Argentina is not a serious country, episode 12,849

So today Argentina's FinMin Amado Boudou comes out and admits inflationary price rises in "some products" but tries to lay the blame on local businessmen for inflation, saying that

"There are some increments (due to) the push that an expanding economy gives, that has an enormous demand, the result of having incorporated millions of Argentines into the jobs market and millions of Argentines into the pensions system.


"However there is an attitude, and I want to say it with much respect, on the part of businesspeople who quickly move to increase prices instead of expanding supply and services."

Well, let's see now. I'm ok about normal rank and file people not getting the fact that inflation is caused by expansion of money supply, but the FREAKIN' MINISTER OF THE ECONOMY OF A NATION OF 40 MILLION PEOPLE? Gimme a break here, fercryinoutloud. Bizpeeps to blame for Argentina's inflation? As Dr. Johnson would say, I refute it thus:

Economics 101 lesson over. Data source: BCRA. DYODD, dude.

UPDATE: At the behest of ace Argy econ dude and site friend Miguel Olivera, here's the chart that shows YoY percentage change in that above M2 figure. Note how the recent 20%-or-so average increase YoY closely correlates with the unofficial inflation figures out of the country (as opposed to the official INDEC numbers which are the biggest statistical crock in South America right now).

Argentina and the IMF: Just say no to drugs

The big economy news in Argentina this week.....

(No, wait, scrap that)

The big economy news in Latin America this week has been the talks between Argentina's economy team and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Firstly, last week we had headline like this...

Argentine Bonds Gain as Country To Renew IMF Talks, Swap Debt

...from Bloomberg on the 20th. Then yesterday when the talks actually happened we had this....

Argentina Econ Min: 'Positive' Meeting With IMF Official

...from the WSJ. Then suddenly today the tone has changed, with Argentina's new FinMin Boudou saying that...

"The government is not asking the IMF for anything"

...and that the country wouldn't allow conditions to be imposed upon it by the IMF lackeys. If that's true it will be a great weight off everybody's mind down this neck of the woods. Argentina may be one kooky country when it comes to finances and the Kirchner regime is going from bad to worse right now, but one of the better moves in its history happened when Neshtor&Co paid off the IMF debt and kicked them out of the country, slamming the door behind them. In the words of the Ex-Prez in 2005;

"There is life after the IMF, and it's a very good life.....being in the embrace of the IMF isn't exactly like being in heaven."

After what Argentina went through in the late 1990's under the IMF straightjacket which sent them tumbling over the cliff in late 2001, no country in the world knows better about the IMF's hidden agenda. So rather than wax any further lyrical, let's leave it to 'Larry' of the esteemed Argentine economics blog 'los tres chiflados' to tell you what professional, experienced, qualified and intelligent economists in Argentina think of the IMF. The following is the first part from the L3C blog today, well said indeed, Larry.

• Accomplices* in the Latin American dictatorship in the 1970's
• Accomplices in allowing de facto governments to go into debt in the 1980's
• Accomplices in de-industrializing Latin America on the 1990's

The IMF has never looked after the interests of Latin America, it is simply another tool used by the USA for its foreign policy. The IMF finances in exchange for structural economic changes that only favour US economic interests: Open the economy, privatize, make government smaller, don't intervene in the economy (or in its negotiations), liberalize capital flows, don't intervene in the forex market, no trade barriers, no tariffs, liberalize the labour market (restrict rights), don't use generic drugs (so royalties are paid), more laws to cover patents etc etc. We already know the consequences.

To ask the IMF for money is to give in the the temptation of the carrot, is to be under the illusion, is to not recognize the power of the USA in the world, is to be naive about history.........

CONTINUES HERE.

Argentina reshuffles

Boudouuuuu!

If your government was soundly whipped at the polls as Argentina's has recently been whipped, you'd replace a bunch of ministers too. However Klishtina has decided that the best way to cope with the rejection of her policies is to simply ignore that it happened and reshuffle one set of ultra-Kircherists with another.

So farewell, then, to Carlos Fernandez, the (now ex) FinMin that nobody even noticed was there. And farewell, then, to Sergio Massa, the (now ex) cabinet chief who was brought in from his mayorial-type role in the Tigre region (North of BsAs) because he'd been doing a great job and was a breath of fresh air and would lead ministers in a new direc.....etc....errrrr...it didn't happen, ok?

The new FinMin is a certain Amado Boudou (a last name that makes Francophones titter), party loyalist who was having fun at ANSES (the social security people) and was basically next in line anyway. He now gets to play at big numbers and DON'T TOUCH THOSE DIALS! until 2011 when it's all over for this team. So stfu and think about the pension at the end of the period, Amado. As for cabinet chief, ultra-K of all ultra-Ks Anibal Fernandez has got the job, moving over from the Justice Ministry. A stuffed suit named Julio Alak, who was in charge of the newly nationalized Aerolineas Argentinas until yesterday, is now the Justice Dude.

The bottom line is that this is the cabinet reshuffle of a dead duck administration. Nothing has changed and nothing will change due to yesterday's botox injections and new shades of eyeliner. We now enter The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul as regards Argentine politics, so wake me up when the 2011 Pres election campaigning starts.