Thursday, September 18, 2014

Russia Risks Going the Way of Argentina

Russia become Argentina in economy?

In the second half of the 20th century, Argentina experienced a major economic disaster, and yet amazingly, it passed virtually unnoticed by the population. How did that happen?
Gross domestic product is the key indicator of economic development and the standard of living. In 1950, Argentina's GDP was equal to the average GDP of Europe's 12 leading powers and about half of the U.S. GDP. That made Argentina one of the world's developed countries.
However, that picture changed radically by 2000 when Argentina's GDP dropped from 74 percent of Sweden's to just 40 percent, from 154 percent of Italy's to just 44 percent, from being equal to the average GDP of Europe's 12 leading powers to just 41 percent of that average, and to just 29 percent of U.S. GDP. That pushed Argentina down to the status of a developing nation.
How did that go unnoticed? In short, because nothing much changed in the country over those years. Argentineans lived, worked and took part in politics. Argentinean society gave birth to a great body of literature that brought as much glory to the country as 19th-century Russian literature brought fame to this country. The Argentinean football team won the World Cup twice.
Of course, the country had hard times, too. For six years a general ruled Argentina with a "strong arm" and enforced order in both the economy and the country's spiritual life. Waves of discontent swept society, but the country carried on and managed to keep from falling apart. In fact, Argentina never suffered a single major political disaster in all of that time.

INC News, 18/09/2014

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