Posted on 09/05/2026 10:05:28 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
Why was Argentina once wealthy? What caused Argentina’s economic decline? Is Javier Milei fixing things? Summarise the video
This video explores the "Argentine Paradox"—how a nation that was one of the wealthiest in the world at the turn of the 20th century transformed into a cautionary tale of economic decline, hyperinflation, and political instability. Key Highlights:
The Golden Age (1880–1914): Driven by massive exports of beef and grain to Britain, alongside heavy foreign investment and European immigration, Argentina boasted the world's highest GDP per capita by 1895 (0:41, 3:02).
Structural Fragility: The economy remained overly dependent on agricultural commodities and lacked industrial diversification, leaving it vulnerable when global trade collapsed during the World Wars and the Great Depression (7:32, 9:23).
The Rise of Peronism (1946): Juan Perón reshaped the country by nationalizing industries, expanding social welfare, and implementing protectionist policies. While popular with the working class, these measures led to chronic deficit spending, state dependency, and high inflation (10:51, 12:43).
Decades of Crisis: The country suffered through repeated military coups, the violent "Dirty War" (1976–1983), and devastating bouts of hyperinflation, including a 4,900% spike in 1989 (15:17, 17:23).
The 2001 Collapse: After a failed currency peg to the US Dollar, Argentina suffered its largest sovereign debt default in history, gutting the middle class and causing widespread social unrest (19:58, 20:50).
Recent Developments: Following years of further economic turbulence, the 2023 election of Javier Milei introduced radical "shock therapy" austerity measures aimed at breaking the cycle of inflation and fiscal deficits (23:47, 24:35).
Conclusion: The video serves as a reminder that wealth is not permanent; long-term prosperity requires stable institutions, sound economic management, and the political will to avoid compounding bad policies over generations (28:50).
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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The beef industry changed.
Detroit Once Controlled 90% of America's Car Market — So Why Did Americans Start Buying Japanese?
Peronists.
And while fascists can at least still grow food they are quite incapable of growing an economy.
Because American built cars couldn't match the quality of Japanese (and German) cars.
Better quality (W. Edwards Deming), smog regulations, and OPEC driving fuel economy.
“”Argentina Was Once One of the Richest Countries on Earth — So What Went Wrong?””
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The Ratlines (Rattenlinien)? (just a guess)
And later on... the other rats... like Soros, who “invested” in Argentina, didn’t help.
A bit simplistic answer re: ‘what went wrong’, and yet... considering the ‘types’ that have meddled in Argentina for a generation... it makes perfect sense that Argentina would now be struggling. And rather disturbing, because these same types are attempting to “meddle” in the USA as we speak.
...oh, and the UAW.
Louisiana was once one of the richest states in the USA.
because our options were cars like the Reliant K Car and the Ford Fiesta...
In my undrgrad daze, I had 3 qtrs of Statistics.
In my MBA grad school daze, I had 2 qtrs of Statistics.
One name always stood out - Edward Deming.
He attempted to persuade Detroit to use Statistics to produce higher quality cars. They ignored him.
He went to Japan who adopted his statistical theory of quality control...and the rest is history.
More reason to thank Musk now.
Tesla’s currently consistently rank highest in customer satisfaction among cars sold in the US.
As well as having most US made parts.
All of their oil is pretty much gone except offshore and that is in Federal waters. There is still a large shale gas field called the Haynesville up by Shreveport. Argentina has a developing oil “shale”play of their own. The Vaca Muerta.
Argentina achieved massive wealth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through a powerful combination of ultra-fertile land, foreign investment, and a massive wave of European immigration. This started in the mid 1800’s.
But the wheels came off in the 2000’s. On December 17, 2015, Macri lifted foreign exchange restrictions, leading to a 30% devaluation of the Peso, the largest since 2002. In January 2016 it was devalued to 44 cents. Unemployment reached double digits as well, with massive layoffs in the public and private sectors. In April 2016, monthly inflation rose to 41.7%, one of the highest in the world.
And the ranchers got nailed with residuals. In December 2015, the government announced the elimination of export restrictions for wheat, maize and meat, while reducing withholding taxes on soybeans to 30% at a fiscal cost of 23,604 million pesos. This led to large price increases in staple products including oil, which increased by 51%, flour 110%, chicken 90%, noodles 78%, and a 50% increase in the price of meat in two weeks. Because of a 150-180% increase in feed prices, many pig producers were in crisis. It is estimated that in the province of Buenos Aires alone, 40 thousand pork producers would fail.
An extremely high inflation rate was strangling the urban and rural working population: decreasing from the astounding 40% of 2016, it was expected to be 17% by 2018. Other vulnerabilities include an unemployment rate close to 9% (expected to be in two digits in the next two years), as well as the sharp rise in the current-account deficit around 3% to 4% of GDP in 2017–2018 thanks to an over-valued currency. Forecasts from the IMF show GDP growth in 2018 decelerating to 2.5% from 2.75%.
And land ownership was under the control of few rather than the smaller ranches. According to Di Tella and Zymelman, the main difference between Argentina and other settler societies such as Australia and Canada was its failure to seek adequate alternatives to compensate for the end of geographical expansion with the definitive closing of the frontier. Solberg noted the differences between the land distribution in Canada, which led to a rising number of small farmers, and the smaller number of landowners each with larger areas of land in Argentina didn’t allow for expansion or contraction so growth stymied.
The blame of all this implosion falls to their government. It has been pointed out that the relatively high dependency ratio and the slow demographic transition in Argentina led to a reliance on foreign capital to offset the resulting low savings rate. From the 1930s onwards, the accumulation of capital was hampered by the relatively high prices of (mostly imported) capital goods, which was caused by the industrial policy of import substitution, in contrast with the export-led growth favored by countries like Canada. Other distorting factors behind the high relative prices of capital goods include the multiple exchange rates, the black market for foreign currencies, the depreciation of the national currency and high customs tariffs. This resulted in a lower capital intensity, which led to lower rates of labor productivity.
So, in few words, they self destructed.
wy69
Inflation - I read a story about the inflation rate there. You buy a car and then twenty years or so, a men’s tie cost the same amount.
True.
In the antebellum period (especially the decades leading up to the Civil War), Louisiana ranked among the wealthiest U.S. states by measures such as per-capita wealth (particularly among free residents) and overall economic output tied to its plantation agriculture and commerce.
nytimes.com
Key reasons included:Highly productive sugar and cotton plantations on fertile Mississippi River soils.
New Orleans as a major port and the nation's largest slave market by the 1840s, making it one of the richest and third-largest U.S. cities.
Concentration of capital in land, enslaved labor (counted as property in wealth statistics), and related banking/commerce. Southern states overall, and Louisiana in particular, often ranked at or near the top in free per-capita wealth; some analyses place Louisiana as high as second in per-capita wealth, with Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina among the national leaders even under certain adjustments for population.
abbevilleinstitute.org
This wealth was highly unequal and heavily dependent on slavery. After the Civil War and emancipation (which eliminated the capital value of enslaved people), Louisiana's relative position declined sharply, and it has ranked near the bottom on many modern economic and quality-of-life metrics.The claim holds for the pre-1860 era.
Don’t cry for me, Argentina!
YES
Conclusion: The video serves as a reminder that wealth is not permanent; long-term prosperity requires stable institutions, sound economic management, and the political will to avoid compounding bad policies over generations (28:50).
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This is true of families as well
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