Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina

America

This is a history lesson. It happened in Argentina, it

could happen in the U.S.
In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest
countries in the world. While Great Britain’s maritime power
and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant
position among the world’s industrialized nations, only the
United States challenged Argentina for the position of the
world’s second-most powerful economy.
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Like the United States, Argentina was blessed
with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich
farmland laced with navigable rivers, and an
accessible port system. Its level of
industrialization was higher than many
European countries; railroads, automobiles,
and telephones were commonplace.
In 1916, Argentina elected a new
president. Hipólito Irigoyen had
formed a party called The Radicals
under the banner of “fundamental
change” with an appeal to the middle
class.
Among Irigoyen’s changes:
mandatory pension insurance,
mandatory health insurance, and
support for low-income housing
construction to stimulate the
economy. Put simply, the state
assumed economic control of a vast
swath of the country’s operations and
began assessing new payroll taxes to
fund its efforts.
With an increasing flow of funds into
these entitlement programs, the
government’s payouts soon became
overly generous. Before long its
outlays surpassed the value of the
taxpayers’ contributions. Put simply,
it quickly became under-funded,
much like the United States’ Social
Security and Medicare programs.
The death knell for the Argentine
economy, however, came with the
election of Juan Perón. Perón had a
fascist and corporatist upbringing; he
and his charismatic wife, Eva, aimed
their populist rhetoric at the nation’s
rich.
This targeted group “swiftly expanded to
cover most of the propertied middle
classes, who became an enemy to be
defeated and humiliated.”
Under Perón, the size of government
bureaucracies exploded through massive
programs of social spending and by
encouraging the growth of labor unions.
High taxes and economic
mismanagement took their inevitable
toll even after Perón had been driven
from office. However, his populist
rhetoric and “contempt for economic
realities” lived on. Argentina’s
federal government continued to
spend far beyond its means.
Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the
final stage of a process characterized
by “industrial protectionism,
redistribution of income based on
increased wages, and growing state
intervention in the economy…”
The Argentinian government’s
practice of printing money to pay off
its public debts had crushed the
economy. Inflation hit 3000%,
reminiscent of the Weimar Republic.
Food riots were rampant; stores were
looted; the country descended into
chaos.
By 1994, Argentina’s public pensions
— the equivalent of Social Security —
had imploded. The payroll tax had
increased from 5% to 26%, but it was
not enough. In addition, Argentina
had implemented a value-added tax
(VAT), new income taxes, a personal
tax on wealth, and additional
revenues based upon the sale of
public enterprises. These crushed the
private sector, further damaging the
economy.
A government-controlled “privatization”
effort to rescue seniors’ pensions was
attempted. However, by 2001, those
funds had also been raided by the
government, the monies replaced by
Argentina’s defaulted government bonds.
By 2002, “…government fiscal
irresponsibility… induced a national
economic crisis as severe as
America’s Great Depression.”
In 1902, Argentina was one of the
world’s richest countries. Little
more than a hundred years later, it is
poverty-stricken, struggling to meet
its debt obligations amidst a drought.
The Democrat
Party’s populist
plans for the U.S.
cannot possibly
work, because
government
bankrupts
everything it
touches. History
teaches us that
ObamaCare and
unfunded
entitlement
programs will be
utter, complete
disasters.
The Democrat Party leaders of today are
guilty of more than stupidity; they are
enslaving future generations to poverty and
misery. And they will be long gone when it all
implodes. They will be as cold and dead as
Juan Perón when the piper must ultimately be
paid.
 DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA
It won't be easy, you'll think it
strange Sung by Madonna
When I try to explain how I feel
And as for fortune, and as for fame
That I still need your love after all I
I never invited them in
have done
Though it seemed to the world
You won't believe me
They were all I desired
All you will see is a girl you once
They are illusions
knew
They're not the solutions they
Although she's dressed up to the
promised to be,
nines
The answer was here all the time
At sixes and sevens with you
I love you and hope you love me
I had to let it happen, I had to
{au Refrain}
change
Couldn’t stay all my life down at heel
Don't cry for me Argentina
Looking out of the window,
The truth is I never left you
staying out of the sun
All through my wild days my mad
So I chose freedom
existence
Running around trying everything
I kept my promise
new
Don't keep your distance
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to
Have I said too much?
There's nothing more
{Refrain:}
I can think of to say to you
Don't cry for me Argentina
But all you have to do is look at me
The truth is I never left you
To know that every word is true
All through my wild days my mad
{au Refrain}
existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance

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