Re: and the winner is ............Russia

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman writes:
>Just like Argentina was supposed to pose a risk for all LDCs, but now
it
>is not.

Doug Henwood writes:
>When was it supposed to pose such a risk? Argentina's imminent
>default had been in the markets for months, so the actual event was
>an anticlimax. For the markets, not working class Argentines, that is.

It was pretty obvious that the IMF & US Treasury (and the business
press) were only concerned with the contagion effect -- the spread of
Argentina's problems to other countries. Since this was turning out to
be nil, the Argentine people could go to hell.

BTW, what do people think of Argentina's new currency scheme? despite the
business-persons' fears of hyperinflation, the scheme may be brilliant.
Instead of abolishing the set-in-stone parity between the peso & the dollar
which triggered the current depression there, the new government seems to be
saying: let's ignore the old peso and create a new currency. This could
allow Keynesian reflation, etc. -- which might include hyperinflation, of
course. In any event, it's not the monetary schemes that have led to
Argentina's many problems (hyperinflation, severe depression) as much as its
class antagonisms and economic dependency.

Jim D.