Hits and Misses: Traffic and Economics

I was involved in my first bus crash this week, and I nearly got hit by a bus the very next day. Thus ends a week of near-misses in Buenos Aires.

The bus crash was not at all my fault, my favoured Line 61 got blind-sided by a taxi halfway up Avenida Pueyredon, fortunately for the bus, due to it’s size and weight, it came off little the worse for wear. The Taxi, whose complete fault it was, had to be towed. No-one was injured seriously that I could see, but a few people in my bus were thrown to the floor, gaining cuts and bruises in the process.

In a way it was synonymous with the current economic woes in Argentina; which is currently being described by the Economist as ‘creeping towards normality’. I thought it might be worthwhile to give a very brief run down of what is going on.

Here is an indication of how inflation has affected prices of every day things, like beer:

In 2001, 1 litre of beer cost 1 peso. In 2001, US$1 would get you 3 pesos.

In 2014, 1 litre of beer costs 10 pesos. In 2014, US$1 will get you between 8 and 11 pesos, depending on which rate you use. (See ‘Getting my head around Buenos Aires’ for an explanation of the two exchange rates).

In other terms, if it was the year 2000 you were contemplating retirement around the year 2005, and had put away 1 million pesos. It was worth about US$300,000 dollars. A tidy stash for the rest of your life. However, by 2005, that same amount would have halved in actual value, to around US$160,000, and today, it would be worth less than US$100,000. While this might still sound substantial, it is not when you consider that everything else, including beer increased in price by up to 1000%. Further to this, the government has constantly withheld growth, inflation and CPI data, which frustrates the populace and has kept them in the dark.

The reasons behind this inflation are bloody complicated, and I do not fully understand it myself. Here are some good articles if you want to check it out further: http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2014/02/inflation-argentina  = a good recent recap of what has happened. http://www.trust.org/item/20140124203247-npz5c/ = a quick history of economic woes in Argentina.

In general everyday life it is really interesting and often times sad to speak to Argentinians about this. They are proud, as they should be, of much of their country. However there is a sense of embarrassment as to how poorly the economy and government has been faring. In 1910, Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, more so than Australia. Now, it has massive wealth disparity, poverty and unfortunately it appears as if there will be more hard times in the near future. 

Much of my university degree was spent researching, writing about, regurgitating and reiterating the fact that Latin America had been through an immensely tumultuous century and, indeed, history. It has surreal being able to see what 80 years of instability can do to a population, and the angst that is still present. From the signs that read ‘Las Mavinas son Argentinos’ (The Falkland Islands are ours. Let it go guys, seriously. You already fought and lost that war), to ‘El gobierno es el Mafioso y CFK es el diablo’ (should be able to work that one out; CFK is the President, diablo is the devil). 

This Thursday there is a city wide strike planned for all transport services. Bus, train, subway and taxis will all not work for the day which effectively stops the city. As such, classes and work will not occur for, and it has been recommended to me to stay out of the city centre where protesters are expected to clash with police.

Interesting, yet sad, times.

Yes, I realise that this post is slightly lacking in personal information, so in the next few days I will be uploading my stories and photos of the past week which include:
– First successful party at our place
– The second largest opera theatre in the southern hemisphere
– Wine tasting at the Australian Embassy

Stay tuned!

Hugh

‘Life is a book; those who refuse to travel have only read the first page’