How to turn a 25 minute ride into 105 minutes of suffering

Another first-hand account. Unbelievable by any measure. Unjustifiable by any means. Argentina, reality or fiction?

Friday morning, I left a bit latish on the way to work. By now, I now traffic (knew, actually) like the back of my hand. Takes me no more than 25-30 minutes to get to the office, and I squeeze as much as I possibly can of sleeping time before taking off. Anyhow, I was 75% there, when I reach the 9th of July Avenue - apparrently one of the longest and thickest of the world - and I see an unnatural amount of traffics. Cars were piling up for what seemed like forever.

However, this traffic jam was impossible to corroborate: I could only see 3 or 4 cars ahead and the morning radio shows were busy not saying anything. What was supposed to take 5 minutes finally took 90 minutes, at a rate of 5-7 minutes per block. By now, you are probably asking yourself what happened - and you are correct. Usually, at times like this, I expect the ambulance beeping past cars in an effort to get to the collision zone. This was not the case. No ambulance, no fire department, no police. Just cars. What can it be? As I grew close, so did the intrigue, since there was no explanation popping up amidst the traffic.

I was only a block away from the Obelisco when it hit me: it can't be, was my initial reaction. But it was, alas, it was. As a way to commemorate the 100th (or 110th) anniversay of Argentina-Germany relationships, a few bright German companies (Osram, Allianz, etc.), sponsored by the lovely and considerate Buenos Aires government, decided to put up a concert stage IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE OF THE MAIN ARTERIES IN BUENOS AIRES (the Corrientes Avenue in the 9th of July). The traffic jam happened because cars could turn at approx. 1/5 of original capacity, meaning that a 15 minute ride could at the very least that 5 x as much.

During that day (the first day of Spring, a no-shool day) 3 second-rate models distributed condoms (german condoms?) to innocent bypassers who were starting Spring on a happy note. My beginning of Spring was miserable, thanks to German companies and a Government who sincerely does not care about its people. There was no way anyone with half a brain could ignore the impact of setting up the stage where it was. Now again, 50% of a brain is a lot to ask for ... even in a fictional Argentina!!!

Sunday Headline News in Argentina (September 23rd, 2007)

Politics is slowly creeping upon us all ... however, slowly is the key concept here. A month away from the general elections, Sunday papers - by far the most read of the week - still remain silent regarding the candidates and the elections overall. La Nación, as can be expected, makes some noise regarding campaign finance, but does not scream out foul or give out any names when you look at the big picture. Clarín looks the other way regarding local politics. Here it is, in more detail:

La Nación, as we mentioned some lines ago, has taken a mild swing at the leading Frente para la Victoria party by - in a very subtle manner - making accusations of using public spending money to finance campaigns. In fact, it should surpise noone by now that Cristina Kirchner, the president's wife and presidential candidate for October, has been travelling on our dime since the beginning of the year, and more than making concrete progress on any topic whatsoever, has looked for camera flashes to prove to everyone she (much more than her husband) can properly interact with international leaders.

So, more than anything, La Nación chose to highlight that particular issue, without putting any particular blame on anyone. On a sencond note, the typical sports news goes to the Argentinean Rugby Team, still advancing in the World Cup after beating Namibia 63 to 3. This paper's third piece of news details something which we started mentioning on August 22nd - the grueling task of carrying out any documentation request / change in a state dependency. It might take hours and you may not even do what you set out to do. There have been steps taken to solve this: to do certain requests in Buenos Aires' civil registration courts, you need to reserve a time-slot and date on the internet ... which I have done, just so we can have material for this blog :-)

Clarín went down another path. Instead of local politics, they decided to go for the big one: The Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands, for those of you who are Brits) and the English's pretense to enlarge the fishing exclusion zone around the much-controverted Islands (to those of you whose Argentinean history might be a bit loose, the last Argentinean military junta decided to go to war against England over ownership of the Malvinas ... and lost a humiliating and demeaning war 25 years ago). The way the world works nowadays, however, should see this particular dispute being settled behind the bureaucrats' desks instead of in the battlefield.

The second note is the same as La Nación: The much appraised Pumas. On a third and smaller note, President Kirchner is cited as having said that Iran must go to Justice over the AMIA bombing (during the 90's, hundreds of Jews were killed in a department city bombing using a van with large amounts of explosives - if memory serves me well). As Kirchner moves to and from Chavez and to and from the US, this type of issues gains extraordinary importance in determining Argentina's role in Latin America (as Chavez friend or international community ally) and the tone is set for the soon-to-be-elected government.

I will pray for more politics next week - until then, 'nuff said!

Sunday Headline News (September 16th, 2007)

Surprisingly enough, although general elections are 40 days away, there was barely any talk this Sunday of politics. Both La Nación and Clarín focused their attention on the one topic that can affect any President's well-being in Argentina: inflation. Price increases have in the past been the Achilles' heel of many presidents, and should not be overlooked as a potential make-or-break issue. This past week Martín Redrado, President of the Central Bank, mentioned in a meeting that he has "deeply worried" about inflation. This stirred quite a reaction on the President, who reprimanded him and asked him to clarify his comment. The obedient Redrado did as asked and he said "he meant he was as worried as any other CB President is about inflation" ...

La Nación chose to emphasize the interest rate increases that have taken place during the last few months (approx. +4/7%) and that makes mortgage lending an impossible activity - 10 year fixed rates jumped to approx. 17% per annum. The way the wording is built, it is meant to directly affect consumption also (adding to the inflation and making credit less available), which is the opposite of what society needs to continue stimulating private demand.

Side notes are related to sports and general news - the sports relates to the great Independiente, beating Colón de Santa Fé to reach the first standing in the Argentinean Apertura 2007 championship (until Boca also won and tied first standing). The piece of general news relates to how useful cell phones are to people (more than PCs, it appears according to a poll) and why teens go to see the doctor. Apparently, Sunday papers are running out of intersting things to say ... on to Clarín ...

Clarín decided to also showcase inflation, but on a very different note: how price increases also affect the Government's purchasing activities. If you ask me, it seems like somethig quite irrelevant to point out, since there's absolutely nothing people can do to avoid that - and taxes are not going down anytime soon, so the real question is: who cares and, even if we do, what can we do about it?

Clarín's typical sports news showcased Independiente's victory over Colón also; showing a picture of the championship's capo cannonieri, Germán Denis, with 11 goals in 9 games.

As for side notes, they were quite irrelevant also: a short policital note about politics in Argentina (oh, that reminds me and all teh readers that general elections are less than 45 days away!): all presidential candidates were elected without primaries - an astounding fact for US citizens, maybe, very used to primaries, but not for Argentineans.

The last note talks about the average argentinean: young and with a high school diploma. At the same time, as someone in the Media Observatory presentation last Thursday pointed out, they might have described their audience.

I promise I'll do next newscast sooner!

Kirchner minus 45

President Kirchner has less than 45 days left as our President. He has been the most favored president in the last 50 years, benefitting from absolutely optimal external conditions. He has managed, of course, to convince everyone that his wonderful administration skills were responsible for his success, not at all helped by factors over which he has no control.

He has spent the past few months boosting people's disposable income and he has governed by decrees as opposed to passing actual laws (executive decrees need to be ratified by Congress ex-post). He has done as he pleased and he has had four very belligerant years, picking fights against corporations, the military, Uruguay, the U.S.A., economists, the press, political opposition, the Church, etc. and not made many friends (Castro? Chavez?).

It seems very bizarre that a president voted by 22% of the people, who lost the first round to ex-president Menem, has amassed such a large amount of power. However, he has not looked to build beyond the short-term. His nearsightedness will have cost him and his successor a lot: not only have institutions not been built during his term, but they have been destroyed. For isntance, the National Statistics bureau (INDEC, see picture below), has been totally disacredited - even to trade-unionists - as presenting indicators which are plain false. His willingness to control statistics - because he lacked understanding of how to do things to affect reality instead of its measurements - shows to what extent he has failed. The very organism that should be portraying his success is put in doubt because of his attempts to look good. The biggest irony is that, in the end, no one really knows whether he was good or not, because he manipulated the entity which was in charge of doing so ...

Regardless, we will see if in 45 days, when he will leave (his wife in) power, what his real legacy, if any at all, was.

Trade-Unions & Power

Power corrupts. Ever since the return of a more "populist" style of presidency, trade-unions have been accumulating more and more power. It is, after all, one of the most direct ways for a president to make many workers happy at once. Whenever the balance of power in Argentina shifted towards the workers (usually, in presence of leftish governments), trade-union leaders have risen to the occasion and tried to snatch whatever power was available.

Inflation has added volatility to the alreadty turbulent environment created by a messy devaluation. It was the "asymetric" devaluation, unfair to most people and favorable to few, that validated the society's right to complain. The 2001-2002 cacerolazos were the result of many years of silence and economic recession, added to the restraints on money availability and ultimately confiscation of deposits (2,014 such manifestations between Dec '01 and March '02, as reported by Rosendo Fraga in www.nuevamayoria.com). But, as external favorable conditions became the wind beneath the economy's wings, and as opportune fiscal decisions taxed exports and restored fiscal health, the middle class returned silently to work.

Who remained behind? 3 groups mainly: the cartoneros, usually poor people picking up paper and cardboard and becoming part of the recycling chain; the piqueteros, a more extreme group of chronically-unemployed and semi-anarquists demanding state subsidies and usually unwilling to work, and a third group which appeared as the piqueteros lost their initial charme: trade unions. A more careful analysis might lead us to understand that trade-unions might well be ex-piqueteros or cartoneros, who now found a job and a new raison-d'etre. Others might have been there all along, waiting for the chance to re-claim the streets. However it may be, the truth of the matter is that 2005 saw more than 800 trade-union related claims, and 2006 close to 500. 90% of public manifestations cutting off roads came from groups other than piqueteros, who used to have monopoly of road-blocks.

The peso's devaluation and rising inflation gave unions the reasons they needed to make demands: workers need to recover purchasing power. In other words, we want increases above and beyond official inflation. This certainly created a problem for the government, also keen on keeping an eye on inflation in spite of its consumption-boosting, peso-flooding policies. As union leaders got closer to the government (Hugo Moyano, for instance, in photo below with President Kirchner), conflicts led to higher and more significant concessions in return for social peace. The government had promised business-owners that they would make money on larger quantities sold and not on higher prices, and having road-blocks and such certainly affected sales, so the government could not have that either. Also, as increases were negotiated with certain unions, others wanted the same or better conditions, which led to more manifestations. And, at the end of the day, white-collar workers alse needed rises to maintain basic relationships between white and blue collar salaries.

Companies are caught in the middle with higher labor costs and a rising demand for their products, at irrational prices sometimes. What to do? Increase prices, and face the government's anger (happened to Shell a few months ago). Do not increase prices and facec uneconomic results, even bankruptcy. The answer: a lot of creativity on behalf of businessmen and a lot of ingenuity from the government, thinking that they can fool all of the people all of the time.

Power corrupts. Inflation helps to create the proper conditions for strikes, road-blocks, public protest and ultimately corruption of the culture of hard work and sacrifice.

Sunday Headline News in Argentina (September 9th, 2007)

Unfortunately this was a busy, busy week where I was unable to post ... so here we are again with the Sunday newspaper report. Interesting weekend, this one, sort of showing society where the headlights will be pointed in the next weeks: the october presidential elections.

La Nación showcased the fact that there will be fourteen (14) presidential candidates for the people to choose from in October. This was known because during the week the official lists were closed and registered by the electoral authorities. Now, you might be asking yourself ... why fourteen candidates? True, most of them are minor candidates who won't reach even 1% of the votes. However, it comes to show just how disorganized the opposition is. There are at least three candidates who should be able to reach 10% of the votes: Lavagna (ex-Economy minister for Kirchner), Carrió (as always, going against the ruling party) and Lopez Murphy (timidly supported by Mauricio Macri, recently elected Mayor of Buenos Aires). All of these candidates together could stand a chance against Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the president's wife, first-lady, senator, and our official foreign representative (recently travelled on Argentina's dime to Brazil, France, Mexico, U.S.A., ...), who is supposed to reach any number above 30-35%.
Secondary news include the Argentinean rugby victory over France and the decrease in economic optimism, as well as the US workers' shorter holidays due to longer work weeks.

Clarín also started the week on a political note, although on a different tone: President Kirchner has decided to send out his troops (i.e., his current ministers) to present themselves as candidates to different official posts. It is a more personal perspective on the same political newstype, outlining Kirchner's authoritative figure and presenting him clearly as "the man behind the curtains", even if his wife becomes our next president.

The secondary news goes to Los Pumas, the same as the other paper we are analyzing. The victory over the French national team was a great boost to Argentine morale, specially at a time when Lofreda's team was undergoing much public scrutiny.

On a distant third level of importance come the investigation on a union officer (and his alleged bank accounts outside the country) and the recent increase of mortgage-rates (fixed rates are close to 15-17% per annum ...).

However it may be, the political tone has been set, and will most likely remain throughout the 8 weeks or so until the election. Who will be the media's candidate? We will see that during September ...

Sunday Headline News in Argentina (September 2nd 2007)

Nothing too wild going on this weekend in the top two newspapers: they shared (as is usual during weekends) the news that Argentina has classified to the Pekin Olympic games in basketball beating our (soccer) arch-rival and friendly neighbor Brazil. Then, each paper decided to focus on two very different news:

La Nación decided to look at a local political topic: the upcoming national elections (in less than two months). The comment stresses the large amount of positive economic announcements - all tending to increase disposable income - that the government has been making as the end of campaign grows near. On a more secondary note, the Papeleras conflict with (used-to-be-friendly) Uruguay is mentioned, as peaceful negotiations are about to be carried out. Lastly, there is also a column on the elections in two of the most relevant electoral districtrs after the Province and City of Buenos Aires: Santa Fé and Córdoba.


Clarín decides to stress the conflict with Uruguay over newly-constructed paper-mill Botnia as the number one item (as was during all of 2006, according to the news ranking published in the Observador de Medios http://observador-de-medios.blogspot.com ), and does so on a pessimistic tone, while also mentioning the elections in Santa Fé and Córdoba as relevant news as a prelude to the nationals in October.


Until next week, 'nuff said!