st as President Kirchner steadily eroded the Argentine Central Bank’s independence, using its printing presses to reward friends and paper over the government’s growing debt.

When the money keeps rolling out you don't keep books
You can tell you've done well by the happy grateful looks
Accountants only slow things down, figures get in the way

[Republic Rocker]

Really? You can not get good beef in Argentina. It is not for the public/masses consumption. The beef market is regulated so that ALL classes have affordable meat. This makes for average quality as the chosen cut for sale. The top grade is shipped to Asia as it warrants more profit. However many cattle men are going on strike as it has become more profitable to grow soy which there are no regulations on yet....

If you want GREAT beef you go to Uruguay. Uruguay has free markets and all grades of meat make it to the consumer.

I have spent time in each country and it is true that Uruguay has become the Switzerland of South America. The rich from Brazil and Argentina come here for protection..., they call it vacation but it is where they keep their wealth... or hide it. Land values have become pricey especially on the coast and the casino cities like Punte del Este are so expensive like the Riviera in Europe.

Argentina has the potential just the wrong or misguided ideology for decades holding the country and it’s people back. The fiscal system is a joke as on a daily basis everyone around you is holding up notes checking for counterfeit paper... And the best trick in Buenos Aires is handing back notes after the switch is made... In a restaurant or taxi you hand over the cash.... they do a quick viewing up to the window or light or sun and then w/ the slight of hand change paper, hand you back a fake and scream in a foreign language how you gave them phoney money.... try arguing that!

[katana]

Some, yes, but the ethnic make up of Argentina is largely Spanish and Italian with a good mix of British, Germans, and European Jews thrown in for good measure. Unlike the rest of South America there is not a noticeable dominance of native "Indian" or black and mulatto African slave descendants in the faces one sees in the streets.

The German part has more of its origins in late 19th and early 20th centuries immigration than escaping Nazi war criminals. You see the same thing in the southern part of Brazil and in Paraguay and Uruguay.

But the Nazis were quietly welcomed into a country where Peronism (a trade union based populist politics for which "national socialism" is a good descriptor) became the dominant political force after a military coup in 1943 and Juan Peron's election to president (with Eva Duarte - Evita - at his side) in 1946. We should get down on our knees and thank God that this part of the hemisphere was settled by English and not Spanish or Portuguese subjects.

[mosesdapoet]

Thanks for the posting. Labored through the Schaffer Argentine tour de jour report with the “Rancid Aries” persective. Aside from rampant inflatio, some historical stuff, and the current regime attemtpting to keep all the cash in the country so it can tax it. Still haven’t the foggiest of what makes that country do what it’s doing and what its citizens think.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

The best steaks I ever had in my life were in Buenos Aires. I failed to mention that I had them about 20 years ago.

[Ax]

Ditto. I left there in 1989 and can STILL taste that world-class Argie beef. My last meal there consisted of a "bife de lomo (a filet about the size of a softball), salad, "papas pie (straw French fries) and my own bottle of Andean white wine for <$5. For my entire three years there, we (Yanquis) really lived large.

Montevideo/Punta = the antidote to BA. In Puerto Stroessner, Paraguay, (later, post 1989, Puerto del Este), you can buy anything: it's a smuggler's paradise.

[Buckeye McFrog]

what makes that country do what it’s doing and what its citizens think.

A sort of hostility towards the outside world and "Anglo-Saxon Capitalism" in particular. Politicians have successfully focused this on the IMF. Whenever things get tough for regular Argentines they tend to blame the IMF and dark global forces, rather than their own leaders.

[ken5050]

Agree..a good piece..thanks for posting. I wish the author would have addressed how the average Argentinain feels about the Falklands..will the Argies try again?