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Explore the history of Argentina's economic downfall and learn how it relates to current populist plans in the United States. Discover why government-controlled entitlement programs and fiscal irresponsibility lead to economic disaster.
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“Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” America This history lesson happened in Argentina, it could happen in the U.S.
In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While Great Britain’s maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world’s industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world’s second-most powerful economy. Click for all slides.
Like the United States, Argentina was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich farmland laced with navigable rivers, and an accessible port system. Its level of industrialization was higher than many European countries; railroads, automobiles, and telephones were commonplace.
In 1916, Argentina elected a new president, Hipólito Irigoyen from a new party called The Radicals under the banner of “Fundamental Change” with an appeal to the middle class.
Among Irigoyen’s changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country’s operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts.
With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government’s payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers’ contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like the United States’ Social Security and Medicare programs.
The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife, Eva, aimed their populist rhetoric at taxing the nation’s rich.
This targeted group “swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle class, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated.”
Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.These programs provided government jobs, attracting the peons from the haciendas and leading to large reductions in beef and wheat production.
High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had been driven from office. However, his populist rhetoric and “contempt for economic realities” lived on. Argentina’s federal government continued to spend far beyond its means. Note: In the 1970s, I travelled to Argentina on business. The inflation was so bad, taxi cab drivers were issued a printed chart each morning. The meter reading was adjusted using the daily chart to determine the fare. Argentina had meatless days because insufficient beef was grown to satisfy the local market in a country that had exported beef for many years. Argentina also was importing wheat, a country formerly one of the major wheat exporters of the world. –Vicar
Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by “industrial protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages, and growing state intervention in the economy.”
The Argentinean government’s practice of printing money to pay off its public debts had crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic. Food riots were rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos.
By 1994, Argentina’s public pensions – the equivalent of Social Security – had imploded. The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it was not enough. In addition, Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises, taxes that crushed the private sector and further damaged the economy.
A government-controlled “privatization” effort to rescue seniors’ pensions was attempted. However, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the monies replaced by Argentina’s defaulted government bonds.
By 2002, “…government fiscal irresponsibility… induced a national economic crisis as severe as America’s Great Depression.”
In 1902, Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries.Now, a little more than a hundred years later, it is poverty-stricken, struggling to meet its debt obligations amidst a major drought.
The Democrat Party’s populist plans for the U.S. cannot possibly work, because government bankrupts everything it touches. History teaches us that ObamaCare and unfunded entitlement programs will be utter, complete disasters.
The Democrat Party leaders of today are guilty of more than stupidity; they are enslaving future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes. They will be dead and as cold as Juan Perón when the piper ultimately must be paid.
DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA Sung by Madonna And as for fortune, and as for fame I never invited them in Though it seemed to the world They were all I desired They are illusions They're not the solutions they promised to be, The answer was here all the time I love you and hope you love me {au Refrain} Don't cry for me Argentina The truth is I never left you All through my wild days my mad existence I kept my promise Don't keep your distance Have I said too much? There's nothing more I can think of to say to you But all you have to do is look at me To know that every word is true {au Refrain} It won't be easy, you'll think it strange When I try to explain how I feel That I still need your love after all I have done You won't believe me All you will see is a girl you once knew Although she's dressed up to the nines At sixes and sevens with you I had to let it happen, I had to change Couldn’t stay all my life down at heel Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun So I chose freedom Running around trying everything new But nothing impressed me at all I never expected it to {Refrain:} Don't cry for me Argentina The truth is I never left you All through my wild days my mad existence I kept my promise Don't keep your distance Click to exit.
