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Title: Argentina’s Turnaround Tango
Source:
New York Times
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/o ... gentinas-turnaround-tango.html
Published: Sep 1, 2011
Author: IAN MOUNT
Post Date: 2011-09-19 08:57:24 by lucysmom
Keywords: Austerity, And Circling The Drain
Views: 2738
Comments: 5
ARGENTINA may seem like one of the last countries on earth to offer lessons for dealing with economic malaise. Once the eighth-largest economy in the world, it steadily slid through the 20th century, thanks to decades of repressive dictatorships and inconsistent market experiments. This ended ignominiously in 2001, when it defaulted on $100 billion in sovereign debt, plunging over half its 35 million people into poverty. snip Why have Argentines embraced bigger government? In part because the preceding era showed how poorly austerity measures — the sort now being pushed by conservatives in the United States — promote growth. In the late 1990s, Argentina cut government spending drastically on the order of its lenders at the International Monetary Fund. Predictably, between 1998 and 2002, Argentina’s economy shrank by almost 20 percent. It was only after Argentina turned its back on these austerity demands, and defaulted on its debt, that it began to recover. snip But Argentina still offers valuable lessons. For one thing, extreme cost-cutting during a stagnant economic period will only inhibit growth. And government spending to promote local industry, pro-job infrastructure programs and unemployment benefits does not turn a country into a kind of Soviet parody. It puts money in the pockets of average citizens, who then spend it and spur the economy. Spending cuts need to be made when times improve — an imperative Argentina is struggling with now — but not before.
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#1. To: A K A Stone, Fred Mertz, Godwinson, go65, war, no gnu taxes, Skip Intro, ferret mike, jwpegler, brian s, mininggold, mcgowanjm (#0)
What if government spending on infrastructure and social welfare programs is the solution? Will conservatives do what works, or lead us down the road to economic ruin in the name of ideological purity?
"...all of the equations in neoclassical economics are rubbish. The differential equations describe nothing. Economics is not about mathematics, it is about the human being." Sandeep Jaitly
I'm sure both sides of the aisle will lead the country to ruin in the name of serving their own personal best interests.
------------------------------------- The real question, goofy, is will you move there? Nope.
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
Hell, if I defaulted on my debts without penalty, I'd do pretty damn good, too.
Obama has played at being a president while enjoying the perks … golf, insanely expensive vacations at tax-payer expense. He has ignored the responsibilities of the job; no plans, no budgets, no alternatives … just finger pointing; making him a complete failure as a president
With very few notable exceptions, that is sadly the case.
...But the stark difference between its austere policies and low growth of the late 1990s and the pro-government, high-growth 2000s offers a test case for how to get an economy moving again. Washington would do well to pay attention.
#2. To: lucysmom (#1)
Will conservatives do what works, or lead us down the road to economic ruin in the name of ideological purity?
Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here?
#3. To: lucysmom (#1)
#4. To: lucysmom (#0)
It was only after Argentina turned its back on these austerity demands, and defaulted on its debt
#5. To: Biff Tannen (#2)
I'm sure both sides of the aisle will lead the country to ruin in the name of serving their own personal best interests.
If you build a 30-foot wall from El Paso to Brownsville, the 35-foot ladder business gets real good -- Rick Perry
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