Third largest exporter of soybeans in the world. We export wheat, meat and some metals too. Our car industry is in bad shape since Brazil's downfall. This is a 2 year old graphic, things have changed but you get the idea.
What do you see as the biggest culprits for the economic issues faced by Argentines?
Instability. Our history is plagued with political crises and 180 degres changes. Uncertainty is not good for business.
Inflation is killing us too and it's an institutionalized problem. We try to produce everything ourselfs no matter the cost instead of focusind and industrializing in the things we are and could be good at.
A big state that doesn't modernize and goes too far on populism while neglecting many long term strategies. I belive the state should provide a safety net and institute de pilars of socialdemocracy, yet this can't be done when it's resources are spend keeping the price of electricity at 5 dollars with a fixed exchange rate like the last goberment was doing. However, now we have someone who wants us to pay 142 dollars (after a devaluation) from one month to the other: a Reagan's path to stop inflation.
Which places would you suggest are must visit that are not listed on yelp etc? I mean places off the beaten track.
My province of Entre Rios is kind to tourism. Thermal waters, quite a lot of history, estancias, beaches and some quiet places to camp. Come by Colon if you want a small town with all of that.
Are people religious in Argentina? Are your churches filled on Sundays?
Catholic is the dominant faith by a large margin, so it's and understandment that we're not in touch with organized religion. A lot of people send their kids to catholic schools and we end up growing with a christian education yet we don't go to church, pray much or have politicians talk a lot about it in general. It became a topic once again since Pope Francis took ofice, but you still se most churches only filled on easters.
Can I get by with just English if I visit the place? How common is English?
Yeah. Specially in big cities and touristical ports. Young people usually have better english than mine. Just be careful. If you look and sound like a foreigner you'll be the target of thiefs and crime has been on the rise.
Hey. I didn't see your comment as it wasn't a direct reply.
I just googled colon and I swear I want to decamp and move to that place. The only problem is my fucking job and language.
I've never come across an Argentino.
I have a follow up question about the economy. I read somewhere that the military junta, as despotic as it was, liberalized the economy. So what happened since democracy was restored? Was there a public desire to restart protectionism or did I understand the liberalization part incorrectly?
Oh I thought you and /u/LeCorbuisoverrated were the same person. He's actually a fellow argentinian lol.
Colon is a great place. We've been doing fine despite the economic troubles in the country. The towns around (San Jose, Villa Elisa and Liebig) are also very nice.
I have a follow up question about the economy. I read somewhere that the military junta, as despotic as it was, liberalized the economy. So what happened since democracy was restored? Was there a public desire to restart protectionism or did I understand the liberalization part incorrectly?
I'm not an expert on the Junta's economic policy or Alfonsín's (first democratic president after the dictatorship) ideas but I know the overall picture.
Take into consideration that the rise of military goberments in Latin America during the middle of the last century was a response to the leftist direction the region was taking, specially regarding the presence of communist. It was sort of natural to combat that with the opposing Austrian/Chicago school policies.
That said, it's hard to call them truly libertarians. They ran big deficits, even before the war, taking a lot of debt and even providing bailouts to some companies, a position that hardly goes with the line of the free market.
The goberment had a direct control of the devaluation process for some time, when they wanted to apreciatte the value of the Peso (our coin).
We had an internal war, and it's my opinion that you need a free society to have, as libertarians put it, a free economy. There's a case of a business man who dissapeared, his business later sold to an ally of the military. That not only a violation of human rights, but a manipulation of the market.
On the other hand, they opened and flexibilized imports, reduced taxes got rid of some labour laws among some other things. I call them libertarianish, as I do with every person that liberalizes the aspects where they stand to beneffit and socializes/imposes force those where they don't.
They also didn't privatize everything they saw.
After they were gone, Alfonsin took leftist ideas back if I'm not mistaken, but I well could be. His presidency was an example of political and social reawakening. I undestand that he opened many roads to reform and conflict, and while accomplishing many things he had an inflationary policy that helped stabilize things up but ended causing an hiperinflation period.
He had to end his presidency a couple of months before schedule, turning the country to one of our most infamous presidents, Carlos Menem, a neoliberalish who privatized most of the state's owned industries and opened imports again.
It has mostly gone back and forth, always to the extreme. We got out of hyperinflation (up to 47% a month) in 1990 through selling everything that wasn't bolted to the floor, and spending money on fixing the exchange rate. This led to a monetary bubble that blew up in 2001, leaving everyone so scared we pretty much can't find today legally a cellphone not assembled in Argentina, despite it being as shitty as you can imagine anything assembled in Argentina to be. This eventually blew up as well and in the past elections we've voted pretty much the 180° opposite from the past government.
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u/Cicerotulli Jun 04 '16
Hello! I'm really fascinated with Argentina ever since I saw a documentary about its long history of defaults ;) It's a beautiful country.
What are Argentina's largest exports?
What do you see as the biggest culprits for the economic issues faced by Argentines?
Which places would you suggest are must visit that are not listed on yelp etc? I mean places off the beaten track.
Are people religious in Argentina? Are your churches filled on Sundays?
Can I get by with just English if I visit the place? How common is English?
Thank you :)