Yikes. Sometimes it takes immersing yourself in another country and its politics, economics, etc to put your own country's problems into perspective.
Clarin published an article today (if you like reading in Spanish it's here: http://www.ieco.clarin.com/economia/revista-The-Economist-publicar-INDEC_0_652134864.html) that relayed a report from the Economist that they (The Economist) are from now on, not going to use the government's published economic figures and that "Desde 2007, el gobierno de Argentina publica cifras de inflación en las que prácticamente nadie cree" Since 2007, the Argentine government has published inflation figures that practically no one believes.
Essentially inflation for 2011 was a whopping 22% for the year in 2011, and they're expecting it to be similar this year, so come while it's still affordable friends! (Seriously, Americans and Brits are only saved by the exchange rate. It is wholly unaffordable here for people making the peso.) However, that 22% figure is based on private associations. The government here claims there is little, if any, inflation. People are starting to get fed up, from my conversations. I've noticed a change myself since I came here on vacation last year. A 16 oz bottle of water was 3 pesos; now it's 5, less than a year later.
The article goes on to state that the Economist, instead of using government figures, which it uses for essentially every other country, is going to begin using figures from a company that is a subsidiary of State Street. This company uses, as many I-banks do, the price of a Big Mac at McDonalds to assess the level of inflation. So now the government here is pressuring McDonalds to lower the prices of their Big Macs.
Anyway, I relay this piece of news to you, faithful readers, not to bore you with economic news, but because it really affected me as it relates to the goings on in my country. There was a time during the financial crisis that I can remember reports of purported inflation and worries that it would top out at 2%. Well, that never actualized for several reasons, including our central bank's policies. And although governments everywhere are corrupt, and I'm not saying the United States is immune, it's a whole different ballgame down here.
Living down here, talking to the locals and reading the paper each day has taught me an important lesson firsthand, and although it is a negative for the hard working people here, I am grateful for this lesson.
Coming up Next: My Trip to Salta and Asado Ordeal! (Felt I had to write that so you'd be enticed to come back after the Econ 101 post!)
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