*107,000 jobs lost in Macri's first 100 days in office in Argentina. The equivalent of 800,000 jobs lost in the U.S.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110848391

http://www.democraticunderground.com/111676969

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110848341

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110847442

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110848162

His rationale is that since inflation data were widely believed to be understated no data at all should be released until September or so.

This is of course absurd because the only data was ever seriously called into question, were those on consumer prices (which were understated because for years most of Argentina's bonds were inflation-indexed). The IMF (no friend of Argentina) never had a problem with GDP figures or any other data.

In any case, what one normally does is issue a retroactive revision - not order a complete data blackout. That's something you only normally see in countries that are being invaded in wartime (the U.S. and even Britain, France, and Japan continued to collect and publish virtually complete sets of current economic data throughout World War II).

That begs the question: why?

The above links pretty much explain: inflation that has jumped from 1.6% a month (21% a year) to about 4% (60% a year); 107,000 jobs lost in two months (like losing 800,000 in U.S.); GDP, which grew 2.8% a year in Cristina Kirchner's last months in office, now down by at least 3% according to private estimates; retail sales down 8% by volume; cement and steel sales down by over 25%; and so on.

Even the one rationale for the pain of austerity - higher central bank reserves - are falling by over $1 billion a month and rising, with talk among jittery investors of a de la Rúa-style collapse in the not too distant future (helicopter optional).

The one figure he often repeated - budget deficit numbers for 2015 (Mrs. Kirchner's last year in office) - turned out to be a lie, and the IMF of all people forced Macri to admit it was no more than 4% of GDP (rather than the 7% he fed the news media for months).

The truth is that Macri was advised by his CIA-issued spinster, Jaime Durán Barba, to withhold releasing any data that might harm him politically - and lately that's been practically all the data.

Thanks as always for your thoughts Ghost Dog.

Do we know what neocon handler, à-la-Nuland, is supposed to be running Argentina out of the US State Department?

The information you provide here is very informative, forest444. I am avid to learn and understand. Thank you!

To answer your question, that would probably be Jaime Durán Barba, Macri's CIA-supplied spinmeister. He's better than having someone at the Embassy fumble with strings; he's a Special Assistant to the President and has been in his innermost political circle since his days as Mayor of Buenos Aires. Durán Barba is very much Macri's Karl Rove - his Machiavellian "brains" if you will.

Frankly, coddling Macri is really one of the most counterproductive policies I've ever seen in U.S. foreign policy. It's a real throwback to the Cold War-era foreign policy, and our similarly pointless support for Latin dictators at the time (the ones that cost U.S. banks tens of billions in losses in the early '80s). The truth is that U.S. interests in Argentina have done much better than ever before under the Kirchners, who besides which were usually on board with U.S. geopolitical agenda in general - something Macri is not (regardless of his rhetoric).

The media has largely overlooked this; but Macri has become a self-appointed Netanyahoo errand boy, and is using his office to try to derail the recent thaw in U.S.-Iran relations at Bibi's behest. Cristina Kirchner was instead very much on board with Obama's efforts there.

The only people who really had a problem with the Kirchners were Wall Street and the vulture fund laundromats. Obama simply chose to make their gripes his own (and Wall Street, as we all know, detests Obama; but ah, the wonders of lobbying).

It's a shame really. From a Republican, we would have expected this. But to see a man who spent his early professional years witnessing the devastating effects of "free trade," deregulation, and globalization on working-class communities, and then glad-hand someone who represents a return to the very same thing in Argentina is truly dispiriting. Then again, this is the same Obama who's pushing the TPP as if it were the best thing since sunshine.

Fishy. I'll be observing.

Saludos y mis respetos a la cultura rioplatense.