Tuesday, March 31, 2009

News Roundup (all that's phat to print)

For those that understand

Ecuador: Bizarrely, the WaPo does a pretty balanced article on Ecuador's financial situation, winners and losers in the recent round of Studmuffin import trade barriers, the state of the dollarization. Y'see, even the WaPo can inform on LatAm when it makes the effort.

Why I Laugh At SinkingAlpha (metals section). When you start your article with the title "Why the Mining Sector Doesn't Need Banks" it either means you're off your meds or you've never talked to a junior miner CEO, CFO, COO etc in your life, let alone in the last 18 months. The problem is that some people will actually take this person seriously. Intensely bad, even for SinkingAlpha's standards.

Peru: February exports are down 29.2% YoY. But don't let that worry you, because Twobreakfasts said the country is growing.

Argentina: Raúl Alfonsín's condition has deteriorated somewhat overnight. I'm not going to make this blog into some RaúlWatch, but I thought I'd pass this on at least becauseI am concerned about the dude.

Venezuela: Chávez's latest "give 'em something to think (laugh) about" idea is throwing his oil-backed world reserve currency idea at the assembled Arab bigwigs at the Qatar conference. H/T Boz for the headsup. Hugo is always coming out with these chestnuts; anyone remember those natgas powered vehicles that are about to be sold to the population of Caracas this year?

More Peru: For some reason those pesky consumers have the temerity to ask why they should pay 6% more for their electricity beginning May '09. These so-called "citizens" have no sense of national loyalty and should realize that there's a recession on. I mean, if they don't pay more all those beloved foreign investors won't make so much profit.