TheWorldJournal.com

Cry for me Argentina
By Jean-Francois Numainville, TheWorldJournal.com

Unlike what was said in the last weeks about the implosion of the Argentinean economy, it is not the parity of the peso with the American dollar that caused its fall; evidences are now pointing at bad will from the leaders of the nation.

During the last twelve months, local economists have tried in vain to prevent a crisis by denouncing the abuses that the politicians were guilty of. In deed, the persons leading the country gave politics a bad name by literally stealing the money that belonged to the people without remorse for the troubles they were causing to the Argentineans. For example, senators have allocated themselves with an expenses account that includes 15 trips per months. That is one flight per 2 days. Also, in some of the many provinces of Argentina, the local government is distributing money for construction of highways. The problem is that once the money is gone, so is the project and no roads are constructed. Furthermore some senators plead for the creation of jobs to stimulate the economy; so they surrounded themselves with an incredible number of assistants working at an excellent salary and all of them happen to be close friends of the boss. Of course, those special treat me are not only reserved to the elite of the Argentinean government, subordinates as well as politicians with a smaller power are also taking their share of the cake.

After the Second World War, comparisons were made between Argentina and Canada: both countries were blessed by huge natural potential and they were also undergoing a demographic boom. Nowadays, it is clear that Canada did better than its South American counter part: Canada boosts a GDP about twice as big as Argentina's, while having a political class three times smaller for about the same population. Also, the public function is incredibly money consuming in Argentina: the budget is separate between 24 provinces and no efficient ombudsman system exists to ensure proper expenses. A military regime and a following weak democratic government undermined the opportunities of Argentina, who could have been among the richest countries in the world today.

Statistics leave no doubt about the nature of the misery of the people of Argentina. For example, there are cases of a few senators spending about 1.3 billions dollars US each year for personal use. Ricardo Schefer, an imminent finance professor, mentioned in a recent edition of La Nation that the way of spending public funds is an insult to the citizens and its time for the politicians to clean up their act. In deed, the population has lost confidence in its leaders and is now reluctant to pay taxes or to declare revenues.

Of course, all of those abuses are not left without consequences. It is impossible to balance a budget with all of those doubtful expenses and ever since the military regime was taken over less than 20 years ago, the debt keeps pilling on and the economy worsens. Now, the pressures from its creditors as become unbearable for the nation, and the government decided to stop reimbursing them. The population, fully aware that the politicians are responsible for the struggle of the economy, rejected the sanctions impose by the government. They took the streets last December and violent riots lasted for days and they ultimately forced the finance minister, Domingo Cavallo, to resign from his position. Reports are stating that Cavallo is roaming from one city to the other to escape the anger of the citizens. Recently, Argentina changed its president three times in five days. And the troubles are far from over: The anger in the population is still not over, and the future is remains unclear.

Argentina is sad examples of the worse governments are capable of. But there is no reason for this country to keep on wasting its opportunities: Surely a healthy government will lead this country to unleash its enormous potential.

© January 27, 2002