Deja vu - 2014 revisited

There are 15 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 5,324 times. The latest Post () was by serafina.

1st Official Post

    Very true the article. But there is a question that puzzles me: Why, if the Argentine economy is so bad, we receive so many inmigrants from Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Uruguay?

    And all of them seems to be happy here, they find jobs and appreciates the country.

    Are they masochists?

    I can think of very little to offer in the way of real change since the election. When Macri was elected in late 2015, veryone knew that necessary belt-tightening had to follow, but it does feel very much as if now the belt is tight (utilities’ subsidies removed, interest rates high) but the economy has not started to turn around, the customary high inflation and low reserves have not improved.


    Concerning immigration from other Latin American countries, perhaps Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay and Colombia do not offer comparable free education, healthcare, and other social safety nets? As for Venezuela, who wouldn’t prefer Argentina to the iron-fisted government and ever-worsening poverty there?

    My opinion for what it's worth....Macri has had the unenviable task of sorting out the mess left behind by a woman who was only doing the job because she wanted to be adored by a certain section of society here. She was a better actress than a politician. Macri's done about as much as he could do in the short time he's had in the job.


    Patience doesn't seem to exist in the Argentine mentality so I fear the outcome of the next election. If so I think the country's economy will always be like a yo-yo....in other words 'fucked'.

    • Official Post

    I'm not sure if it's a question of patience UK Man , but more a question of 'We've seen it all before.'

    During the Kirchner regime I felt we were being treated like idiots and then Macri wins by a very slender margin and we hope for the best, especially with the election promise of lower inflation. In fact, they projected 17% two years ago, which was still too high but better than 45% or whatever fantasy number Moreno came up with, especially since the Ks denied inflation.

    But now we have some of the highest utility increases I've ever seen which should have been phased in more slowly.

    They seem to be more reactive than proactive.

    Until the people do not understand that austerity is the key word, not only for the domestic economy, but also to the government's management, inflation will be an endless nightmare.

    This has happened her from 1950 onwards, when all the credit balance of the Nation, due to the II WW exports, people thinks that we shall live in the golden years when "Argentina era una fiesta".

    We lack, as you UK residents, a statesman like Winston Churchill. Of course, he had the advantage of being attacked by the Germans, but we shall think the same. The enemy now is the permanent behaviour of wasting more than our incomes.

    • Official Post

    According to Wikipedia:

    The Social Contract was a policy by the Labour government of Harold Wilson in 1970s Britain.

    In return for the repeal of 1971 Industrial Relations Act, food subsidies and a freeze on rent increase, the Trade Union Congress would be able to persuade its members to cooperate in a programme of voluntary wage restraint.

    The Social Contract aimed to avoid the difficulty of former incomes policies, allowing the employers, who in nationalised industries were the state, to treat individual groups separately in wage negotiations.

    There would be 12-month interval between wage settlements to prevent repeated wage demands and allow the state some level of predictability in future wage expenses, and negotiated increases in wages should be confined either to compensating for inflation since the last settlement or for anticipated future price increases before the next settlement.

    It was to be the foundation on which the Chancellor Denis Healey could introduce a stronger budget in order to control the high inflation and growing government spending of the era, which Edward Heath's previous government had failed to do.


    In fact UK inflation was 9.44% in 1971 and rose to a high of 24.24% in 1975, so whether Wilson's Social Contract policy had any positive effect on inflation is debatable. It's also worth pointing out that many major industries in the UK at time were state owned.


    http://www.in2013dollars.com/UK-inflation-rate-in-1971

    • Official Post
    Quote from Splinter

    And so the spiral continues.

    I raise my prices too, but psychologically speaking, many people still think AR$100 is a lot of money.

    What's your line of work, by the way UK Man ?

    How do Psychology and economy work in Argentina? I always feel mixed feeling when setting prices for Argentinians. From one side, it seems always too little money, on another side, I think nobody will spend not even half of what I have in mind...


    Are increases 'by heart'?