(Eng and Spa) Argentina: starve the State, then sell food to it!

["Gorojovsky" <Gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It has just been disclosed that the megaswindle that has been christened 
Megaswap has had some particularities which make it twice as outrageous.

As you know, Argentina is technically in default. The burden imposed after 1976 
has assumed acromegalian proportions, and it simply can not (of course, it also 
SHOULD NOT) be paid. Under these circumstances, the Shylocks of our time (read 
Wall Street and a couple of local banks) decided to organize a nice swindle by 
which the Argentinean state swapped its old bonds, which were due within months 
or at most a couple of years, for new bonds, which will be due later in the 
future. Where is the profit? That the first debt had been contracted at around 
7-9%, and the new one is contracted at around 12-15%. 

Outrageous in itself, the racket gets compounded by the fact that it was the 
banks themselves, in collusion with roguish companies such as Standard and 
Poors, who put pressure on the government by rising the "country risk" during 
the negotiations. And it gets still more serious when one discovers, as it has 
been disclosed on a radio show this morning, the scandal of the commissions. 
The banks, who were not satisfied with all the blood and flesh they had 
obtained already, decided to intermediate in the transactions _of the 
Argentinean state with its own banks!_  

That is, the Banco de la Nación Argentina possessed a huge part of the bonds, 
and the owner of the Banco Nación decided to exchange with the bank the bonds 
for other bonds. Well, the bankers tried to get in the middle of the operation, 
cashing commissions (huge ones, of course) for money they had had nothing to 
do. While in the Banco Nación the swindle was averted by one of the Directors, 
Dr. Olivera, in the Banco Ciudad (city bank of Buenos Aires) and the Banco 
Provincia (bank of the Province of Buenos Aires) they managed to reap a new, 
undue, harvest of human life.

At the same time, Cavallo makes it sure that the Argentinean state cannot 
obtain the funds it desperately needs anywhere but in the circuit of the usury. 
One of the laws he passed during the early 90s created the private system of 
retirement pensions by snatching from the State the authority to collect the 
funds that were used to pay for retirement benefits. So that the State was left 
with the burden of the benefits but without the money. Moreover, the 
"privatized" (in fact, colonized) public utilities were excluded from their 
obligation to pay for the fund of retirement pensions, so that there went to 
the sky another source of funds for the State. What did the privately owned 
pensions fund companies do with the money they began to obtain? They simply 
began to _lend it to the State_, who is now paying for money it collected for 
free!

I am attaching a piece of news on how does Cavallo keep this system of rape 
going, by refusing to at least re-establish the obligation of the utilities to 
pay for their share in the system of pensions. Believe it or not...

------- Forwarded message follows -------

BUENOS AIRES, 13(PSI).- EL MINISTRO DE ECONOMÍA DOMINGO 
CAVALLO FRENÓ EL PROYECTO DE LOS APORTES PATRONALES. 
El tratamiento del proyecto para restablecer el pago de los 
aportes patronales por parte de las empresas de servicios 
públicos privatizados o concesionados quedó detenido en la 
comisión de Trabajo de la Cámara de Diputados, a partir de 
un pedido expreso de Domingo Cavallo. Al ministro de 
Economía no le simpatiza la propuesta de consenso sobre la 
cual avanzaron los legisladores la semana pasada, y en la 
que también quedaban afectadas por el restablecimiento del 
gravamen las AFJP, las cadenas de supermercados y los 
hipermercados, así como los transportes de larga distancia. 
La molestia fue transmitida al presidente de la comisión, el 
radical Juan Carlos Passo, quien en abierta reacción por los 
llamados de Cavallo le pidió al justicialismo que ?le den 
más días a la Alianza? para consensuar una postura frente 
al proyecto. Altas fuentes de la coalición confirmaron la 
existencia de los contactos entre los diputados de la 
Alianza y el Ministerio de Economía.

En ese marco, la diputada justicialista Graciela Camaño 
explicó que ?Passo recibió un llamado de Cavallo y vino 
corriendo a pedir más tiempo? al justicialismo. La 
legisladora admitió que el ministro ?planteó las mismas 
críticas que opusimos nosotros?. ?El ministro objetó que 
se afecte a las AFJP y nosotros sostuvimos esa idea desde el 
principio del debate?, dijo Camaño. La comisión no se 
reunirá hoy, debido a que Passo y el justicialista Alfredo 
Atanasoff, figura clave en el debate de los aportes 
patronales, se encuentran de viaje en Ginebra, para 
participar de las sesiones de la Organización Internacional 
del Trabajo (OIT).

El encuentro estaba previsto para las 12, en la sala 327 del 
edificio anexo de la Cámara baja, pero, estará desierto por 
?falta de acuerdo y de quórum?, explicaron en la comisión. 
Hasta la semana pasada, los diputados habían avanzado en un 
acuerdo para restablecer el pago de los aportes patronales 
por parte de las empresas de servicios públicos privatizados 
o concesionados y las AFJP, pero no lograban consensuar el 
destino que tendrá la recaudación y el alcance del 
gravamen.- XXX


Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx