2. “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina”
America
This history lesson happened in Argentina, it could happen in the U.S.
3. In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While
Great Britain’s maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant
position among the world’s industrialized nations, only the United States challenged
Argentina for the position of the world’s second-most powerful economy.
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4. Like the United States, Argentina was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of
rich farmland laced with navigable rivers, and an accessible port system. Its level of
industrialization was higher than many European countries; railroads, automobiles, and
telephones were commonplace.
5. In 1916, Argentina elected a new president, Hipólito Irigoyen from a new party called The
Radicals under the banner of “Fundamental Change” with an appeal to the middle class.
6. Among Irigoyen’s changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and
support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state
assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country’s operations and began assessing
new payroll taxes to fund its efforts.
7. With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government’s payouts soon
became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers’ contributions.
Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like the United States’ Social Security and Medicare
programs.
8. The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón.
Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife, Eva, aimed their
populist rhetoric at taxing the nation’s rich.
9. This targeted group “swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle
class, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated.”
10. Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social
spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.
These programs provided government jobs, attracting the peons from the
haciendas and leading to large reductions in beef and wheat production.
11. High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had
been driven from office. However, his populist rhetoric and “contempt for economic
realities” lived on. Argentina’s federal government continued to spend far beyond its
means.
Note: In the 1970s, I travelled to Argentina on business. The inflation was so bad, taxi cab
drivers were issued a printed chart each morning. The meter reading was adjusted using
the daily chart to determine the fare.
Argentina had meatless days because insufficient beef was grown to satisfy the local
market in a country that had exported beef for many years. Argentina also was importing
wheat, a country formerly one of the major wheat exporters of the world. –Vicar
12. Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by “industrial
protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages,
and growing state intervention in the economy.”
13. The Argentinean government’s practice of printing money to pay off its public debts had
crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic. Food riots were
rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos.
14. By 1994, Argentina’s public pensions – the equivalent of Social Security – had imploded.
The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it was not enough. In addition,
Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on
wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises, taxes that
crushed the private sector and further damaged the economy.
15. A government-controlled “privatization” effort to rescue seniors’ pensions was
attempted. However, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the
monies replaced by Argentina’s defaulted government bonds.
16. By 2002, “…government fiscal irresponsibility… induced a national economic
crisis as severe as America’s Great Depression.”
17. In 1902, Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries.
Now, a little more than a hundred years later, it is poverty-stricken,
struggling to meet its debt obligations amidst a major drought.
18. The Democrat Party’s populist
plans for the U.S. cannot
possibly work, because
government bankrupts
everything it touches. History
teaches us that ObamaCare
and unfunded entitlement
programs will be utter,
complete disasters.
19. The Democrat Party leaders of today are guilty of more than stupidity; they are enslaving
future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes.
They will be dead and as cold as Juan Perón when the piper ultimately must be paid.
20. DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA
Sung by Madonna
It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all I have done
You won't believe me
All you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn’t stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window,
staying out of the sun
So I chose freedom
Running around trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to
{Refrain:}
Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days my mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
And as for fortune, and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seemed to the world
They were all I desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions they promised to be,
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me
{au Refrain}
Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days my mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
Have I said too much?
There's nothing more
I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do is look at me
To know that every word is true
{au Refrain}
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