Two Separate Worlds, continued

Enrique Garcia is an ex-minister of the Bolivian economy. Not to take information out of context or anything, but he notes that between 133 countries measured for their competitive capacity in the international market (lower numbers being better), Argentina is 80, Chile is 30, and Colombia and Peru have advanced down the ladder remarkably. The point being made by this economist is that of course, these other countries are great examples that Argentina should follow. Hmmm...lets see...Peru has a TLC\FTA free trade agreement, Colombia's is pending, and Chile has one as well...

On another point, Latin America stands at an average of 66 out of 133 for intnl competition. Symbolically I see the region balanced on a teeder todder, ready to go either way, either towards less international competitive capacity or more...

So, to develop and be part of that international thing, Argentina should do this -

1. (with a governmental\media\public sound to it) "Argentina should open up its barriers to international investment such as to promote economic growth, augment GDP, and improve social conditions by reducing poverty and unemployment rates..."

2. (the reality) "Argentina should allow foreign companies to come into its country, screw up the environment, take a large amount (if not all) of the resources, pay small percentages of royalties to the country and to the employed, displacing people from the countryside and forcing them to live in crowded slums and to fight everyday for low wages which don't provide a dignified living, such that the government may engorge its budget and that the Wall Street Readers (and its equivalents in all of the world's countries) be happy when they see that the lines on the graph are going up and not down, while enjoying a glass of wine which provides no nutritional value whatsoever, that came from land that could have been used to feed the hungry"

Argentina and a lot of other countries could go that way. For many it does seem to provide a better standard of living. But for the rest, it's anything but natural.

Perhaps we should just go backwards while maintaining what good modernity has provided us: health care, education, some entertainment? Who knows. Maybe it's all gone to hell.