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What it looks like when a country doesn’t trust its banks
Vox ^ | 23 Mar, 2023 | Emily Stewart

Posted on 03/26/2023 5:45:00 AM PDT by MtnClimber

I’ve been in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the last month, including through the recent turmoil in the banking industry in the United States and Europe. It’s a coincidence that has, um, given me some things to think about.

For those unfamiliar, the ways people in Argentina navigate the day-to-day economy can sound wild. When you don’t think you can trust the bank, the currency, or anybody in charge, things can get pretty weird pretty fast.

Amid super-high inflation, people can’t bet on the value of the Argentine peso staying stable, so when they’re paid in them, they spend them fast or convert their money to American dollars — it’s unwise to keep your money in pesos for too long. The government limits how many US dollars people can buy at the official exchange rate, if they’re allotted any at all, and so they buy them at a much higher black market rate, called the “blue” dollar. It’s about double the official rate — at the moment, the official exchange rate is around 200 pesos to a dollar, while the blue rate is around 380 to one.

“The Argentine economy has taught the people here not to trust in institutions in general but also not to trust in one of the central institutions for the functioning of the economy, which is money,” said Santiago Cesteros, a research fellow at the University of Zurich and former consultant at the World Bank.

Argentina, like every country, is its own unique beast with a distinct set of political, economic, and historical issues that tend to render its economy a bit of a consistently inconsistent mess. There’s no one explanation on why it is the way it is, or how to fix it. But it’s worth backing into the bigger picture here

(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: argentina; bankfailures; banks; inflation; svb

1 posted on 03/26/2023 5:45:00 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Leftist governments destroy economies.


2 posted on 03/26/2023 5:45:11 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Why haven’t gold and silver gone through the roof? The price of silver in particular has been stagnant.


3 posted on 03/26/2023 5:48:26 AM PDT by Spok
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To: Spok

Gold is around $2000 and silver is around $24.

Both are up


4 posted on 03/26/2023 5:57:24 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day )
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To: MtnClimber
The peso has a multitude of exchange rates, including for the World Cup in Qatar and for Coldplay tickets.

You know it's bad when Coldplay tickets can become a currency.

“Knowing that inflation has very negative consequences for the medium and long term, for most people, it takes away the opportunity to save,” Hora said. “They can’t plan for the future, they have to live in an eternal present.”

I have heard one theory over why blacks seem to be so self-destructive is that they have had everything taken away so often that they have learned to live only in the present. When chosing between saving for the future for a house or education versus spending now on fancy wheel rims or ridiculous fingernails many more will pick spending now rather than saving for the future compared to whites or Asians. When a whole nation gives up on planning for the future then it is headed for a complete collapse.

5 posted on 03/26/2023 6:03:22 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Gain of Pfunction. Gain of Pfunding. Gain of Pfizer. Now in control of Project Pferitas.)
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To: KarlInOhio

In an old classic “The Unheavenly City” Edward Banfield agreed with your comments.

He argued that the biggest difference between the rich and the poor was not how much money they had, it was their time horizons.

Rich people sacrificed today and made plans for generational wealth, poor people focused on partying on today.

The middle class made some plans but spent above their means from time to time—so they could meet their needs but rarely could keep money for more than one generation.


6 posted on 03/26/2023 6:12:50 AM PDT by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: bert

Gold and silver have been down since mid 2020, when silver hit $28 and gold broke $2,000.


7 posted on 03/26/2023 6:13:06 AM PDT by Spok
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To: MtnClimber; dpetty121263; 444Flyer; Roman_War_Criminal; metmom; Bulwyf; HeadOn; FES0844; SisterK; ..
[umm]

Well, a Central Bank Digital Currency in many nations should solve all of those problems!

Won't it be great when it's a World Digital Currency! No worries!


8 posted on 03/26/2023 6:22:09 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: MtnClimber

They need Bitcoin


9 posted on 03/26/2023 6:25:31 AM PDT by Rural_Michigan
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To: MtnClimber

We still have the best crappiest money in the world...............


10 posted on 03/26/2023 6:46:16 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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