Re: Realistische Crash-Szenarien - welche Realität?

verfasst von Popeye, 15.06.2002, 10:28

Argentines cling to last pesos
ATMs are empty, banks are closed, and the economics minister has
resigned.
By Colin Barraclough | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
BUENOS AIRES - Argentina is suddenly the world's largest laboratory
for a cashless society.

Since the Argentine government took the extraordinary step of
closing the nation's banking system last weekend, the country's 36
million people have been plunged abruptly into penury. Automatic
teller machines are empty. Bank doors are bolted shut. Perhaps for
the first time in Argentina's history, lawyers and laborers, models and
maids are experiencing a similar hardship.

"People who were planning to go to Europe
can't even go to the supermarket now," says
Verónica Palmieri, a leading fashion
illustrator.

The streets of Buenos Aires are normally
teeming with night life. But an eerie quiet
has settled on the capital, as diners,
theater-goers, and party animals opt to stay
home to save their pesos."This is a
disaster," explodes Omar Vlacich, a taxi
driver, after hours of vainly trolling the streets
in search of a customer."It's so quiet, it's
like the city died."

With no access to cash, Argentina's
sophisticated and cosmopolitan middle
classes are turning to the country's
fastexpanding barter clubs, once the
preserve of the jobless and desperate, to
survive. The national daily newspaper Clarín
ran a cover story recently when a barter club
opened in Barrio Norte, one of the most
upscale neighborhoods in the capital.

Many saw the event as yet another sign of
the death of the middle class."A new group
is emerging from the middle class in
Argentina," says Sylvia Baez, a charity
worker."They're hungry, they have
inadequate clothing, and they have anguish
in their faces. We call them the 'new poor.'"

Until this week, the country's four-year recession has hurt most
deeply those on the bottom rungs of society. With the jobless total
reaching 20 percent, a currency whose value has plummeted by
some 70 percent since January, and a threadbare welfare benefits
system, real hunger has appeared for the first time in Latin America's
second largest economy.

President Eduardo Duhalde halted all banking operations and
foreign-exchange transactions, effectively closing the banks.
Yesterday, Argentina's Senate voted to strengthen the banking
freeze. Argentines have been going to court to gain access to their
money. The legislation will allow the government to appeal any court
ruling before the depositor can receive their money.

Mr. Duhalde had hoped the freeze would help prop up the country's
banking system, reeling from the outflow of about $100 million a day
as depositors sought to withdraw their savings before the value of the
Argentine peso plummeted further.

But the move has inflicted hardship on all levels of Argentine society.
"Even the privileged are feeling the pain now," says Ms. Baez, the
charity worker.

"We'll survive, but it's not going to be easy," says Juan Maciel, a
prominent lawyer."I have seven employees depending on me, as well
as the laborers at my dairy farm, and my family, of course. I'll try to
give them each enough to survive for four or five days, but the truth is
that I don't have much cash left."

Argentines have already endured a five-month partial banking freeze
that has limited cash withdrawals to about $500 a month. The
president's economy minister, Jorge Remes Lenicov, devised a plan
to convert bank deposits into low-interest five- to 10-year bonds in
lieu of cash, effectively forcing Argentines to lend to the government.

The plan collapsed in disarray on Tuesday when Remes resigned
after failing to win political backing for his project. Argentina is
seeking $9 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund to
help stabilize the economic crisis. Testifying before the US Congress
Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill expressed concern that
Argentina wasn't on the right track.

"I'm not eating much at the moment," says Sidney Page, a sculptor
and film student."I've eaten almost everything in the fridge. The only
place I can afford is the discounted food section at the local
supermarket, and I have no idea how long I can afford to go even
there."

The country's cash shortage has become so acute that many of the
immigrants who once flocked to Argentina for work from Paraguay,
Bolivia, and Peru have opted to return home.

Others are just scraping by."I have 50 pesos ($16) in cash, which
might last me for two weeks if I'm careful," says Dionisia Acuña, a
Paraguayan who works as a maid for a prosperous Buenos Aires
family."I can't ask my boss for more because she has no cash
either."

Even those too poor to hold a bank account are feeling the pressure.
Susanna Ortega, a homeless mother of two, spends her days
rummaging through trash cans for food, or anything else of value."I
usually ask around for money, or ask at shops if they can spare
some meat or bread," she says."No one can spare anything at the
moment. I've run out of diapers for the kids, so we're using old rags at
the moment."

With a touch of desperation, some Argentines are searching for
meaning in their new poverty. Many take heart from a renewed sense
of community, as neighbors and even strangers learn to depend on
each other. Others draw parallels with their pioneering ancestors,
mainly dirt-poor immigrants from southern Europe, who survived and
sometimes prospered through frugal living and constant struggle.

For some, however, impotence in the face of governmental
mismanagement is just too much to bear."For sanity's sake, I prefer
to to be disconnected from the news," says Sidney Page."I don't
want to read a newspaper or watch TV. It's better not to know what's
coming next."


<ul> ~ http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0426/p01s03-woam.html</ul>
<center>

<HR>

</center>

Thread gesperrt

 

gesamter Thread:

• Realistische Crash-Szenarien - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 10:01
  • Re: Realistische Crash-Szenarien - welche Realität? - Popeye, 15.06.2002, 10:28
  • Re: Realistische Crash-Szenarien - oder vielleicht diese Realität? (owT) - Popeye, 15.06.2002, 10:59
    • Re: Frohe Botschaft - Argentinier wühlen nicht mehr im Müll - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 13:29
  • Re: Realistische Crash-Szenarien - patrick, 15.06.2002, 11:41
    • Also: 'Kohl und Rüben' - mella, 15.06.2002, 13:05
    • Re: Realistische Crash-Szenarien: je nach Land sehr verschieden! - Ecki1, 15.06.2002, 14:28
  • Re: Hier die Ãœbersetzung des Artikels vom Mises Institut - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 12:50
    • Re: Aus wirtschaftlicher Not Hoffnung schöpfen? Absurd! - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 13:52
      • Re: Aus wirtschaftlicher Not Hoffnung schöpfen? Absurd! - Diogenes, 15.06.2002, 14:06
        • Für wen ist Tauschgesellschaft eine Hoffnung? - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 16:07
          • Re: Für wen ist Tauschgesellschaft eine Hoffnung? - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 16:16
            • Arbeitskraft gegen Arbeitskraft? - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 16:29
              • Re: Arbeitskraft gegen Arbeitskraft? - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 17:04
          • Wie sich Selbstorganisation und arbeitsteilige Wirtschaft verbinden lassen. - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 16:23
            • Re: Wie sich Selbstorganisation.. hatten wir das nicht schon mal? Damals nannte - Popeye, 15.06.2002, 17:37
              • Hat sich so genannt. - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 17:58
                • Re: Hat sich so genannt. Gegendarstellung!(Die Sieger schreiben die Geschichte) - Popeye, 15.06.2002, 18:11
                  • Re: Nicht Politik, sondern Wirtschaft - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 20:22
                    • Re: Nicht Politik, sondern Wirtschaft - Nachgedacht! - Popeye, 15.06.2002, 21:09
                      • Re: Selbstorganisation durch Zwang? - Wal Buchenberg, 15.06.2002, 21:47
          • Re: Für wen ist Tauschgesellschaft eine Hoffnung? - Diogenes, 16.06.2002, 11:52
      • Re: Aus wirtschaftlicher Not Hoffnung schöpfen? Absurd! - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 16:10
    • Eigentlich müsste dottore hier mitdiskutieren - R.Deutsch, 15.06.2002, 17:05
      • Re: Eigentlich müsste dottore hier mitdiskutieren - Ecki1, 16.06.2002, 12:23
  • Re: Von Gold, Stückelungen und Creditos - Theo Stuss, 15.06.2002, 18:23
    • Re: Von Gold, Stückelungen und Creditos: Qualitätssicherung erforderlich - Ecki1, 16.06.2002, 12:45