As an Argentinian, here are my two cents on this matter:<p>1) From reading this article, one could asume commercial
and financial regulations change by the hour, while in
fact is the opposite.<p><pre><code> We have a gargantuan commercial code of byzantine
complexity that has not really been modified in the
last 50 years.
We also have a terribly regressive and unfair tax
system that includes 21% VAT even for food products
and wealth tax even for salaried employees with
more than 1400 dollars of monthly income.
</code></pre>
2) It is my sincere wish, from the bottom of my heart,
that "entrepreneurs" (I doubt they deserve the honor
if being called that) who operate "en negro" rot in
jail.
They are bringing all of us down with their disregard
for the rule of law and they are increasing the costs
of doing bussiness for those of us who pay taxes.<p><pre><code> Regardless of the recurrent crises, starting up a
successful tech company here is possible, as proven
by Globant, OfficeNet, MercadoLibre, et al.</code></pre>
My in-laws left Argentina 30 years ago and still have much of their family there. I showed this article to them and their reply was simply, "the US is heading this way. We've seen this movie, and we don't like the way it ends."
My 2 cents :)
The article gets right both the inflation and the corruption problems in Argentina. However, it seems to be a bit biased, as it shows only one real case of success and several failures, and the fact that one of the interviewees is the son of a former Minister of Economy of Argentina (Domingo Cavallo), whose economical model was the main cause of the 2001 crisis, which the author seems to have forgotten to mention in the article.
I've worked in both argentinean and US founded companies here in Argentina, and the reality, at least from my experience, is that the economic environment isn't as hostile as the article describes. I've been in companies that made millions (dollars, btw) and I've also seen some that lost everything (specially in the 2001 crisis), but the truth is Argentina is a cheap country for investment and with a lot of highly qualified man power. I have to agree, investing in Argentina is kind of a bet, and making your company work well involves a lot of work, but, specially if your objective is to export the product/service, it might provide an awesome ROI.
I thought this part was pretty funny:<p>> "...I wasn't going to put all of my risk in Latin America again in my life." At the end of 2002, he left the company and moved his family to Miami.<p>I think Miami is a lot more Latin American than Buenos Aires.
Thank god Uruguay's not Argentina. This article is why i've refused to open up an office on the other side of the river. Argentina's an amazing country where just about every institution in society is in some sort chaotic collapse.
A big problem is the lack of regulation, IMO. That owner who is doing things "en negro" hurts the rest of the country and should be fined accordingly. Since no one takes a big step forward to stop it, people see their colleges do it and the trend continues.<p>Inflation is also pretty bad, but I don't think it falls completely on the shoulder of the Government. Some items are simply overpriced. I'm not talking between a big store and a simple corner store, I mean between two big chains you can see price differences of 50% or more sometimes. Again, taking advantage of the lack of regulation.<p>And we don't all see the U.S. as THE economic model, far from it.
Does anyone think that something like bitcoin could help these people out? It seems like the government there is not doing its job and providing infrastructure to conduct business. Why not use a distributed payment system?
It's surprising that business owners are complaining about inflation. I always thought its the fixed salaried employees who usually complain (because their salaries don't scale as fast as the inflation).