teamhurtmore - Member
.....some say......And yet, critics note.......is an arch critic of the government
Yeah, yeah, yeah.........her opponents slag her off. Surprise surprise, the neoliberals don't like her. And of course it's got nothing to do with the fact that she is, and has been, proving them wrong.
Yes, inflation is relatively high. Which nicely nails the neoliberal/Thatcherite lie that the most important issue for a healthy economy is low inflation. High unemployment, contrary to what Tory chancellors like to tell us, is not "a price worth paying" for low inflation. And the Kirchners have also firmly nailed the neoliberal/Thatcherite lie that tax and spending is bad for an economy. How embarrassing for the neoliberal/Thatcherite myth-makers.
For the last 10 years the neoliberals have constantly been predicting that the Argentine economy is heading for the rocks and that very soon everything will unravel. They will continue no doubt to do so for the next 10 years. And yet all their predictions have been proved to have been false. Indeed it is the neoliberal economies which have gone tits up......... Big Time.
I am not offering Argentina up as an example of an "economic miracle", there is no such thing as an economic miracle, despite the fondness capitalism's cheerleaders to constantly offer us examples of "economic miracles", which btw always end up in tears.....remember the economic miracles which were Greece, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Iceland, etc ?
Argentina will have problems in the future, it is still fundamentally a capitalist country, and capitalism is always fundamentally flawed - however much you tinker with it.
But its priorities have now irreversibly changed, and changed in a meaningful way which affects people's life's. Never again will they return to the nightmare and mess which was left by the neoliberals.
And neoliberalism isn't just finished in Argentina but also throughout Latin American which suffered so much as a result of the early neoliberal experiment. The Chicago economists are no longer welcomed in Latin America, and Washington no longer has the power to enforce brutal and inhumane economic policies through brutal and inhumane military juntas.
The Argentine electorate supports Cristina Kirchner because she and her husband got real results which affect real people - including slashing unemployment and poverty. And her support is huge, with over half of voters choosing her as their first choice 12 weeks ago. She received more than 3 times the support of her nearest rival - the sort of support which most western leaders can only dream of.
And the reason for that level of support is clear, because unlike the British electorate the Argentine electorate knows not only what they are voting against, but also what they are vote for. TINA no longer exists in Latin America.
Wealthy Argentines however despise her, so expect to hear plenty of bad-mouthing about her and her government's policies in the right-wing press. Although ironically Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper gave her what I thought was a rather fair analysis, not quite what I expected from the Son :
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/article4074118.ece
BTW take my comments as coming from someone who has always been anti-Peronist believing Peron to have been nothing more than a quasi-fascist. But I can't however deny the stunning success the Kirchners have had in saving Argentina from the neoliberl nightmare, not that they had much choice mind. And of course their policies couldn't be more opposed to those of Carlos Menem - a truly vile Peronist.
And oh btw hurty, the FT doesn't like its paywall to be circumvented - quality journalism costs money. So I'm surprised you have such a callous attitude and are prepared to undermine a company which relies solely on providing specialised journalism. Do you have no respect for their need to make a profit ? They are not a charity you know.
