[dguaraglia]

Not really, most of the governments were led by competent people. Unfortunately, they also happened to be either extremely corrupt (Carlos Menem) or blinded by their own ideologies (Carlos De La Rua). The current government sits somewhere there in the middle.

Things have gotten better for most people in Argentina, but at the cost of another of those 'boom for 10 years, then bust' cycles we are so used to. You can't argue inflation is rampant, I still recall the first time I came back from Brazil a pizza was about AR$10. Today the same pizza (maybe with a fancier name) starts at AR$40.

But then, 'eating out' doesn't reflect the real inflation. In that period, pizzas increased 400% in value, alfajores (a local sweet) had a similar increase from (AR$1 to AR$5), while a coffee at any bar in Buenos Aires increased around 1000% (from anywhere around AR$2 to a starting value of AR$17, most commonly AR$20+). Nice wines on the supermarket only increased about 200% in that period. Buy the same wine in a bar and you'd think you are at some fancy spot in San Francisco, they are so expensive. So it's all over the freaking shop (no pun intended).

[pelle]

Intelligence and competence are two very different things. You have to go back probably 100 years to find a relatively competent government.

The current government is at least as incompetent from an economic point of view as the policies of both Peron and the generals that came after him. Cristina is only in power because her husband died. It is very rarely I have seen anyone even in Latin America as incompetent as her.

While I'm not Argentinian, I truly love the country and it's people. It saddens me no end to see it and to see very intelligent people talk conspiracy theories and spew idiotic economic theories that the rest of the world got rid of decades ago.

[euccastro]

"It saddens me no end to see it and to see very intelligent people talk conspiracy theories and spew idiotic economic theories that the rest of the world got rid of decades ago."

How's that working for the rest of the world?

If you have the time, some food for thought. This is a Greek documentary on the Argentinian crisis and recovery:

1/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gys83fazwOo

2/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP1Sm4KijY0

3/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCBQM2EuEKg

4/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6mwXQG1MBg

5/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDgARm2owLs

6/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqblekF3Qg

7/7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-__Msw4kUSc

[molmalo]

There are no "conspiracy theories", but a big economic war going on here between a few extremely wealthy groups, fighting to get the power. You just have to read the newspapers to see it happening.

And those governments of a 100 years ago, were mainly plutocracies, where the aristocracy exploited the rest of the population to a level incredibly hard to imagine today. Peron was the result of that situation. And the coups that followed were the bloody attempts of returning to that model. But of course, neither model is the right one... but society here is so polarized that it's just SO hard to find a point in the middle... Maybe some day... =(