Uh oh, what's this?
"Argentina may face worst unrest since the '70s," says a headline in the TIMES of London.
Hmmm... we're on a way to Argentina on Friday... to see our new grandson. The last thing we want is trouble.
But apparently, "a farmers strike has emptied the shelves of meat, cereals and milk." More than 400 roads are blocked. Much of the discontent followed a disastrous speech by the president of the country, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which is said to have alienated the farmers even further.
At the heart of the matter is a new tax - up to 49% - on soy exports. Argentina is a farming nation. And soy prices are so high, the farmers planted every available acre, hoping to score big on international grain markets. And now the government has stepped in to take half their money; no wonder they have their bombachos in a twist.
This just goes to illustrate our point: no situation is ever so beneficent that politicians won't find a way to make a hash of it. The oil exporters are getting a once-in-a-lifetime windfall from high energy prices. What are they doing? Building empty skyscrapers and adding social welfare promises faster than the pumps can put out oil. They've managed to squander most of their profit margins and then some. Just look at Hugo Chavez. He had so much oil he was able to throw his weight around all over Latin America. But the dumbell has so mismanaged his own economy that the place is said to be falling apart.
And look to at the US of A. What a bonanza it was to have the world's biggest military... its richest economy... and its only reserve currency. The rest of the world seemed to want to give Americans valuable goods and services, expecting nothing in return but pieces of green paper. It was like manna falling from heaven. How did Americans manage to turn that into the biggest financial trap in history - actually growing poorer during the greatest boom the world had ever seen?
And now Argentina... with the world's richest farmland... the world's flattest, best watered fields, and some of its best weather... has found a way to turn the highest grain prices in history into a financial crisis.
Bravo! Bravo to us all!
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by Unpopular Truth on 4 April 2008:
Regarding the OPEC countries, the last thing they want to do is give free education to the masses. They'll start questioning their leaders and religion, and that's a big no-no in that part of the world. Instead lets let them grow complacent, have a few years of free food and such, and when the good times stop, they can blame the west like they usually do for all their own mistakes.
Argentina.. well nothing keeps a 3rd world country down like 3rd world management. No doubt they'll have a revolution about it and someone worse will replace the current leader. Keep them distracted with soccer though, and the locals will put up with it.
And don't be so quick to bash the USA for the size of their military. There's truth to the phrase "men with swords starve last" and when the resource wars start to move beyond cold war maneuvering, the sophisticated armed forces will make the difference between comfortable survival and poverty.
Unless of course Obama gets in. Then I hear Jesus himself is coming to the crowning ceremony, with Elvis playing the star spangled banner.
Comment by James Bond on 5 April 2008:
Truth
Your right. Same goes for every country that exists though. In our western countries people dont have enough of an education to make a difference or ever force the hand of govermnent in any significant way (is Americas fiancial/economic system, foreign policy, border patrol, drugs, crime etc... not severely mismanaged?).
The only reason why some countries have greater living standards than others is because these riches are needed to attract migrants from other regions of the world (except mostly for Japan) and merge cultures on the march to the New World Order.
America has such a military in order to do the bidding of the power circles that originated from Europe so they can keep their hands clean when they need to kill or cause wars.
Comment by Scheptical on 5 April 2008:
A big and sophisticated army counts for nil if you don't have the energy (not the money) to do the job. The germans learnt the hard way in Leningrad. The americans need to spend the equivalent of around eight Joules equivalent just to get out one Joule of energy from the place. Really is a no brainer, then again, rumors are that Mr Bush hasn't got any.
Comment by Unpopular Truth on 8 April 2008:
Catch 22 here.. Having a big army can gain you access to a lot of energy, as we have seen in Iraq.
In fact you'll notice that most wars recently have been fought over this very reason, securing energy resources which are so vital to wage war with (Afghanistan's first 'improvement' since they were liberated from the taliban was to install a massive natural gas pipeline to tap their reserves).
Everything else is noise. Energy to power your armed forces, to secure your economic bargaining position, to secure the status quo.