Posted on 11/03/2008 1:33:16 AM PST by Zakeet
Argentina is a constitutional republic with many historical similarities to the U.S. It has a rich immigrant heritage and an abundance of natural resources. But the U.S. is a rich, advanced country and Argentina is poor.
How did the breadbasket of South America fall so far behind? One explanation goes back some 90 years, when the Argentine Supreme Court began chipping away at property rights as a way of addressing economic inequality. Argentine politicians quickly learned that lawful plunder was their path to power.
This history is still being written, and the latest chapter ought to frighten Americans.
After seven straight years of driving up government spending and hammering every capitalist in sight, the Argentine government, which went bust in 2001, is running out of money -- again.
No surprise there. For more than a few years, analysts have warned that inflation, trade protectionism, disregard for contracts and confiscatory tax rates were having a deleterious effect on capital flows.
Suboptimal investment rates, the same analysts warned, would mean economic trouble when global growth began to slow and the commodity boom came to an end. But former President Nestór Kirchner (2003-2007) and his wife, current President Cristina Kirchner, had promised to bring change to Argentina and didn't want to hear it. They thought they saw better returns to their own bottom lines by stoking class warfare while increasing government spending.
That revenues would, at some point, fail to meet the rising expenses of the welfare state was predictable. The only mystery was when the wall would be hit and how the further plunder to make up the difference would be carried out.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
On Oct. 21, Mrs. Kirchner announced that the nation's private pension system -- with a stock of $30 billion and a flow of $5 billion annually -- would become government property. To put that in words that Americans can more clearly comprehend, it would be as if the assets of all 401(k)s were suddenly swept out of owners' accounts and into a single government account.
Something to look forward to in the U.S. if the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Axis of Taxes assumes power and packs the Supreme Court.
And the truly amazing thing is that there are still working, taxpaying Americans who will vote for Obama. I fear for my country.
They are already proposing ending the 401K exemption.
We heard this song once before (with slightly different lyrics), back in 1993, when they purposed a "one time tax" of 10% on private retirement accounts.
Didn't work then, either....
“lawful plunder” eh?
Here’s more on lawful plunder...
But it does not always do this. Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame, danger, and scruple which their acts would otherwise involve. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim — when he defends himself — as a criminal. In short, there is a legal plunder, and it is of this, no doubt, that Mr. de Montalembert speaks.
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.
Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law — which may be an isolated case — is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.
This legal plunder may be only an isolated stain among the legislative measures of the people. If so, it is best to wipe it out with a minimum of speeches and denunciations — and in spite of the uproar of the vested interests.
More...here...
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html#SECTION_G1807
Thanks for posting. Thanks to FReeper raygun for the link.
How is it called when you bail out big banking with tax payers money ?
How’d you describe it if larger parts of this pork would be given to the shareholders of the banks as a dividend (your tax money booked as an operational success ?)
This particular incident may not be replicated, but as a general model I think Argentina is a perfect example of what Americans should expect from their future. It's a just a question of whether we get there quickly under Obama, or more slowly under anyone else.
Which never end, never lessen, and increasingly, and sullenly, are expected as a "entitlement".
The USA is on the verge of electing a Peron/Kerchner. Welcome to the USSA.
People, the fact that we’re even paying the tax rates we are is WAY too much! Why we allow this gov’t the power it currently has is beyond me, and it’s completely insanely stupid! It’s our fault, not theirs!
An excellent article that foreshadows what will likely happen in the next 2-3 years if BHO is allowed to takeover.
Another great example and we don’t even have to mention socialist security. Thanks, khnyny.
A friend of mine was brought into a company I worked for.. he is from Argentina. He said unlike the US, where you get a catastrophe every few years or decades, in Argentina it is a weekly event. He checks the papers starting on Thursday night to find out what the latest blow-out is. He loves America and will probably become a citizen. He resembles Tito the Builder in his attitude towards America.
Argentina has a huge stock of very well educated professionals who cannot earn a living in that country. It is one of the most screwed up nations in the world.
Thanks - you are most welcome.
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