Letters to the Editor: Argentina's Record is Nothing to Be Proud of
by Steve H. Hanke
November 16, 2002
Steve H. Hanke is a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
From Prof Steve H. Hanke.
Sir, Mario Blejer's self-congratulatory piece rings hollow ("Argentina claws its way back from the abyss", November 14).
While an official at Argentina's central bank, Mr Blejer watched with seeming indifference as the convertibility system was abandoned and asymmetric "pesofication" was imposed.
Now, after those acts of multi-billion-dollar plunder, Mr Blejer sounds like the proverbial proud firefighter. You know, the one who turns a blind eye while an arsonist torches a building, and then, while standing over the smouldering ashes, proudly proclaims: "We have stabilised the inferno. It's time to collect the insurance and rebuild."
This article originally appeared in The Financial Times on November 16, 2002.