The difference is that Argentina was not a major export market for much of the rest of the world.
I'm amazed that people continue to ignore this elephant-sized fact. This country is going to suffer because of the credit and overconsumption binge, not because the economy produces nothing of value. Yet I continually see comments (not from redstar necessarily) that either implicitly or explicitly claim that the US "makes nothing."
The medium term is what makes or breaks the US. When our standard of living is reduced to that of Western Europe (or lower), are we still going to put half of our national treasure into the military? If so, we're doomed. If not, and that money goes into education and other social goods, our long term prospects look on par or better than Europe's due to our relative isolation from the coming volatility in Asia and better placement to exploit alternative energy.
Until that gets sorted out (nuke the planet, or roll back to regional military power), each forthcoming presidential election will be considered "the most important in history."
you are the media you consume.
In any event, the Argentina crisis turned out relatively ok, and many previously shuttered manufacturers re-opened when the Austral dumped the USD peg and became competitive with Brazilian and Uruguayan suppliers. In some cases, the plants were taken over by workers, also a good thing.
For my part, the militarism will end up being the biggest problem, and given the upcoming correction, the likely source of future unrest. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
the lower you are on the SES scale the more you're going to suffer
Yes, and while the European safety net really helps it won't ultimately stem the tide of the same trends. Your job skills are an increasing component of your future prospects with country of birth rapidly declining in importance. The middle class will continue to shrink as the number of people required to run the world economy declines. I don't know that dwindling energy supplies necessarily change that, either, I think the world economy will simply shrink. The difference for the poor will probably be having to work in the fields rather than going to the food bank. Those employed in manufacture will be able to scrape by on a bare urban lifestyle, while current tech/knowledge workers will occupy the middle class. Then the usual parasites on top. Essentially everyone moves down a half or full step on the ladder, with the poorest in the 3rd world disappearing. For my own prospects, I might have to be flexible enough to work in SE Asia for a while.
When our standard of living is reduced to that of Western Europe (or lower)
You're being sarcastic, right? Or are you talking GDP? -----sapere aude
We don't have a huge concentration of billionaires to skew the mean, but we do have - at least we used to have - a much less extreme income distribution curve.
(I was trying to avoid the "GDP"-"standard of living"-"measurements"-"perception"-"quality of life"-"damnyankee"-"oldeurope" discussion as well. No good can come of that. Sorry if I came across as snarky! :)) -----sapere aude
