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Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Argentina: A History of dashed hopesWhen we see and hear about problems in one of the richest countries in Latin America, Argentina, we hardly imagine how it was that only some 60 year ago it has been among the richest countries on the planet. In fact it was the fifth richest following by close distance the leaders of that time, the United States, Canada, Britain and Germany. At that time people in Argentina were slightly richer than the Australians, and more than 3 times richer than the Japanese. The government of Argentina was so overconfident in the future of the nation that it refused arrogantly to allow thousands of Germans to settle down just after the WWII, claiming that it has no room for "human scum". In relative economic terms the average Argentineans today live slightly better than some 60 years ago. They stand far behind the present leaders and are behind even some of those they looked upon with arrogance 2-3 generations ago. Why is that country so rich as Argentina has become a sick man? Why is it trapped in the history and does it have any chances to regain its past glory? The crisis of identity, which path of development to follow began in the far-away 1929, immediately after the NYSE collapsed. A country that depended so much on exports saw its foreign markets dry out as traditional consumers like Europe closed their imports. A new, then seeming as very promising economic policy, was adopted that turned Argentina inward, away from the mainstream world capitalism. The so-called Import Substitute Industrialization (ISI) was intended to dash the dependence of the country from the industrial consumer goods imports. These goods had to be produced locally and the local raw resources found quickly new markets in the booming domestic economy. Instead of being dependent on the foreign consumer goods, Argentina like many other Latin American countries became dependent on their machinery exports and above all on their financial credit lines. Argentinean industry from the very onset wasn't intended to compete on the global scale; it had to satisfy the local demands only. The heavy reliance on exporting food and the raw materials after the WWII led to unpleasant surprises when the prices began fluctuating and traditional markets like Europe began implementing protectionist economic policies since 1960's. Argentina had no fresh money to finance its ambitious industrial programs so it turned toward borrowing from the easy petrodollars that saturated the European and American banks after the oil shocks of early 1970's. When Ronald Reagan started its economic policy of high interest rates and strong dollar in 1981-82 Argentina became technically bankrupt. It is so ever since. To make money and to get investments it has to guarantee the investors good environment through a stable currency. Doing that it overvalues its currency and soon finds itself short of dollars to pay the bills. A much needed devaluation temporary clears the way by ruining millions of average Argentineans and then a new financial cycle begins with a known end. When the most recent financial crisis began, a part of this 60-year long identity stagnation, the prices in dollar terms went down. By making suggestions that the prices are down we didn't want to create impression that the properties have become free by any standards. Our suggestion was that after a devaluation of more than 100%, the logic of former financial cycles in Argentina suggests that the investors can expect good returns if they decide to invest and are ready to get away before the next crisis, which will happen some years from now. Some people going to Buenos Aires were unpleasantly surprised to find out that houses and apartments aren't free, so they concluded that any investment is illogic. For sure if we compare Buenos Aires with many other pleasant destinations around the world, it will look expensive even after devaluation. But if we consider not the other options for investment but compare to the past price levels in the same city, we'll conclude that the investment was worth immediately after the last crisis and it's perhaps still so, although with lesser returns. The market is quickly regaining its past levels and it's impossible to tell for how long this advice will hold. Argentina during the last 60 years was a country of dashed hopes for many, but some, predicting the exact timing of investments and sell-outs have made fortunes out of the mess.
Argentina profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Argentina.
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