>I cite this stuff not to say that neoliberalism is wonderful or that
>Argentina is paradise. Neoliberalism is a crime against humanity, and
>Argentina could do a lot better under a more humane regime. But it's
>just wrong to say that it's all a story of going uninterrupedly
>downhill.
>
>Doug
As I just mentioned in my last post, there are things that are not factored
in by the United Nations graphics. When you leave out emigration, for
example, you are leaving out an important economic reality.
But more to the point, I am not satisfied with Argentina's HDI statistical
snapshot from 1975 to 1998 that you presented. I start with Peron, not a
year from the depths following his overthrow. With respect to the HDI stats
themselves, it is of far more interest to me that 29 percent of the
population does not have access to safe drinking water, and 32 percent lack
access to sanitation. Any country with those kinds of stats is in deep
shit--literally.
In any case, I try to base my understanding of places like Colombia,
Argentina, Nicaragua, etc. on scholarly books and newspaper articles, not
HDI spreadsheets. Here's one that might improve your understanding:
Journal of Commerce, January 20, 1999, Wednesday
Argentine tiger?
BY EILEEN STILLWAGGON
It cultivates its prosperous image with the help of top-flight public
relations firms, but the prosperity is enjoyed by a small minority buoyed
by short-term capital inflows.
The poverty of the majority provides a fragile foundation for an economy
attempting to compete globally and threatens long-term economic stability
and growth. Attempts to reform the economy over the past 40 years have
failed because, instead of alleviating misery, they have increased the
proportion that is poor.
Economic policy in Argentina has aimed at redividing the national pie
rather than increasing its size. Juan Peron managed to increase labor's
share of national income from 40 percent in 1945 to 49 percent in 1949 as
part of his strategy to transfer power from the landed oligarchy to himself.
The generals who deposed him in 1955 had an opportunity to launch Argentina
into the world economy, building on the larger domestic market and improved
health care and education. Instead, the 1955 coup sought revenge against
labor and, by 1958, had pushed labor's share back to the 1945 level.
Successive governments continued the redistribution. By 1960, labor's share
was less than 36 percent of national income. During the military regime of
1976-1983 and in the years since President Carlos Saul Menem took office in
1989, purchasing power has continued to shrink for the majority.
At the same time the government dismantled the country's public health
system. Life expectancy began falling in Argentina after 1960 and, by 1970,
had slipped below that of Costa Rica, Cuba, and Panama, all countries with
significantly lower income per capita.
Now Argentina is attempting to enter the world economy with a workforce
increasingly crippled by malnutrition and disease.
More than 40 percent of Argentines live in poverty. In a country with more
cattle than people, many thousands of people eat garbage scavenged from the
dumps in which they live. Water supply is as inadequate as in some of
Africa's poorest countries. Contamination of food and medical supplies is
increasing due to poorly planned deregulation.
The ""new tiger'' of South America ignores 20,000 cases of leprosy in the
northern provinces and tuberculosis raging in the shanty towns and squalid
tenements of Buenos Aires. Cholera is endemic in the north and even reached
Buenos Aires because the government failed to act.
Certain essential reforms were initiated in the 1990s including
privatization, greater fiscal responsibility, deregulation and trade
liberalization. But the restructuring has also been used as an opportunity
to widen the gap between rich and poor.
Draconian cuts in spending for education and public health were an easy way
to balance the budget, but have long-term consequences for the health of
the economy. The Argentine government chose to continue spending for
presidential jets, junkets and golf courses while ignoring Unicef's pleas
to maintain vaccination programs.
A malnourished school population and a sick workforce burden the nation.
Behind Argentina's mask of prosperity, there are 10 million people whose
hunger and disease will make them unproductive workers in the newly
privatized economy.
The frailty of Argentina's foundation is what makes the house rattle with
every ill wind that blows from world financial markets. Weathering crises
for the long term will depend on investment in Argentina's human resources.
Louis Proyect
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