"A Week in Buenos Aires" a Buenos Aires Travel Page by travelmad478

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In 1997, I spent a week in Buenos Aires as part of a business school course on South American economics and business. This was my first experience in Latin America, and besides giving me an opportunity to improve my disastrous Spanish, the trip gave me great new knowledge about the economy, society, and culture of Argentina. I wish I had more good photos of Buenos Aires, which is a very attractive city--the few I took are posted here.

As I write this, Argentina is embroiled in the worst economic and political crisis that the country has seen in decades. It is very distressing to see, not least because the people of Argentina are suffering greatly, but also because it seems like such an unnecessary catastrophe. In 1997, although there were certainly longstanding problems with high unemployment and a lack of development in the banking sector, the general mood was very positive and the Argentine economy was considered to be quite strong. Four years later, a combination of external and internal factors have brought this thriving economy and democracy to fiscal and constitutional collapse. This collapse was by no means unavoidable or unexpected. But by this point, it is hard to see how Argentina can climb out of this mire in a reasonable time frame. What is easy to see is that both the country's politicians and its external lenders are never going to resolve Argentina's problems without taking a long, cold-blooded, and harsh look at how they manage their finances.