I mean, you gotta love those profitizations: sweetheart deals that entitled privatized firms to receive hefty subsidies indefinitely, as was the case of the railways, with no enforcement of investment (or even fee) obligations in return. That's "free market reform" for you.

To put in broader context, around $24 billion were earned by privatizations in Argentina during the 1990s. But around $15 billion of that was in the form of Brady Bonds that were worth 60 cents or less on the dollar, meaning that the Argentine state earned at most $18 billion (most of which went to debt repayment, at 10% interest, anyway).

A Bank of England audit requested by Menem himself, found that Argentina's 300 state-owned enterprises had $1 trillion in assets at the time the privatization drive began in 1990 (!).

Nice work if you can get it!

He's a slick one, all right.

They could have used him working for Argentina, rather than himself and his patrons.

Simply ghastly.

Thanks for the real news. Wow.

That figure was so high because it included underground oil, gas, and some mineral resources owned by YPF, YCF, Gas del Estado, Minera Carolina, etc. That's were the best "deals" were probably made, and you'll be happy to know all except Carolina and part of the gas company have been recovered.

Even taking that into account, the $24 billion (somewhat less if you include built-in Brady Bond losses) was less than half of the privatized firms' book value. At the time this was justified with the rationale that by letting them plunder a little, foreign investment would "pour in." ( )

Qué será.

So sad, and they do it again, and again.

So good to learn there was a recovery. Thanks.