Grekland och Argentina

I New York Times finns idag en intressant artikel av en argentinsk skribent om hur man kan se på likheten mellan när Argentina ställde in betalningarna på sina lån 2001 och det som kan komma om Grekland gör detsamma.

Först:

When President Adolfo Rodríguez Saá told Congress on Dec. 23, 2001 that “the Argentine state will suspend the payment of its foreign debt,” legislators jumped to their feet with joy. Their cheering quickly morphed into a chant of “Ar-gen-ti-na! Ar-gen-ti-na!”

Sedan:

The sense of triumph was short-lived. A week after announcing the default, Mr. Rodríguez Saá resigned. Soon, Argentina lurched into nightmarish chaos.

Economic activity was paralyzed, supermarket prices soared and pharmaceutical companies withdrew their products as the peso lost three-quarters of its value against the dollar. With private medical insurance firms virtually bankrupt and the public health system on the brink of collapse, badly needed drugs for cancer, H.I.V. and heart conditions soon became scarce. Insulin for the country’s estimated 300,000 diabetics disappeared from drugstore shelves. With the economy in free fall, about half the country’s population was below the poverty line. The country’s middle class took to the streets by the tens of thousands with pots and pans held high, clanging them in what became the echoing beat to Argentina’s 2002 social collapse. “From now on, I sleep with my casserole beneath my bed,” said one woman, proudly proclaiming her commitment to the protest movement. A run on the banks had already forced the resource-starved government to enact the most draconian economic measures in Argentina’s history. Savings accounts totaling $66 billion were frozen across the country.