Insight: The big money bails on Argentina - again

[Zorro]

More than a decade after Argentina's epic financial collapse of 2001-02, many investors are rushing for the door once again.

From big Chinese and Brazilian companies like miner Vale SA, to small-business owners and savers, the fear of a new crisis has led to canceled investments and suitcases of cash leaving the country.

The mass exodus, which has been limited only by leftist President Cristina Fernandez's capital controls, is threatening to undermine Latin America's No. 3 economy even further by leaving it short of hard currency and new jobs.

The underlying problems range from Fernandez's hostile treatment of the private sector, to severe financial distortions such as a parallel exchange rate, to the general feeling that Argentina is due for one of the periodic spasms that have racked the country every 10 years or so going back to the 1930s.

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-big-money-bails-argentina-again-050621104.html

[Benton D Struckcheon]

1. People still put money in that place?

Unbelievable.

Best comment I ever saw on Argentina, from a financial writer on their bonds (from memory, not an exact quote, but you'll get the point): If you want to trade in Argentine bonds (surely no one invests there?)...

The malbec is good though. I help their current account out every chance I get in that way. Highly liquid though. Liquidity is key.

[naaman fletcher]

2. Yup

That is pretty much all I drink in the US.

I just got back from a month in panama and there you can get Argentinian boxed wine for 2.50 per litre that is really quite good. Not as good as the 10 dollar Malbecs I buy here in the US, but at that price I can't resist in Panama.