Fun Facts About Argentina

Greece and the sovereign debt crisis

Don’t let the overlong title put you off; for a while, I thought it might be a nationalist polemic against the Germans or international speculators. But Mr Manolopoulos is actually a hedge fund manager who takes a very clear-headed view of the crisis. Blame is spread liberally around, with his fellow citizens taking their share. On Greek corruption, there is a nice list of fun facts, such as: 321 dead individuals over 100 were receiving a pension; 324 homeowners in northern Athens said they had a swimming pool but 16,974 were detected by satellite photography; and (best of all) although Lake Kopais was drained 53 years ago, a staff of 30 full-time civil servants still manage its “affairs”.

The combination of a currency link and weak economic policies doomed Greece to its eventual crisis. But the author entertaining recounts the long series of denials by EU officials, Greek politicians and investment banks. In November 2009, HSBC said that “Greece is no Iceland or Dubai” while Societe Generale said in December that “This current bout of nervousness around GGBs (Greek government bonds) will not go far” dismissing the sceptics with the line “Pigs can fly and Armageddon could be for tomorrow. Just silly talk.” As late as January 2010, Joaquin Almunia, then the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, was declaring of Greece that

Two elements here:

1. Everyone knew going in that that Greek economy was dysfunctional. The idea that the Greek debt suddenly surprised European financial experts is laughable. That the government-supplied debt numbers at the time Greece joined the EU were gross underestimates was well-known and publicized at the time. The EU went forward with Greek acceptance because nothing was more important to them than expanding the union. Any petty details - like the Greek debt-bomb - would not be allowed to stand in the way. The EU is a movement, and movements must expand or die.

2. Any culpability of outsiders - national banks, hedge funds, ratings agencies - could not exist were it not for the primary failure of the Greek people to run a functioning state. Greece really isn't a state - any more than a prison is a city. A state is a positive, functioning entity. Greece is only a state in the failed-state sense. When - as is true elsewhere in the world - the person who pays taxes is considered a fool, the state cannot function.

Many years ago now I heard an American journalist interviewed on the radio. He had spent a year or two working out of Greece. He said that it was every Greek's dream to find a 'Godfather' who could get him a government job. This would mean showing up at the office at 10:00 AM, leaving at 12:00 noon for lunch, and not returning. Compare this to Greek-Americans, who are well known for their ethic of hard work and entrepreneurship. It seems as if all those with ambition and work ethic ( and thus self-respect) emigrate! When the avoidance of work and responsibility is what young adults aspire to, what you get is today's hopeless Greece.

Ten Interesting Facts about Living in Argentina - Global Freedom ...

It is easy enough to find out the basic facts about a country if you are thinking about living abroad – the average cost of living, crime rate, systems of health and education – all those are relatively easily accessible. What is harder to research are the small things that make one country so different from another – those little things that can either make you mad or make you laugh but which definitely contribute to the whole rich experience of living as an ex-pat. So, in no particular order here are my observations on some of the idiosyncrasies of life in Argentina.

Action Figures, Paintings of Fun, Daring, and Adventure

Frommer's Argentina

Frommer's Argentina & Chile

Technology review

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