The Mighty Fallen: Argentina and the Great Depression
I was hoping for an in depth historical treatment of Argentina&#x27;s fall from the club of wealthy nations, but this article feels much more shallow. It&#x27;s immediately clear that the author is neither an economist nor sociologist, and I would hazard to say has never lived in Argentina. While strictly true that the Macri administration&#x27;s &quot;neoliberal toolkit&quot; failed, I feel like the article suggests that there is some inherent flaw in neoliberalism, whereas in reality Argentina is uniquely ungovernable. I&#x27;m reminded of the classic quote: &quot;There are four types of nations- wealthy, poor, Japan, and Argentina&quot;. There is so much wealth in the county- you see these massive infrastructure projects everywhere: huge hydroelectric dams, well-constructed pristine highways in even the most remote parts of the country, beautiful parks... but for the most part, these projects are used to feed the corrupt state. The amount of corruption and bureaucracy is difficult to grasp as an outsider. I remember the first time I visited Chile by bus. At immigration before we got off the bus, they made an announcement that we should not try to bribe the Chilean police, as they wouldn&#x27;t take kindly to it. They couched it in terms of the police being too proud to take a bribe, as though there were something abnormal about that. This illustrates the key sociological problem to me- beyond the normalization of bribery, there is a pervasive bureaucracy used for resource extraction by the political class, and I think it has too much momentum to end.<p>To return briefly to the economic side and why I think a bit of neoliberalism would be a breath of fresh air, I&#x27;m reminded of when the government banned beef exports. They wanted to lower the price of beef, and thought they could do this by banning exports. I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s uncharitable to say that any moron could predict how this would play out with a bit of thinking. Ranchers stopped raising unprofitable cattle, switched to soy (which the government then also raised export tariffs on) and other crops. Argentina is rife with this type of economic magical thinking, not just in the political elite, but in the popular classes they pander to. Argentina has been poor since the advent of Peronism, and yet the average person- perhaps like how a fish might not be aware of what &quot;water&quot; is- continues to support the same policies that continue not working 80 years later.<p>In summary, I think that the author should take a more in depth look at the sociological and economic currents that make Argentina such a unique case of a poor country that by every right should be wealthy.<p>Edit:
I feel like the above comes off as too negative, so I want to add that Argentina is a great place to live, especially if you are a person of means, and not tied to the Argentine Peso. There are a lot of world class software developers in Buenos Aires, and apparently Argentina is one of the top spots to buy 0day exploits. The culture, food, weather (you can choose anywhere from arctic to tropical depending on your preferences) are all perfect for me- I just can&#x27;t stand the bureaucracy and corruption.